When we arrived in Cusco, a representative of Sun Gate Tours was waiting for us at the airport with a sign that said "Julia." This was very exciting to me because I've seen many folks with signs at airports but the sign was never for us before.
That's because we've never booked a tour like this before. Our normal way of travel is to explore the area on our own. However, that's not possible if you want to hike the Inca Trail. Peru requires all hikers to be accompanied by a government-licensed guide and to have an Inca Trail government permit. These permits are highly sought-after, and one generally needs to get a permit months in advance.
The easiest way to get a guide/permit is to sign up for a tour package. The tour company then handles everything: airport transfers, booking the hotel, booking day excursions, hiring Inca Trail guides, cooks, and porters, transfers to and from the trail, and transfers back to the airport at the end of the trip.
Isn't that expensive, you might ask? Probably, yes. However, to pay for this trip, Julia used credit card points that she earned from paying for stuff over the course of thirty years of operating her business. Peru was on her bucket list, so my frugality had to be set aside. Besides, I was getting to hike in some very cool mountains so I kept my mouth shut about costs.
Flying from Lima to Cusco, we were changing in elevation from sea level to over 11,000 feet. We immediately noticed the thin air, and our tour company representative advised us to avoid any alcohol, to take it easy for the first couple of days, and to drink lots of coca tea. One makes coca tea by dropping whole leaves of the coca plant into hot water. Our hotel kept a big glass container of leaves in the lobby, along with hot water. When we arrived at the hotel, we did as we were told.
While the leaves of the coca plant are the base for making cocaine, coca tea is only a mild stimulant. I'm not sure how much it helped us to adjust to the elevation, but it tasted pretty good--much like green tea. After a long travel day to Lima and only a few hours of sleep, the tea was just what we needed before heading out to explore Cusco on our first day.
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