How the trip came to be

Very similar to Belize, this trip started with my buddy Adam having an idea. He wanted to see all the sites Peru had to offer, and ultimately hike the Inca Trail. Unfortunately, he wanted to take a 15 day trip, and I just do not have that kind of vacation time. Another friend of ours, Brian, who Adam had also pitched this trip to, came to me and asked if I wanted to try and do a shorter trip (like me, he also did not have enough vacation time for a 15 day trip). I started doing research, and started to get really excited about the idea of hiking the Inca Trail, while skipping out on a few of the other sites Adam was planning on seeing. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, Brian informed me he would not be able to do the shorter trip either.

I was too excited at this point to give up though, and tried shopping the trip around to some other friends. While everyone thought it was a very cool idea, no one could really commit to going with me. At this point, I turned to facebook to see if I could find any friends interested in taking this trip with me that I may not have thought to have asked. An old Camp Wise friend, Morgan, contacted me saying she was seriously interested in going. We continued looking into things together, finally decided we were 100% set on doing this trip, and officially booked it on Thursday, June 3rd.

In the confirmation email I received, it was revealed that getting a permit for the Inca Trail wasn't 100% guaranteed since they had previously purchased permits for others who had already signed up. It went on to say that they would know within 48 hours if they could get us permits or not. On Saturday, June 5th, I called GAP Adventures (the company we booked the trip through) and was informed they were unable to obtain the permits for us. I was then given three options:
1. In place of hiking the official Inca Trail, we could hike the Lares Trek, a slightly shorter hike, but more off the beaten path, which includes much more interaction with local villages and wildlife in the area. At the end of the hike, we spend an evening in the city of Aguas Calientes, then take a bus to Machu Picchu the morning the rest of our group gets there to take the official tour.
2. While everyone else was hiking the Inca Trail, we could stay in Cuzco, and do as we pleased, seeing what else the city had to offer.
3. Receive a full refund on the deposit that had already been charged to our credit card.

Option 2 was completely unacceptable to me. The big draw to this trip for me was to challenge myself and hike the Inca Trail. I was torn between hiking the alternate Lares Trek or calling the trip off. I had put so much effort into this trip at this point, that it would be extremely painful to cancel it, but at the same time, I was worried about feeling ripped off not being able to go on the "official" Inca Trail, but take an alternate hike. The people at GAP were telling me that some people actually prefer the Lares Trek, but I was skeptical that they were simply trying to make a sales pitch so they wouldn't lose my money. However, I went to the internet and started researching the Lares Trek, and all the testimonials people wrote about it were extremely positive. It's a lot less congested than the Inca Trail (which has 500 new hikers entering it every day), plus you camp right outside of local villages and get to interact with the people who live there.

After reading these testimonials, as well as watching some video blogs documenting the trek on youtube, I was sold on still going and doing the Lares Trek. After sharing the information I had found with Morgan, she was still on board as well, so we contacted GAP on Monday, June 7th, letting them know we were fine with hiking the Lares Trek, making the trip 100% official!


Back when we were teenagers, and still campers at Camp Wise, lots of us always used the term "CW4Life!" For the most part, the same group of us were there every single year, and we truly grew up together over the summers spent at camp. This Peru vacation came very close to falling apart until Morgan, a member of the CW Family, stepped in to take the adventure with me. It may be 13 years since the last summer I spent at camp, but the friendships made there still live on. CW truly is for life!