Thanks for the info on the sleeping bags.... anyone who has hiked the Inca TRail in july... if you have any advice or feedback, I would be happy to hear it... it has been a lifelong dream to do it, but am aware that it will be a challange... any suggestions on what types of clothing are best at that time of the year????? Will be spending two days in Cuzco to help to get used to the altitude before the actual trek.. am hoping this will be enough. Has anyone had experience with Diomex (my travel doc suggested that I bring it with me for possible altitude sickness). Also what about clean water...can one purchase bottled water and/or are the iodine pills enough?
inca trail + july
Re: inca trail + july
Hi again Traveller13,
I'll leave some of your points to other travellers who may have taken the trek in July but I can just confirm that you can buy both clean bottled water and iodine tablets at the base of the trek and in Cusco and that your actual meals are provided and carried by porters along the way.
You might like to take a look at one of the trip dossiers of one of our Peru tours on our website to give you some more detailed information about the trek itself. You can find the Hola Peru trip dossier at the following link for example:
[url=http://www.wanderwiki.com/index.php?title=LAHP1_-_Hola_Peru_Trip_Dossier]http://www.wanderwiki.com/index.php?title=LAHP1_-_Hola_Peru_Trip_Dossier[/url]
Let me know if you have any further questions as one of my colleagues has recently done the trek and I can cheat by asking her to find out the answers for you![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Regards,
Brendan.
Re: inca trail + july
Hi Traveller13,
I did the Inca trail July last year.
In terms of clothing you should try to be as layered - and flexible as possible.
Don't forget July is winter in Peru, while it can be pretty warm in the sun - it can get f***ing cold in the shade or before sunrise (last morning) - so in the one moment a t-shirt is enough, whereas five minutes later you might want to have your warmest winter jacket.
Layering is the only way to go; I used the following layers: a t-shirt, then a thin longsleeve, a normal sweat shirt, a fleece and finally a raincoat. When hiking I mostly stopped with the sweat shirt layer - but in the early morning or during breaks in the shade both fleece and raincoat did become handy.
A very important bit to mention is the sleeping bag - you need a good one; I hired one locally (it was 10 or 15 USD), I told my tour leader to get the warmest possible - and she did a good job. The bag I rented was pretty big and heavy - but clean and warm.
For altitude sickness I made good experiences with a combination of coca tea and aspirin (against the headache) - but I have been to high altitude before.
Water is no problem on the Inca trail; it can be bought easily during the first and the first half of the second day (note that the prices increase with the altitude). On the third day boiled water was provided to fill up our bottles.
Hope this helps - don't worry too much, look forward for it - seeing the sunrise over Machu Pichu on day 4 will make you forget all your worries (and the sore feet and legs you will have by then).
Cheers,
Bj
Re: inca trail + july
Thanks, Bjorn.... I appreciated all of your information very much! Will be passing it on to the rest of my group that is planning to go... we range from young adult to upper middle age in years. Hope that those of us on the "upper end" will be able to complete the trail with a smile!... am increasing the incline on the daily treadmill hike! Any other advice you or others have would be always appreciated! :-)