Are There Bathrooms on the Inca Trail?
Posted by Diane Valenti on Thu, Sep 29, 2011 @ 03:29 PM
One of my primary concerns when I was preparing to hike the Inca Trail was whether there would be bathrooms. With 500 people (hikers, porters, cooks, and guides) hiking the trail daily, I was worried about finding a large rock or tree with sufficient privacy to … well, you know.
In retrospect, I didn’t have to worry at all. There were bathrooms strategically placed along the trail where our group stopped for food breaks and for the night.
One wouldn’t want to linger unnecessarily in these bathrooms—they didn’t have the comforts of home. Some required a fellow hiker to guard the door, as the lock was broken or nonexistent. Most had the carefully-position-your-feet-on-either-side-of-a-big-hole type of toilets. The toilets did flush, though.
For the most part, the bathrooms did not have toilet paper. I tucked several small Kleenex packs in my coat pockets to deal with this situation.
Some bathrooms had sinks. Some didn’t. We always had soap and water back at the campsite or lunch stop to wash our hands. Bringing hand sanitizer is a good idea if you don’t want to take any chances.
Finally, I am happy to report our last campsite not only had bathrooms but also had showers, one of which was hot. True luxury as far as I was concerned!