Carried Away - A Porter's Story

Olly Pemberton

What happens when one Irishman takes on the Inca Trail – as a porter?! In 2016, Jarlath McHale took on Peru’s most famous trek, the Inca Trail. In 2017, he went back to complete the same four day route – but this time as one of the porters who so inspired him first time round. The purpose of this adventure film was to showcase the amazing work that porters do, to show that they are so much more than a means to carry a bag – to show off the beauty of the Andes and the Inca Trail, and at the same time show what can be achieved all in the spirit of adventure! Filming this project was a huge honour as I (Olly Pemberton: Director, Producer, Cameraman, Editor, Sound Technician, Runner, Tea boy!) was able to work along side some truly inspirational characters in Jarlath McHale and of course the porters themselves. In putting together this short film, we uncovered that no porter on the Inca Trail had ever actually seen Machu Picchu (something that is touched on towards the end of the film) as their porter permit does not cover Machu Picchu itself. Myself and the team behind "Carried Away" are extremely proud to officially be the first ever group to take porters to see Machu Picchu and to give a tour of the site in their native Quechuan language to learn about such an important part of their heritage. Off the back of this film we are really excited to announce that the company who funded the film (Exodus Travels) is now working with our local team to ensure that each and every one of our porters will get to see Machu Picchu whilst working with the company.