We survived the Inca Trail!

Sorry it´s been a while since the last post, but we got back very late last night and I have not yet had time today to update you all. I am going to slowly try to catch up with our experiences.

Wed, June 17, Day 1 of el Camino Inca

We woke up at 4:20 a.m. and our hostel was nice enough to make us breakfast, including not only coca tea and bread, but fried egg as well. I was just getting ready to start on my egg, when the Peru Trek company showed up 5 minutes early at 5:15. They were nice enough to let us finish eating before we got on the as of yet, empty bus. We picked up the rest of the 16 people from our group, and met our Head Guide, Frederico (Freddy), and Assitant Guide, Wilfredo (Will). At about 9 a.m., we reached a tourist stop near the Urubamba River to stop for ¨second breakfast,¨ where Evan, Everett, and I had some cafe con leche. I elected to buy a walking stick for S/3, which I think helped me a lot along the trail, although the two Evs declined. The bus continued onto an extremely narrow single lane dirt path, and we had quite a few encounters with oncoming traffic. The most entertaining incident was when our bus met another empty tour bus, and the drivers spent 5 minutes honking at each other, making angry hand gestures. Finally, our bus driver made the other concede, by offering to switch buses and drive the other bus in reverse.

At about 10 a.m., we finally arrived at Ollataytambo, where we picked up our bed rolls that we would sleep on, and met our group of 16. Erin, who was my tenting roommate for the trip, is a doctor from New Zealand. Garth is originally Canadian, although he has lived in Australia and now lives in Scotland, with his girlfriend Rachel. Rachel, unfortunately, was feeling nauseous (possibly from the altitude), and was sick for the first day. Laura and Allison are Canadian undergrads studying abroad in Peru. Scott and Rose are a couple from Australia. Paul is, coincidentally, our classmate Nick Turner´s cousin from Wisconson, and he was traveling with his sister, Christina, and her boyfriend, Nick. Lastly, there were Nupur, her boyfriend, K.K., and Vashist, all of whom went to University of Michigan together and are now working in Silicon Valley. Vassith works for Apple, and we tried to weasle some information out of him about the upcoming iPhone in 2010, to no avail. Additionally, our group of 16 had 20 porters, who were all locals from one village who would carry our tents and food, in addition to their own supplies.

At about 10:30, we began our hike by passing through the control gate, where we had to show our passports and tickets. In order to conserve the path, only 400 individuals are allowed passage per day, including guides and porters. Below us, near the river, all of the porters were going through a checkpoint where their bags were being weighed, as the Peruvian government recently ruled that porters cannot carry more than 25 kg. Earlier, some of them carried an unfathomable 50 or 60 kg. Our company, Peru Treks, furnished the porters with real proper backpacks, warm jackets, and proper shoes (although many of them preferred their recycled tire sandles); however, there were porters that we noticed for several companies that did not have jackets and still used alpaca blankets tied around their chest to carry the cargo. The hike for the most part of the first day was relatively flat, and the porters blew past us on the trail, even though our packs were 10 kg, and some people had hired porters to carry the majority of their belongings. At the time, we did not understand why the porters ran so fast.

At noon, we arrived at our first ruin, Patallacta, which is a heavily terraced mountainside above the river. We learned that the terracing was to prevent erosion, to create different microclimates for growing crops, and most importantly, so that the temples of the city would be close to the sun.

At 1:30 p.m., we arrived at the lunch stop, which was marked by the porter Emilio, waving a yellow flag, and we were astonished with what awaited us. Each of us was met with a cup of juice as we were urged to set down our packs on top of a blue tarp. Later, I would learn that this juice was made by boiling water, adding powder, and then cooling the container in a stream until it was cool. A dining tent had been set up for us, complete with table settings with folded napkins and fold up stools. Outside of the tent, little basins had been set up with soap for us to wash our hands, and the water was changed after each washing by a porter, and we were given towels with which to dry ourselves. Lunch started with an appetizer of cheese and avocado, which was decorated with pink mayonnaise. Next came the garlic bread sticks, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti with vegetables, fried trout, cucumbers, and rice. The meal ended with a cup of hot water, and a choice of tea (anis, chamomile, black, or coca) or coffee. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderfully the food was presented and tasted, and it was cooked using propane stoves. Immediately after we finished, the porters began very efficiently disassembling the tables, stools, and tent, and running off to our next rest stop. We were fed and treated like kings the entire way, and the porters were all extremely kind, if shy.

At this point, we had hiked 7 k.m., and for the next 2 hours or so, we hiked the remaining 5 k.m. Surprisingly, my legs felt very fresh, and I was only bothered by some old blisters that were still healing from Colca Canyon. We arrived at Wayllabamba, our campsite, at 4:15 p.m, where our tents for the night had already been set up for us. Each tent was meant for 2 inhabitants, and they were very roomy. We went to climb a nearby ruin and watched some of the porters play a soccer game. Later, Freddy, Scott, and Garth joined a team and won.

Dinner was at 6:30, and consisted of vegetable soup, followed by rice, chicken with orange sauce, potato cake (this has no English name). Because Noopur is vegetarian, she was always cooked a separate vegetarian entree, but she was not feeling particularly hungry so she shared her vegetable stir fry with us. Desert was apple pudding with apple pieces, followed by tea and coffee.

The campsite was very simple, and we slept on a patch of fluffy grass flanked by a small stream and a cliff. There were two latrines and a flushing toilet, but no running water, so no showers for the night. Overall, the day had not been very strenuous, although Evan, Everett, and I may have been broken in by our Colca Canyon hike. The backpack was very comfortable, and I never felt like I was carrying 20 lbs. on my back. We went to sleep around 8 p.m., although I was not tired, and slept to the sound of the stream trickling.