The great Inka hike began on a beautiful sunny morning around 8am. The temperature was a nice 65 or so in the sun, then cool in the shade. We started off on a stretch of what is known as Peruvian flat. This means, ascent and then descent. There's no such thing as flat on the Inka trail, just gentler gradients of incline and decline. On the whole, we were on an upward trend, but it was broken with enough short stretches of decline that we didn't feel too out of breath. At the same time there was enough climb involved to let us feel that we were really hiking.
We stopped around 10 or so at a wooden stand set up to sell water and gatorade. It also happened to adjoin the vendors home and livestock. There was a very friendly pig snuffling around saying hello, as well as assorted goats, etc. FYI, pigs actually are dirty animals, at least in Peru. Do not let one snuffle you unless you want black pig snot and mud left behind from where his snout was. After a 15 minute rest break, we were back on the trail. Now, it was a bit steeper, but still quite manageable. We stopped again at around 11:30 at the last spot to buy liquid. The woman running the stands was charging a reasonable 300% markup from Cusco prices, and I splurged on another bottle of water. This was also the first of Sol's little taste sensation surprises. We got to try chicha, or Inka beer. This is fermented maize beer. Think sour, moldy corn juice. Yum. It makes me wonder how beer tastes to those who grow up drinking chicha. Like moldy bread juice maybe?
We had one more stop at a vantage point looking out over Llactapata, an Inca site that is thought to have been a granary to supply the area. Gorgeous huge site, with panoramic views of the dramatic mountain peaks. Probably one of the most beautiful, stunning spots I've ever been. Sol gave us a lecture on the site, and then taught us how to chew coca leaves. You need to take three leaves, because 3 was a sacred number to the Inca representing the condor, puma and snake which represent the soul, the present life, and the after life in which we are reincarnated into the mountains. Then add a bit of the ash catalyst, roll into a tube, strip off the little twiggy bits, and pop into one side of the mouth. Bite down every so often, but do not chew. Let the juice run down your throat, but don't swallow the leaves, spit them out after they turn to mush. The coca was used by pre-Incan societies and is considered sacred due to its power of conferring strength and a lack of appetite to those who chew it. The porters are prodigious coca chewers. Apparently there are 13 active elements only one of which is the one from which cocaine is derived. Coca is also a source of protein. Also, coca was found at the pyramids in Giza, indicating possible early contact between the continents. Odd. After that bit of education, we kept on going until about 1pm when we hit our lunch spot. At this point we all felt that we'd earned our lunch, especially since breakfast was at 5:30am.
Supposedly, in high altitude, one's metabolism slows and therefore you shouldn't be as hungry. Hah! I don't know about "most people", but I was starving at every meal. Luckily our cook rocked us out. Breakfast was usually porridge, pancakes, omelettes, and bread. Lunch and dinner would start with a refrescado rehydrating juice, then soup, and about 5 main dishes, with at least 3 being vegetarian. If there was a special meat dish, like pizza on the 3rd night, or stuffed peppers on the 2nd day's lunch, the cook always made a veg version for me. We'd finish off with hot drinks. Yum!
After lunch was an hour siesta and visit to the outhouse, then hell began. Sol told us that we would be hiking 700 meters switchbacking on a 500 year old stone staircase up Dead Woman's Pass over about 2.5 kilometers. Now, maybe it is my American unfamiliarity with the metric system, but when she added that it was fairly steep but not too bad, I believed her. We started off with Julie and Chris in the lead and me right behind them. Kristina and Jason had fallen back because Kristina unfortunately sprained her ankle before lunch. Bad luck. The honeymoon couple were taking their time and enjoying the scenery without pushing the pace too much. Richard and Annette were behind me with Emilia and Sinikka right behind them. Away we went!
Let me tell you, hiking 700 meters up a mountain is quite taxing. It didn't help that I did the mental math and decided for some reason that 2450 steps ought to do it. I had mistakenly calculated based on the 700 m rather than the 2.5 kilometers. Ack! I had passed Julie and Chris when they stopped to switch packs, but after putting each foot in front and above the other about 2700 times, my spirit was broken and Julie went roaring past me. It took another 30 minutes or so to reach camp. Chris and I came staggering in together at around 4. Luckily, we arrived just as the weather shifted from 70 to 45 in the space of about 5 minutes. We were sweaty from the hike, and the camp site was in a valley that acted as a wind tunnel. Wet clothes get awfully useless when a cold wind blows through them. By the time the sun went down, it had dropped to about 20 degrees. Unfortunately, some of the group didn't arrive 'til after sundown, which in Peru at this time of year is around 5pm. Brrr!
Of course, those of us who staggered in earlier didn't get off all that easily. The cold was one thing, being attacked by a huge playful dog was another. I had bundled up and made straight for the bathrooms after arriving at camp. On the path, I met up with a lovely, huge, big-red-tic covered dog. I made the mistake of saying, "hi, doggy," and that was its signal to attack. He leapt for me and grabbed hold of my polar fleece pants. That was one thing, and I was still not too upset, just told him in English then in Spanish to let go. Then he shifted his grip to my ankle and bit down. This was not so funny. About 10 feet away, one of the porters was laughing his head off. I asked if it was his dog, and he said no, I responded that this was not funny and to please help me. He came over and dragged the dog off of me. At that point, I ran for the bathroom, and then took the long way back to camp to avoid my furry friend.
After that excitement, I took a little nap 'til dinner. Luckily I did, 'cause that was pretty much the only sleep I got all night.
We all showed up for dinner dressed in everything we'd brought with us. It was literally freezing. We ate, bitched a bit about the cold, discussed the lovely route up Dead Woman's Path, learned that we had another 400 meters to go in the morning and that we'd have a 6am wake-up call. It was only around 7pm, but we all went straight to bed. I'd asked Sol if there were any extra blankets, because I wasn't sharing a tent with anyone, and thus would need to rely on my own body heat to get me through the night. She said that there weren't any blankets, but that I could share my tent with a porter if I'd like to. Instead, we compromised on a hot water bottle.
That was the most physically uncomfortable night I've ever spent in my life. It was below 0 and the wind was cutting through the tents. I wore long undies, polar fleece top and bottom, a t-shirt, 2 pairs of socks (one polar fleece), 2 pr gloves, a scarf and a hat, and got completely inside my mummy bag with the neck cinch tied off over my head and my scarf covering the 2 inch opening. I also had a hot water bottle. It was still too cold to sleep. It had seemed luxurious to have 11 hours to sleep, even though we were all exhausted from the hike. Well, I got about 3 hours of sleep over the course of that 11 hour period, comprised of short 10 minute naps before the cold woke me again. Also, it turns out that I'm slightly claustrophobic. Every once in awhile, I'd panic that I couldn't breathe and start flailing around trying to get the sleeping bag open. Cold fingers with two layers of wool have a hard time manipulating a cinch release. At least the resulting shot of adrenaline would warm me up a bit. At around 1:30am, I found myself wishing that I was sharing space with not one but two porters, one for each side. :)
Finally, it was morning, Yosip came by with a hot cup of coffee, and helped me unzip my bag when I got stuck with my head and one arm out and the rest of me still stuck in the bag. I then had half an hour to get myself ready for Day 2.
We stopped around 10 or so at a wooden stand set up to sell water and gatorade. It also happened to adjoin the vendors home and livestock. There was a very friendly pig snuffling around saying hello, as well as assorted goats, etc. FYI, pigs actually are dirty animals, at least in Peru. Do not let one snuffle you unless you want black pig snot and mud left behind from where his snout was. After a 15 minute rest break, we were back on the trail. Now, it was a bit steeper, but still quite manageable. We stopped again at around 11:30 at the last spot to buy liquid. The woman running the stands was charging a reasonable 300% markup from Cusco prices, and I splurged on another bottle of water. This was also the first of Sol's little taste sensation surprises. We got to try chicha, or Inka beer. This is fermented maize beer. Think sour, moldy corn juice. Yum. It makes me wonder how beer tastes to those who grow up drinking chicha. Like moldy bread juice maybe?
We had one more stop at a vantage point looking out over Llactapata, an Inca site that is thought to have been a granary to supply the area. Gorgeous huge site, with panoramic views of the dramatic mountain peaks. Probably one of the most beautiful, stunning spots I've ever been. Sol gave us a lecture on the site, and then taught us how to chew coca leaves. You need to take three leaves, because 3 was a sacred number to the Inca representing the condor, puma and snake which represent the soul, the present life, and the after life in which we are reincarnated into the mountains. Then add a bit of the ash catalyst, roll into a tube, strip off the little twiggy bits, and pop into one side of the mouth. Bite down every so often, but do not chew. Let the juice run down your throat, but don't swallow the leaves, spit them out after they turn to mush. The coca was used by pre-Incan societies and is considered sacred due to its power of conferring strength and a lack of appetite to those who chew it. The porters are prodigious coca chewers. Apparently there are 13 active elements only one of which is the one from which cocaine is derived. Coca is also a source of protein. Also, coca was found at the pyramids in Giza, indicating possible early contact between the continents. Odd. After that bit of education, we kept on going until about 1pm when we hit our lunch spot. At this point we all felt that we'd earned our lunch, especially since breakfast was at 5:30am.
Supposedly, in high altitude, one's metabolism slows and therefore you shouldn't be as hungry. Hah! I don't know about "most people", but I was starving at every meal. Luckily our cook rocked us out. Breakfast was usually porridge, pancakes, omelettes, and bread. Lunch and dinner would start with a refrescado rehydrating juice, then soup, and about 5 main dishes, with at least 3 being vegetarian. If there was a special meat dish, like pizza on the 3rd night, or stuffed peppers on the 2nd day's lunch, the cook always made a veg version for me. We'd finish off with hot drinks. Yum!
After lunch was an hour siesta and visit to the outhouse, then hell began. Sol told us that we would be hiking 700 meters switchbacking on a 500 year old stone staircase up Dead Woman's Pass over about 2.5 kilometers. Now, maybe it is my American unfamiliarity with the metric system, but when she added that it was fairly steep but not too bad, I believed her. We started off with Julie and Chris in the lead and me right behind them. Kristina and Jason had fallen back because Kristina unfortunately sprained her ankle before lunch. Bad luck. The honeymoon couple were taking their time and enjoying the scenery without pushing the pace too much. Richard and Annette were behind me with Emilia and Sinikka right behind them. Away we went!
Let me tell you, hiking 700 meters up a mountain is quite taxing. It didn't help that I did the mental math and decided for some reason that 2450 steps ought to do it. I had mistakenly calculated based on the 700 m rather than the 2.5 kilometers. Ack! I had passed Julie and Chris when they stopped to switch packs, but after putting each foot in front and above the other about 2700 times, my spirit was broken and Julie went roaring past me. It took another 30 minutes or so to reach camp. Chris and I came staggering in together at around 4. Luckily, we arrived just as the weather shifted from 70 to 45 in the space of about 5 minutes. We were sweaty from the hike, and the camp site was in a valley that acted as a wind tunnel. Wet clothes get awfully useless when a cold wind blows through them. By the time the sun went down, it had dropped to about 20 degrees. Unfortunately, some of the group didn't arrive 'til after sundown, which in Peru at this time of year is around 5pm. Brrr!
Of course, those of us who staggered in earlier didn't get off all that easily. The cold was one thing, being attacked by a huge playful dog was another. I had bundled up and made straight for the bathrooms after arriving at camp. On the path, I met up with a lovely, huge, big-red-tic covered dog. I made the mistake of saying, "hi, doggy," and that was its signal to attack. He leapt for me and grabbed hold of my polar fleece pants. That was one thing, and I was still not too upset, just told him in English then in Spanish to let go. Then he shifted his grip to my ankle and bit down. This was not so funny. About 10 feet away, one of the porters was laughing his head off. I asked if it was his dog, and he said no, I responded that this was not funny and to please help me. He came over and dragged the dog off of me. At that point, I ran for the bathroom, and then took the long way back to camp to avoid my furry friend.
After that excitement, I took a little nap 'til dinner. Luckily I did, 'cause that was pretty much the only sleep I got all night.
We all showed up for dinner dressed in everything we'd brought with us. It was literally freezing. We ate, bitched a bit about the cold, discussed the lovely route up Dead Woman's Path, learned that we had another 400 meters to go in the morning and that we'd have a 6am wake-up call. It was only around 7pm, but we all went straight to bed. I'd asked Sol if there were any extra blankets, because I wasn't sharing a tent with anyone, and thus would need to rely on my own body heat to get me through the night. She said that there weren't any blankets, but that I could share my tent with a porter if I'd like to. Instead, we compromised on a hot water bottle.
That was the most physically uncomfortable night I've ever spent in my life. It was below 0 and the wind was cutting through the tents. I wore long undies, polar fleece top and bottom, a t-shirt, 2 pairs of socks (one polar fleece), 2 pr gloves, a scarf and a hat, and got completely inside my mummy bag with the neck cinch tied off over my head and my scarf covering the 2 inch opening. I also had a hot water bottle. It was still too cold to sleep. It had seemed luxurious to have 11 hours to sleep, even though we were all exhausted from the hike. Well, I got about 3 hours of sleep over the course of that 11 hour period, comprised of short 10 minute naps before the cold woke me again. Also, it turns out that I'm slightly claustrophobic. Every once in awhile, I'd panic that I couldn't breathe and start flailing around trying to get the sleeping bag open. Cold fingers with two layers of wool have a hard time manipulating a cinch release. At least the resulting shot of adrenaline would warm me up a bit. At around 1:30am, I found myself wishing that I was sharing space with not one but two porters, one for each side. :)
Finally, it was morning, Yosip came by with a hot cup of coffee, and helped me unzip my bag when I got stuck with my head and one arm out and the rest of me still stuck in the bag. I then had half an hour to get myself ready for Day 2.
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