Quarry Trail, Ollantaytambo

The quarry trail, offered as an alternative to the Inka Trail when this is 'full', is certainly a great alternative to the genuine article: it takes you higher than the Inka Trail, you meet next to no other hikers, there are some interesting Inkan and pre-Inkan sites to explore - and the landscape is simply breathtaking: when you get to the second-highest point (4400m), Puccaqasa Pass, a splendid range of mountains opens up in front of you, which makes up for all the hardship and possible breathing problems on this second and hardest part of the trail (8 hours of walking not including the breaks in high altitude terrain - I was 'lucky' as I didn't feel any serious effects). I immediately fell in love with Veronica, an absolute beauty of a snow-covered mountain, which accompanied us for the rest of our journey.
Another hit was the wind gate, a sacred place up in the mountain, which you saw from afar and where the sun started to set when we got there. We only had to carry day packs - horses brought along the rest. There was a team of 4 horsemen and two cooks to accompany us - the food the cooks conjured up from a simple field kitchen was simply fabulous: it even included a birthday cake on the last morning of our trip!
Still, it was not glamping exactly, as the nights were bitterly cold and we were glad to get a shower and a warm hotel bed before we climbed up to Machu Picchu on Sunday.
This was another advantage over the Inka Trail, as that didn't afford an extra night to relax before Machu Picchu.Read more