Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

by Jim Santos

Your favorite surrogate travelers, Jim and Rita, are tackling their biggest challenge yet - hiking the 26-mile Inca Trail to that Wonder of the Ancient World, Machu Picchu. As both are in their 60's, they are never quite sure if they will succeed. Follow along in "real-time" in this day-by-day account of their experiences on this famous trail and destination. Plenty of photos taken along the way put you right on the trail with them. If you've ever considered the Hike yourself or just wonder what it would be like for "regular people", not professional hikers, you will enjoy this story.

This story is an excerpt from "An Uphill Survivor's Guilt and the Inca Trail". This story deals only with the Hike itself, and not any of the personal issues addressed in sometimes painful detail in "An Uphill Climb"

133 pages, Paperback

Published June 12, 2022

About the author

Jim Santos is a freelance writer and voice over artist, currently based in east Tennessee after 6 years of living in Salinas, Ecuador on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, exploring that country and three others in South America. He has written and published almost 200 articles about living in Ecuador and travel to other locations around the world for the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and various International Living magazines, e-newsletters, and web site content.

In addition to the just released "Living Abroad: Challenging the Myths of Expat Life", "Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu" and "The Galápagos Islands:On Your Own and On a Budget" he is the author of "Ecuador Scouting Trip Itineraries and Travel Guide: An International Living Report" and has edited/updated IL's "Escape to Ecuador" book every year from 2017-2019. He has been a popular speaker on various aspects of life in Ecuador at six expat conferences held in Ecuador and the USA. His blog site (http://jimsantosblog.com) recently passed the 100,000 readers mark, and he is the host of the popular podcast “The International Living Podcast” which is available at (http://www.buzzsprout.com/2086182) and all major podcast platforms.

Prior to that he has worked in a wild variety of occupations; a radio DJ, a cook, a bellman, a driver, an in-home day care provider, a teacher, and as a computer/network engineer assigned to support the US Senate to name just a few. Born in 1958 and now semi-retired, he was married to his first wife, Carolyn, for just 22 days short of 25 years. She died of complications arising from cancer in December of 2008. They have two children, a boy and a girl, now adults with children of their own.

He was 50 when she died, morbidly obese, and pretty much ready to run out the clock by himself - but much to his surprise he met and fell in love with another wonderful woman, Rita. Even more surprising, she decided she would like to marry him. He still doesn’t completely understand that.

With Carolyn he had travelled to France and Hawaii, and several other places around the USA. Once Rita and Jim were together, they indulged in a mutual love of travel to see more of the world. He is currently working on three more book projects, including a "satiric cook book/diet plan" and a sci-fi novel.

Jim and Rita plan to continue to indulge in their love of travel and look forward to launching a “roving retirement” lifestyle, spending 2-3 months each exploring as many countries as they can, stopping back in the States a few times a year to visit family (four children and nine grandchildren between them) and friends.

Of course, life has not always been wonderful, and over time Mr. Santos plans to publish more about the good, the bad, and the ugly – as well as the adventure and excitement of living in different countries, and exploring new places.

Reviews

[David Ward]

Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu by Jim Santos (Independently Published 2021) (796) (3961).

I love travel journals. I pounced on this volume as soon as I spotted it, for someone dear to me is going to Peru in a few months and may plan to include Machu Picchu on the itinerary. Best of all, this was a free book! I found this sitting beside the “free bin” at my local used book store. In fact, there was an almost full cardboard carton of brand new unread copies of Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu by Jim Santos sitting on the ground beside a garbage bin. I picked up a copy for myself and a copy for my traveler-friend.

I read this book today. Now I know why a full boxload of these copies had been abandoned at the used bookstore’s free bin. I should have recognized the red flag when I checked the title page and noticed that the publisher is “Independently Published.” This little volume is a “vanity publication.” Vanity publications are books or manuscripts for which an author paid a printer to print copies of a manuscript for the author’s own use. It’s like “pay to play” in the literary world.

Vanity publications vary widely in their literary competency. It has been my experience that vanity publications are usually so poorly edited as to be generally unreadable. The few vanity publications that I have reviewed on these Goodreads posts almost uniformly merit only a single star at best because the lack of editing rendered the account meaningless.

But that is NOT the case here. To give credit where credit is due, this volume has been capably edited. In fact, I raised my overall rating of this book by a full star to two stars because of the careful editing.

This book, though, in a word, sucked. Why?

Because this is a book of Jim Santos’ shit reports. It’s not a travel journal; it’s a bathroom diary. You think I’m kidding? He was obsessed with his bowels! He thought about his colon a lot, and he wrote about it over and over and over…and the entire book only covers a period of four days.

Here’s all a potential reader needs to know to decide whether to read this book: Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu literally contains more references and paragraphs about the author’s colon than references to the Incan ruins they saw during the hike.

To paraphrase the author’s travel entries: We passed an Inca ruin. Hey, there’s another. The stairs are steep. I almost fell down the steps. Two sentences later, I refer to my tripping on the stairs as a “near death experience.”

After finishing this book, I was surprised to find it listed on Goodreads, for many vanity publications are not on the site - for good reason. I skimmed the Goodreads ratings and reviews. Across the board, the six Goodreads reviews praised this work. But don’t you as a potential reader fall for it! My guess is that the author found five friends who were willing to puff their ratings for him. The sixth Goodreads review was, oddly enough, a review by the author himself recommending that readers ought to seek out an extended version of this book which offers a more detailed account of the trip.

He must not have taken along those copies to the free-book bin when he dropped off his first load.

I own a PB copy in brand-new condition that came from the free bin at McKay’s Books on 6/5/24.

My rating: 2/10, finished 6/29/24 (3961).

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Meghan]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but after reading the description and the introduction, I knew this book would be unlike any other autobiography I've read. It was like reading Jim and Rita’s journal they kept while embarking on this wild expedition to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I immediately related to the book when Jim mentioned that he and Rita are regular people who have the desire to hike this trail. He said it wasn't crucial to most people, but to him and Rita, it's a significant accomplishment, and it was an honor to read all about it.

After reading the book, I noticed my husband and I are similar to Jim and Rita, except for our age. If they can embark on this journey and succeed, it motivates my husband and me to do the same. This story goes to show that if you make a commitment and stick with it with all of your time and energy, anything is possible. I'm curious to read Jim’s other book, The Uphill Climb, on how he spent 381 days getting in shape to prepare for the climb. I loved how they told their story in real-time, leaving no details out. I'm also blown away at the altitudes getting to each peak of the trail. All I kept thinking was, why would they do this? But, I can guarantee when the trip was over, they were sure glad they did.

I found nothing to dislike about the book. I was invested in each pivotal point of the expedition. The book’s writing, structure, and editing were exceptional. For these reasons, I can't think of a rating for this book other than a perfect 5 out of 5 stars.

[Eric Johnson]

Having traveled (on the government’s dime) to the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, I didn’t see most of the world. I’m not a hardcore traveler by heart, and an ex-girlfriend suggested we travel. I’m dead set against the idea and don’t feel that very motivated to travel unless it’s local. But on the other hand, I do see the value in reading about other people’s travels when they go somewhere in the world that doesn’t involve combat. It’s a fascination of mine, and maybe I should rethink about traveling, but my bank account disagrees with me. This book was pretty good and informative, and while reading I thought to myself, “I can do that too, sounds really cool.” I’ve never heard of the place that the author and his wife traveled to, and will revisit the book should I choose (though my bank account has to agree with me) to go there, as it sounds like a really cool place to try at least, as I do walk a lot, though will need to train for this excursion, and this book makes it interesting enough for me to try.

[Madison Johnson]

Jim and Rita show an exemplary amount of not only physical strength but mental strength. Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu which comprises of 26 miles of different terrains. This autobiography provides the details from front to back of health issues and real problems and puts you at their side as they digest the challenge ahead of them - yet nothing slows down this couple.

Providing images and vast depictions of the climate and forestry, they bring you on the trail with them for those that could never. They make the book turn into a visual story with supporting descriptions never ending from challenges to people to images. Written in chronological order, every day is a day where we get to be there with our dear hikers as many of us wish we could ourselves take on such an adventure.

The authors provided an incredible story and spared no detail when putting it together. It’s a beautiful adventure and am grateful to have had the opportunity to read about it.

[Jim Santos]

Disclosure - I am the author - I just wanted to point out that this is an excerpt from the much longer "An Uphill Climb: Survivor's Guilt and the Inca Trail". That book dealt mostly with some emotionally scarring events in my life, and struggles to overcome them. The story of the hike itself is incidental to that story. In response to requests from many readers, I've made available this book, "Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu" as part of a new series, "Travels with Jim and Rita". These book deals ONLY with the Inca Trail Hike itself, telling the story as the hike unfolds and with color pictures taken along the way. If you have already read "An Uphill Climb", there is no need to read this one as well.

[Bruce Tamanaha]

Great tale of Jim's and Rita's experience on the trail

I like the honesty of what the hike was like and the need to train. Jim and Rita made some hard choices and, in the end, were successful.
A tale of real life and how to really live it. Jim tells it to you straight.
Another great book from Jim. Loved the pictures.

[Taylor]

My rectum on the Inka trail

Hilariously realistic and a helpful realistic glimpse of what most of us from thousands of miles away have to look forward to.

[Megan Cooper]

Good blow-by-blow of what to expect on a 4-day, 3-night hike on the trail…useful, short, but a lot too much discussion of toilets and constipation for me.

[Anne Earney]

A short, focused account of one man's experiences on the Inca Trail with his wife, good and bad.