• Elevation: From 3000 to 3600 meters
• Hiking Distance: 10 km / 6 miles (6 to 7 hours)
• Considered: Challenging
• Meals:Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner! All served as buffet
• Weather: Cold and windy.

Your guide will wake you up very early with a cup of hot coffee, after a few minutes our porters will bring us a bowl of warm water to wash our faces. After getting ready and eating a nutritious breakfast we will start with the most challenging day on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We will hike uphill for 5 hours through a cobblestone path, this section is surrounded by a beautiful Andean microclimate, known as the Andean dwarf forest; where we will observe old Yunca and Qeuña trees, which are important collectors of rainwater and humidity.

Upon arrival at Llulluchapampa, our cook will wait for us with fresh fruit juice and a nutritious lunch to replenish energy. After digesting for 30 minutes, we will ascend for 2 more hours to the highest point of our 5-day trek to Machu Picchu. This section is surrounded by the microclimate known as subalpine montane grassland and huge rugged mountains. Once we arrive at Dead Woman’s Pass, our guide will indicate the best angles to you take memorable photos of your loved ones. Then, we will also do a small ceremony to thank mother earth.

After having conquered the highest point of the Machu Picchu excursion, we will descend for 3 hours through a section surrounded by small bushes, orchids and endemic birds. Finally, we will arrive at the base camp of Pacaymayu, where we will spend the second night.

** The highlight of the day: the beautiful views of snow-capped mountains and huge mountains, after having conquered the highest point of the 5-day Inca trail to Machu Picchu.

• Elevation: From 3600 to 3650 meters
• Hiking Distance: 13 km / 8.1 miles (6 to 7 hours)
• Considered: Moderate
• Meals:Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner! All served as buffet
• Weather:Warm and chilly.

After being surprised by a delicious and varied breakfast, we will hike uphill for 2 hours to the second highest mountain pass of the Inca Trail. During the ascent we will see amazing landscapes of the Pacaymayu valley and we will also visit the archaeological site of Runcurakay, which is halfway up the climb. Upon reaching the highest point, we will have a magical view of the beginning of the Amazon jungle, or better known as the cloud forest. From this point we will observe how the paved trail of the Incas enters from the Andean foothills towards the cloud forest of Machu Picchu. Then, we will hike downhill for 1 hour and 20 minutes to the Inca ruin of Sayacmarca; Place that we will explore from corner to corner with our tour guide. Sayacmarca has a balcony built by the Incas, with a panoramic view of the vast Aobamba valley. We will take advantage of this to conduct a guided relaxation meditation session with the sounds of birds and the forest (recordings of natural sounds).

Then, we will hike for 30 minutes through a section with small descents and small climbs to Chaquicocha, where we will have lunch. Once we have digested our food for 30 minutes, we will continue hiking through a fascinating section of the Inca trail. A path surrounded by endemic orchids and panoramic landscapes of the subalpine cloud forest. During this 1 hour and 30-minute stretch, our tour guide will share interesting info about the orchids, mosses, ferns, and dwarf palm trees that we will see in this unique microclimate of the Inca Trail. Finally, we will arrive at our camp located near the Inca ruin of Phuyupatamarca.

After resting a bit in our tents, we will take a 30-minute hike to an Inca observatory; place where we will do a MUNAY meditation with the sunset (Munay is one of the most powerful types of meditation for an Ayahuasca ceremony). From this place we will have a 360-degree view of the entire region, the Salkantay peak and the sacred Machu Picchu mountain. Upon returning from that impressive viewpoint of mountain of Machu Picchu, we will clean ourselves a little with the warm water, towel and soap provided by our super porters. After a delicious vegetarian dinner, we will observe the most important Inca constellations. This Inca trail camp has the best location for stargazing.

** Highlights of the third in the Inca trek to Machu Picchu: amazing views of the cloud forest, imposing Inca ruins, meditation session in front of Machu Picchu mountain and stargazing.

• Elevation: From 3,650 to 2000 meters
• Hiking Distance: 15 km / 8.3 miles
• Considered: Moderate
• Meals:Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner! All served as buffet
• Weather: Warm and humid.

In the morning we will wake you up with a cup of hot chocolate and on an empty stomach we will do a mindfulness meditation watching the sunrise. After breakfast, we will walk 10 minutes downhill to the Inca ruins of Phuyupatamarca. Place from where we will observe the Machu Picchu mountain in all its splendor and our guide will share interesting facts about the functionality of the Inca site 600 years ago. We will descend for 2 hours and 40 minutes to the agricultural terraces of Intipata; This section will introduce us completely to the beginning of the Amazon jungle. The possibilities of observing many medicinal species of plants and birds are second to none. Once we arrive at Intipata we will be amazed by one of the best views of the entire Inca Trail. In this magical place we will also have a guided Kundalini yoga session.

From Intipata we will descend for 40 minutes to the Inca ruin of Wiñaywayna, a place that we will explore from corner to corner and also where we will taste our last lunch prepared by our trek cook. After digesting our food, we will hike for 1 hour and 30 minutes to the Puerta del Sol; place from where we will observe for the first time the lost city of the Incas. Here we will have free time for each of us to do a contemplation session in front of Machu Picchu. This session will allow us to receive the energy of the sacred citadel of Machu Picchu. We will hike downhill for 40 minutes to the Machu Picchu checkpoint, from where we will board a bus that will take us for 30 minutes to our hotel in Aguas Calientes.

Upon arrival at Machu Picchu Pueblo or better known as Aguas Calientes, our guide will drop us off at our hotels and tell us the time to meet up for the night and enjoy a delicious organic and vegetarian dinner at a local restaurant. Our tour guide will also inform us about the plan to visit Machu Picchu the next day.

** The Highlights of Ayahuasca Preparation on the Inca Trail: the wonderful views from Phuyupatamarca, Intipata and Wiñaywayna, the first view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate and the Kundalini yoga session in one of the most beautiful places on the Inca trail.

• • Meals included: Breakfast Only

To enjoy 100% and have plenty of time to explore, take pictures and guided tour at Machu Picchu; we suggest you to wake up by 5:00 in the morning, get ready, pack the essentials and take the bus from Aguas Calientes to the sacred Machu Picchu citadel. This bus trip will be of 30 minutes until reaching the Inca citadel at 6:15 am. more or less. Thus, you will have the chance to see the sunrise on this stunning spot. Your guide will give enough time to take pictures into the prettiest places of the Inca citadel, share information about this amazing Incan masterpiece and display you the most amazing details of Machu Picchu.

Then, we take the bus back at more or less 12:30 pm. down to Aguas Calientes to have without rush our lunch. This lunch is optional and not included. At lunch time, your guide will deliver out train tickets, so if you opt to skip this; please arrange to get these train tickets before leaving your guide at Machu Picchu citadel. Unless you requested for an upgraded train, we will book the Expedition service train departing Aguas Calientes at 3:20 p.m. or 4:22 p.m. This will be a 2-hour drive to Ollantaytambo or 4-hour to Poroy (this is based on which train carriage you board). At Ollantaytambo or Poroy, an Ikaro Ayahuasca Retreat driver will meet you and drive you back to Cusco, then we drop you off at the door of your hotel or the closest possible.

** Without a doubt, these 5 days on the Inca trail will be a lifetime experience, in addition to optimally preparing you for your Ayahuasca retreat.

• Family house altitude: 689 meters above sea level.
• Considered: We will perform a second meeting with mother Ayahuasca
• Weather: Hot and humid with mosquitoes

After a nutritious breakfast, we will enter our Maloca so that our shaman will help us decipher the symbolism and the visualizations obtained in the Ayahuasca ceremony. Later we will go to the river to perform a purification ceremony with Amazonian plants and flowers. After some free time for your own contemplation, we will go to plant a native tree or an Ayahuasca vine. This tree will be yours forever, we will take care of its care and maintenance and we will send you annual photos of its growth. This activity also helps us to reforest parts of the Manu National Park depredated by illegal loggers. At noon we will have a delicious typical lunch of the Peruvian jungle and then we will board our van back to Cusco, where we will arrive around 7:00 pm.

** Unfortunately our transcendental journey of healing with this ancestral concoction of Ayahuasca in our retreat house has ended, however a more holistic lifestyle has just begun for all of you.