Apparently, I was lucky enough to join the love-trek. My fellow sufferers on our Classic Inca Trail 4-day hike included 4 couples! Admittedly, there was also a Finnish mother-daughter pair, but mostly, it was a love fest. The cast of character were:
Solay & Yosip - our fabulous guides
Emelia & Sinikka - mom and daughter from Finland
Julie & Chris - couple from New Zealand
Annette & Richard- couple from Holland (with a surprise twist on day four)
Jennifer & Jason - the honeymooners from Pasadena
Kristina & Jason - the couple from Marina del Rey and Manhattan Beach respectively
Christine - the lone gal out. As Solay asked the first day, don´t I have a boyfriend, friends, or family? No one?
and 14 porters to carry food, tents, and the basic necessities of life.
note: apparently the name Jason and variations on Chris were very popular for around 5 years or so.
The first day, the micobus actually showed up at my hostel around 4:35ish, after I´d been ready and shivering for a half an hour. Oh well, I was so excited that I actually didn´t mind. We all spread out through the van and snoozed a bit as we left Cusco. Then, we started picking up porters. Over the next hour or so that it took to get to Ollantaytambo, we crammed 14 porters into about 8 seats. Most of them are farmers in their real lives and work as porters to earn a little extra money when they have time.
We were all assembled and awake by the time we got to Ollantaytambo. We had breakfast at a little local place that was actually open at 5:30 in the morning. Then, after everyone said a final goodbye to modern toilet facilities, we were off! Those who wanted them bought walking sticks from the local entrepreneurs. We decided that those sticks had began life as broomsticks and gained a little carving and bright cloth. Richard was very proud of bargaining his stick down from 15 to 12 soles... that is, he was very proud of this until Chris got his stick for 8 soles. :)
We also had a chance to buy hats, gloves, scarves, straps (for the sleeping bag & mat), water, gatorade etc. I bought one strap to go with my pathetic day pack that I´d been so proud of buying. Whoops. It turns out that the MexSport line of bags has no place to strap on camping equipment, nor is it designed to carry more than five pounds or so. My bag and mat ended up flopping down my back, throwing me off balance. I actually ended up hiking like that for a day and a half before throwing pride to the wind and begging for help from my fellow trekkers. With the assistance of Richard´s string, Julie and Chris were able to hobble together something that at least wasn´t in danger of throwing me off the trail when it suddenly flopped from the right to the left side with no warning. Oh, and one shoulder strap broke the first morning and the second broke on the third day. I might write MexSport a letter, though for 30 soles, it´s hard to be too upset.
After putting ourselves together, we started off into the wilderness! Of course, it was only about 20 feet to the passport control booth, so the first enthusiastic start was a little anticlimactic, but once we were though the booth and had crossed the bridge over the Urubamba, we were on our way!
Tune in next post for the exciting adventures of the Love-Trek...
Solay & Yosip - our fabulous guides
Emelia & Sinikka - mom and daughter from Finland
Julie & Chris - couple from New Zealand
Annette & Richard- couple from Holland (with a surprise twist on day four)
Jennifer & Jason - the honeymooners from Pasadena
Kristina & Jason - the couple from Marina del Rey and Manhattan Beach respectively
Christine - the lone gal out. As Solay asked the first day, don´t I have a boyfriend, friends, or family? No one?
and 14 porters to carry food, tents, and the basic necessities of life.
note: apparently the name Jason and variations on Chris were very popular for around 5 years or so.
The first day, the micobus actually showed up at my hostel around 4:35ish, after I´d been ready and shivering for a half an hour. Oh well, I was so excited that I actually didn´t mind. We all spread out through the van and snoozed a bit as we left Cusco. Then, we started picking up porters. Over the next hour or so that it took to get to Ollantaytambo, we crammed 14 porters into about 8 seats. Most of them are farmers in their real lives and work as porters to earn a little extra money when they have time.
We were all assembled and awake by the time we got to Ollantaytambo. We had breakfast at a little local place that was actually open at 5:30 in the morning. Then, after everyone said a final goodbye to modern toilet facilities, we were off! Those who wanted them bought walking sticks from the local entrepreneurs. We decided that those sticks had began life as broomsticks and gained a little carving and bright cloth. Richard was very proud of bargaining his stick down from 15 to 12 soles... that is, he was very proud of this until Chris got his stick for 8 soles. :)
We also had a chance to buy hats, gloves, scarves, straps (for the sleeping bag & mat), water, gatorade etc. I bought one strap to go with my pathetic day pack that I´d been so proud of buying. Whoops. It turns out that the MexSport line of bags has no place to strap on camping equipment, nor is it designed to carry more than five pounds or so. My bag and mat ended up flopping down my back, throwing me off balance. I actually ended up hiking like that for a day and a half before throwing pride to the wind and begging for help from my fellow trekkers. With the assistance of Richard´s string, Julie and Chris were able to hobble together something that at least wasn´t in danger of throwing me off the trail when it suddenly flopped from the right to the left side with no warning. Oh, and one shoulder strap broke the first morning and the second broke on the third day. I might write MexSport a letter, though for 30 soles, it´s hard to be too upset.
After putting ourselves together, we started off into the wilderness! Of course, it was only about 20 feet to the passport control booth, so the first enthusiastic start was a little anticlimactic, but once we were though the booth and had crossed the bridge over the Urubamba, we were on our way!
Tune in next post for the exciting adventures of the Love-Trek...
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