Inca Trail Day 3 - June 1, 2011

I felt a lot better this morning and enough appetite returned to eat some breakfast pancakes.  Unfortunately it was Babe's turn to feel bad; something at dinner last night did not sit well with his stomach.  We had brought Pepto Bismol tablets and Imodium, which helped the situation somewhat.

start of a beautiful day

terraced campsites

Our hike continued up again towards the ruins at Runkuraqay, thought to be a rest stop along the Inca Trail.  This uphill wasn't as bad as Day 2, but it was still exhausting at 12,000 feet.

probably a storage room

the "egg hut"

Then we were on our way down the trail...no more up, yay!  There were a couple of lakes on the way to the ruins at Sayacmarca.

a bit brackish?

another lake

We arrived at Sayacmarca...to get to it, you had to climb a set of steep stairs.  We left our packs at the bottom of the staircase and went up (no need to carry the extra weight!).  It was a pretty big ruin, but as the stones were not perfectly cut and set close, nor smooth, this building was functional (trail checkpoint) rather than religious or royal.  Sayacmarca had clear views of the trail coming and going.

the Incans built it into the mountain to keep with nature

smaller buildings nearby

huge rock face, and yes, it's the same outfit

window into the past

"floating stairs" were built here and there, to quickly move from terrace to terrace

how much time did it take to carve this???

living areas

After listening to Jimmy tell the history of Sayacmarca, we continued hiking towards our lunch rest stop, where all the other groups also stopped.  My appetite was still low but I made an effort to eat as I had burned thousands of calories up until now with no intake.  Today, the cook made some "causa", made of potatoes and seafood (this version had tuna as it was easily carried on the hike), which my Latino co-workers recommended, so I ate that.  Babe was only able to eat a bit of his causa and some soup.  The cooks and porters were being well fed lately! (they got to eat the leftover food in addition to their regular meals, which probably wasn't as "extravagant" as our dishes)

lunch tent

so much food...pasta, quinoa, pizza and potato salad (which was soupy...)

causa with yellow potatoes and tuna

After lunch, we descended towards the ruins of Puyupatamarca.

more terraces

this was also a campsite...where we'd have stayed had I wanted to hike more the day before

the irrigation channels are still working!

terraces and storage rooms

more holes carved into the rock

a functional building with coarse stonework

another nice view

We continued hiking towards our campsite near Winaywayna; it got more jungle-like as we lost altitude.  The trail was downhill, however, there were pretty steep areas.  My knee was not happy with the downhill and I had to pop a couple of ibuprofen every few hours and go down sideways at times.

goodbye Puyupatamarca

stairs were carved into the rock!

steep stairs going downhill

lots of different colored moss

a sneak peek at the town of Aguas Calientes, located under Machu Picchu

wildflowers along the trail

more magnificent scenery

There were two routes to the campsite: one direct and one with a scenic detour to Intipata (which was the terraced mountainside in the picture above).  The detour was only adding an extra hour, so we decided to go check out the terraces there.

terraces with view of valley below

storage rooms

more terraces below

these terraces were recently unearthed

amazing engineering, just to grow food

We arrived at Winaywayna for our last night at camp.  There was a pay shower available, but we figured we could last one more night without a bath as the temperature was very cool.  Jimmy and the porters took showers.  There was a restaurant there that served food and alcohol, neither of which we partook in, but there were clean restrooms with western toilets!  (still BYOTP)  Babe was feeling a bit better and ate some dinner at least.  I was fully recovered as the altitude was much less. (a mere 8,700 feet)

Our cook and porters (minus one) were not going to enter Machu Picchu with us, so we tipped them that night and everyone offered a round of applause.  All the other groups must have done the same thing, because we heard clapping all over the campground.  The one porter continuing with us into Machu Picchu was to carry our duffel bag to our hotel for the final night, the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge.  I was so looking forward to the shower and the bed!

As tomorrow would be a 3:30am wake up call in order to catch the sunrise at the Sun Gate (Intipunku) approach to Machu Picchu, we went to bed in the early evening.  Unfortunately, all the campsites were very close together; being surrounded by people in their 20's talking really loud, laughing and shouting to each other (plus beer access at the restaurant on site), there wasn't any peace and quiet until a few hours later.  I do remember that was how I acted at camp when I was that age, so what comes around goes around. ;)

Inca Trail Day 2 - May 31, 2011

Today was the dreaded "Day 2"...we had an early wake up call with the porters dropping by the tent with the two washpans and soap, plus some hot tea.  We had breakfast and was given a snack bag with cookies and fruit for the hike.

it's the same outfit again!  but different underclothes :)

We hiked to the next Inca Trail checkpoint at Wayllabamba, where the authorities checked to make sure we had our hiker permits.  Jimmy referred to a wooden relief map of the Inca Trail to describe to us the sights we would see and where we'd camp.

at the checkpoint

Warmiwanuscca, here we come

From this point, the Inca Trail became mostly stone stairs, and hiking poles helped a lot to take some weight off of the knees and legs.  It was mostly uphill, with few parts downhill. (isn't it sad when you work so hard to go uphill and then have to go down and back up?)  As the altitude increased, I found myself breathing more heavily than usual while hiking, and I had to take breaks every 15-20 minutes.  The same groups of hikers from the day before were following/leading, and we'd pretty much tag team all the way up.  We'd pass them during their breaks, and they'd pass us while we took a breather.  The porters continued to run right by us carrying their 50 lb packs.

the Stairmaster begins...

there go the porters

We reached a rest stop and have lunch; there was a makeshift mini-mart situated there.  When Babe approached to purchase a bottle of water, the three "shop owners" were trying to get him to buy from either of them.  Jimmy told us that they had to offer the same price for the items anyway.  It was 10 soles for a liter of water, not terrible if you consider carrying that all the way up the mountain.  I was glad there were restrooms with running water. (still BYOTP)

whew!

thank you, come again

the same hikers we'd see throughout the next couple of days

restrooms!

literally breathtaking scenery

this is how much food is served all the time...somehow Basilio managed to make pizza!

huge ass fly (0.75" long) with green eyes that moved; he wasn't camera shy

After lunch, it was the push to the top.  My body was aching from all the stairs and my knee was acting up.  I had to pop some ibuprofen along the way.  We were almost 14,000 feet above sea level, making the air somewhat thin to breathe as I found myself panting.  Eventually, we make it up to Dead Woman's Pass (Warmiwanuscca), and I did not die! (though I felt like I was going to)   I was glad that I didn't need the oxygen tank that Jimmy was carrying with him the whole time.  (I forgot he had it until he mentioned it at the top)  I felt bad that he was carrying it when we didn't need it, but if he didn't have it, maybe we'd need it...   Babe spotted a hiker wearing a Penn State cap...turned out that guy did go to Penn State so they were chit-chatting a bit.  What are the odds of two Penn State alums running into each other at the peak of the Inca Trail?

I did it!

people resting, waiting on the slower people of their group

what a view

see the rest of the trail in the valley?

okay, here's a close up of it...way way far down

We walked up a small hill off to the side where there was an "altar" to the gods; we stuffed offerings of coca leaves and candy in the rocks.  Then it was time to move onward and head to our campsite for the night at Pacaymayo.  Jimmy told us that since we did so well on time climbing to Warmiwanuscca that we might be able to bypass Pacaymayo and make camp further down the trail, leaving a lot more time to explore ruins on Day 3.   I was elated to hear that we weren't slow as I had feared, given my "advanced age".  (I surmised that most of the people on the trail were in their 20's)   Babe laughed at me as I was using the hiking poles like a spider, scurrying down the mountain.  My knee was killing me at this point (going down seemed to aggravate it more) so I wanted to get to camp as fast as possible.

a lonely stretch

making our way down to camp, and we have to go back up tomorrow??? (see the trail?)

We arrived in Pacaymayo around 3pm and decided to make it a rest stop, later on evaluating whether we'd move on to a campsite further down the trail or not.  After the break, I ended up feeling way too tired, so we decided to stay for the night, even though it was still early in the afternoon, as the next campsite was at least a couple of hours away.

campsite marker

setting up camp

another beautiful mountain sunset

I meant to take a short nap in the tent before dinner, but I was so exhausted from the day's journey, and I had also lost my appetite, so I didn't eat.  (What???)  Jimmy suspected it was the altitude that took my hunger away.  I should have known something was wrong when at the top of Warmiwanuscca, I had turned down eating a Reese's peanut butter cup and the thought of it didn't even make my mouth water.  That was so unlike me.  I ended up sleeping all the way until the wee hours of the morning.  Babe stayed up with the guys until bedtime.

Day 3 was going to be filled with lots of ruin exploring...a kind of pre-show before the spectacle of Machu Picchu.  I hoped that I would feel better enough to enjoy it!