Woke up somehow no
alarm at 3:30. Probably so excited to start the hike. Got showered,
finalized my pack and headed out. In the square, the party was still
going strong, 100s of drunk people still singing and dancing and
making out in the streets, most of them to the point of falling over.
We met our bus at the small square and were served some coca tea.
This is used to help acclimate to altitude. The drive was amazing, it
was about 2 hours. I tried to sleep, but after 45 minutes woke up and
couldn't get back to sleep. The sun was rising in the Andes, why
sleep? We went through part of the Sacred Valley and in and out of
little villages. Mostly farming villages. The roads through the
villages were only wide enough for one car, and I thought we were
going off the edge a few times, we also criss-crossed over train
tracks the whole way. We stopped for breakfast after a bit. It was in
one of the villages. The setup was very nice, open air style building
with a thatched roof. We had eggs, bread, pancakes, fruit and more,
as well as tea and fresh squeezed orange juice. They also had a
little pen outside the building where they were raising guinea pigs.
Piled back in the
bus after breakfast and drove to Mile 82, the beginning of the Inca
trail. We loaded up, packed, used the bano, and dropped some of our
stuff off with the porters. There are 15 total in the hiking group,
and something like 20 staff. The hike is 4 days and 3 nights. Our
group included Kelly and Lindsay from California, Solenn from
England, and that;s all I know so far. But the ages range from about
22-60. USA, Belarus, England, Wales, Italy and Transylvania. We
started at a checkpoint to show our passports and get our tickets and
off we went. The beginning is a bridge over a rolling river. We all
slowly got to know one another while following some donkeys and local
townspeople who live in villages on the first part of the trail. The
towns go about 13 km in, so we dodged turds and saw donkeys, one
carrying a new window frame, dogs, we saw farms with chickens, horses
and more. The views were absolutely breathtaking and the sky couldn't
be better for photos, blue with dramatic white clouds. Most of the
hike so far, the Andes are reddish and the terrain is desert with a
bit of thickening forest. Small waterfalls all around, with the
rushing river always there to our right. We stopped a few times for
breaks and then for lunch. Lunch was amazing. It was at a small group
of buildings along the trail, with views of a farm. Chickens, pigs,
dogs, etc. all hanging out with us as we ate. The porters had went
ahead of us, they are fast! And they each carry packs as big as
themselves. They went ahead, set up a dining tent, and prepared
lunch, all by the time we got there. We had soup, yum. Chicken, rice
and vegetable. We had a tomato and cucumber salad, tomatoes stuffed
with cheese, potatoes peas and carrots, garlic bread, breaded rainbow
trout with a cream sauce, rice, corn on the cob, the corn is huge.
Same corn they make corn nuts out of. Flour tortilla chips with fresh
guacamole, and Andean pizza, which is a crispy tortilla with like a
broccoli pesto, chicken and a little cheese. Sooo good, and
unexpected! To end it, we had Andean mint tea and took short naps on
the lawn. We saw new plants and flowers along the path, and I saw two
hummingbirds. At the next checkpoint, I saw a girl with a CWS hat
from another group and talked with her. She was from Omaha, just
moved to Denver, was pretty cool and interesting. Small world. The
hike is hard by the way. We hiked about 6 hours today, covered in
sweat, smelly, but feeling good about the accomplishment and the
exercise. The views are constantly indescribably beautiful. We went
uphill the whole way for the last 2 hours and were glad to make it to
camp day 1. We unpacked, got our beds ready, and went to “happy
hour”. Tea and snacks. We had dessert crackers with crème de leche
spread, it had a caramel taste (addictive!). We all loved it. Jam,
hot chocolate, and of course, coca leaves. And some popcorn as well.
We “showered” in the woods and changed clothes.
It's only about
6pm @ this point and everyone is getting tired. However, we asked our
guide Eber some questions about culture, traditions and history, and
several of us stayed and got to know each other betteras well. We
then got dinner. Fried yucca, rice, beans, carrots, cauliflower,
soup, chicken and bananas foster for dessert. Afterward, I was so
tired and started getting a stuffy nose, so I went to my tent, wrote
this, and am anxiously wanting sleep. Wake up at 5 am tomorrow and
ascend to 14000 feet, to Dead Woman's Pass. What a day! Can't wait
for tomorrow's adventure, not looking forward to the soreness. The
temperature today ranged from about 80+ in the morning/afternoon to
about 45-50 tonight.
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