I’ll give you the briefing of the short Inca trail involves us by two days.
KM 104.
To do the Short Inca Trail We have to get up very early and you have to be ready at 3:30 am to wait for the car that will transport us to the train station in the small charming town, Ollantaytambo.
You’ll be in the train station a half an hour early at 5:30 am and you’ll get on to the train at 6:00 am. There are food and beverages at the station if you like.
Normally the train runs to Machupicchu and the tour operators have to request special permission to Peru Rail Company for stopping at the km 104 marker.
You’ll be at km 104 at 7 or 7:30 am and I’ll be waiting for you for the beginning of our tour.
On the trail you’ll be able to ponder what the Incan society would be like today if the Spaniards hadn’t conquered them. Knowing what some of the Incan morals, values, ideals were, will help you to do this…no poverty, hard work, don’t lie, don’t be lazy…their achievements at such an early point in history.
MIDWAY POINT OF FIRST DAY
Here the trek begins, at marker kilometer 104 where we start be crossing a bridge briefly after getting off the train. We are going to begin in km 104 and the first half of the day will be a little complicated because we are going to ascend around 8 kilometers or four hours. In first two hours we’ll alternate between a gradual rise and a steeper rise. And the last two hours are a steady steeper rise. And finally we’ll arrive to Winaywayna to have our lunch and we’ll visit the archeological complex therein. And the tour guide explain to you about the site and its significance.
Throughout the route we’ll see impressive landscapes, and beautiful flora such as orchids, begonias, many forms of lichens, arboreal ferns, dandelions, wild tarwi which is eaten in Cusco, mushrooms, walnut trees, and aliso – a tree whose trunk is very hard and whose trunks were used in Incan times for framework in houses (roofs, lintels and beams), and if we are lucky we will see spectacled bears.
With regards to fauna or animal life, we’ll see the Cock of the Rock, lizards and wasps, butteflies, snakes especially vipers, but also sparrows, hummingbirds, and in the vilcanota river we’ll see trout, ducks, and otters in the riparian zone.
SECOND HALF OF THE FIRST DAY
We are going to continue and see flora and fauna similar to the first half of the day. We’re going to ascend for two more hours to arrive to Inti Punko. And finally we are going to descend to the town of Aguas Calientes.
SECOND DAY
We are going to rise very early at 4:30AM before the sun rises to obtain the coupons to go up to Wayna Pichu( it's optional ),After that I will explain to you about the center of Machu Pichu for 2 and a half to 3 hours Afterward you’ll have time to explore and visit the entire archeological complex by yourself and go up to Wayna Pichu at which time.
