The Inca Trail

Peru is on the western central coast of South America and shares borders with Ecuador (North), Colombia (Northeast), Brazil (East), Bolivia (Southeast) and Chile (South). It is the third largest country in South America, five times the size of the UK. The official languages are Spanish and Quechua (the Inca language). Peru's history is rich, and archaeological sites are scattered throughout the country. The pre-Inca period was characterised by nomadic hunter-gatherers, who left a legacy of cave paintings and primitive tools at places such as Chivateros, Guitarrero, Cupisnique, Lauricocha and Toquepala. The Incas expanded their influence in the twelfth century and by the early sixteenth century they controlled more territory than any other people in South American history. They made Cuzco (Qosqo) their capital, and their sociey was very structured and consisted of a series of tribes, all of whom gave allegiance to the Inca, who was believed to be a descendant of the Sun God.

Underneath the Inca was the royal family, which consisted of the Inca's immediate family, his children and concubines; each tribe then had tribal heads and was organised into different clans, each with their own head. Right at the bottom were the commoners, in groups of ten, each with its own leader.

In 1531, the Spanish captain Francisco Pizarro invaded Peru with 200 soldiers, kidnapping Atahualpa, the ruler of the Incas, eventually executing him in 1533. The next thirty years saw the Incas struggle against the Spanish, and eventually Spain gained control of the Inca Empire in the 1560s. The lost citadel of Macchu Picchu - the eventual destination of the Inca Trail - is often thought of as the last stronghold of Inca civilisation.

The Incas were brilliant engineers and built roads, bridges and forts: the Inca Trail itself is part of a network of roads that they built which extend up and down the western side of South America in the Andean region.

The Trail runs between the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River and Macchu Picchu. It extends through mountain passes almost 14,000 ft high, weaving through the Andes and past various Inca ruins before passing through the Sun Gate to Macchu Picchu. The most popular section of the trail begins at the village of Chilca, but our trek begins before that, at Ollanta.

The Sacred Valley

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