A dirt road leading to really old rocks

I'm baaaaaaack....and I did it - I finished the Inca Trail this morning, spent the early afternoon exploring Machu Picchu and am now in Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu, waiting to take the train back to Cuzco.

First, let me just say...I have always hated hiking. I always say hiking is just walking on dirt and rocks. I also used to often say that ruins are just...really old rocks, and really, aren't all old rocks the same? I've been to Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Chichen Itza, Angkor Wat....really, what could be so different about Machu Picchu? You get the idea. I'm not huge on hiking and I'm not huge on old rocks. Also, in my real life I'm a girly girl who likes super high stilettos, puts at least 2 or 3 toilet seat covers on public toilets (and then another layer of toilet paper, just to be safe), screams at the sight of bugs and can't live without a blowdryer.

So...why do the Inca Trail, right? That's the question I was asking myself during the days leading up to it in Cuzco while I tried (to no avail) to get over altitude sickness. I was at once dreading doing the Inca Trail and just wanting to get it over with so I could say I did it and never have to do it again.

But having done it, I get it - why the Inca Trail is (or should be) a must-do on everyone's list of things to do in life. It is simply amazing. I'm not talking about Machu Picchu, which is of course amazing (and tied with Angkor Wat as the best pile of old rocks I've ever seen, although the scenery and location of Machu Picchu far excedes Angkor Wat). It's the Inca Trail itself that blew my mind. Climbing up the grueling last 50 or so steps to Dead Woman's Pass. Climbing down a seemingly endless trail of super steep stone steps with the most amazing mountains and valleys next to you. Reaching your campsite which is so high that at night the clouds engulf your tent, then waking up the next morning to the most amazing sight of snow-capped mountains ever. Sitting on the amazing stone ledges of Intipata with a vista that I simply cannot describe (and no picture can do justice) - a panoramic view of the Andes Mountains with a beautiful waterfall flowing in the center. Climbing down vertigo inducing steps, at times so narrow that you look over and see a vertical drop of several thousands of feet just inches away. The first sight of Machu Picchu from Intipunku. It's all so...beautiful, breathtaking, amazing. There is no way words or pictures can even come close to being there, feeling so...small and grateful to be a part of this world, which is just so so beautiful.

I have a million thoughts about the experience - the hard lives of the porters, the brilliance and amazing stonework of the Quechuas, the absolutely delicious food, the awesome people I met, the beautiful vistas, the killer declines and even more killer inclines, how it feels to not take a shower for four days, etc. But I need to let the thoughts form and settle. For now let me just say...the Inca Trail is the most amazing dirt road leading to really old rocks EVER.