Monday, Sept. 1, 2003 - 4:23 p.m.
"The Toughest Day"--Day Two of the Inca Trail
I was woken up by porters bringing matte de coca tea to my tent at 5:45AM. I decided to hire a porter to carry my bag today (about $12) because of my feet. Today was supposed to be the most challenging, climbing for 4 hours and more than 1,000 meters! After breakfast we did some stretches and then started hiking by 7AM. We had spent the night in a little village. I didn't know people lived along the Inca Trail. I saw and overheard the porters weigh my bag (there's a law to how much they can carry), they said 10 kilos. The porter Gabino carried my bag, a small, older man. He put my bag in a kind of sling that he wore over his shoulders and tied below his collarbone.
Today the trail went up and up and up. At one point a burro blocked our path and Gabino pushed it out of the way. Occaisonally I see horses or burros on the trail, used by the people who live there (for us gringos, we can only walk the trail) and I definately saw lots of evidence on the trail that these animals left behind. At first we were trekking through cloud forest. The sun was shining hot. Whenever I stopped I was breathing hard and wiped sweat off my forehead to keep it out of my eyes. Sometimes I ran my fingers through my sweaty hair. It was nice to stop and rest in the shade on occasion, again the trail followed the river.
Gabino, the porter, started out following me even though Maritza (the guide) told me he would go on ahead. I told him he didn't have to wait for me, he could go on ahead, but he said it was OK to take it slow. I feel a little sorry for the porters,they carry so much weight on their backs and are almost treated like second class citizens. They're like work horses. I've heard that some Inca Trail companies make thier porters sleep outise and don't even have the same food that we do. I can't tell yet if that's the case with our porters. I made small talk with Gabino at first, asked him if he has a family (he said no, which surprised me).
At one point, when I stopped to rest and drink some water I noticed that Gabino didn't have any. I offered him my water bottle for a drink. The sun beat down on us, I could see him sweating as we sat in the shade. He hesitated, shifting his eyes as if checking to make sure no one was looking and then took a drink. From then on, when I stopped to rest and drink water I offered him some too (making sure no guides or porters were around). Usually he accepted.
The trail was like endless stone stairs. Fortunately my feet are better today, some of the swelling has gone down, so that helped a lot. But I'm still glad I got a porter. We climbed for almost 5 hours, the trail was almost continously up. I also noticed a big snow-capped mountain ahead of us. As we got higher it got colder too. At one clearing it was very windy and cold when I stopped to rest. The wind that swept over the snow caps came rushing down into the valley, chilling us. While we hiked the forest, the cool breezes were welcome to refresh us from our sweaty ascent. Now, after hiking the trail that clung to the valleyside, beautiful mountains surrounding us, it was time to put on jackets and gloves.
The nice thing about being a straggler is that I often had the trail to myself (or almost). On regular intervals I was passed by a porter or two. Some of these guys could run parts of the trail, carrying gas tanks (for cooking), folded metal picnic tables, tents and cookwear on their backs. But we intermingle with people from other groups as well. Also, Haydee would stay back with us stragglers as well.
It was about 11:30AM. I knew I had to be nearing the summit of the Warmi Wanusca pass (4,200 m), also known as Dead Woman's Pass (appropriate name, don't you think?), the highest pass on the trail. I kept trodding along, sometimes counting my steps for 25 or 50 steps, then stopping for a breath. I looked up and saw figures at the summit. I knew I was close, it was encouraging. I pushed on and finally as I neared the summit, I saw my group standing above me, looking down at me. My friends cheered me on... "Yay! Come on, you're almost there!". I couldn't stop then, I climbed the remaining 5 meters without stopping and made it to the chilly pass. The sun had hid behind a cloud at this point. I stopped to rest, the others had been there about 15 minutes, and caught my breath. We then took a group photo before continuing on.
From the pass the trail is all downhill that day. In some ways it is easier, it definately takes less energy and is faster. However, the stone steps take their toll on the knees. And there seems there's no relenting...down, down, down we trudged. It was also alittle painful on my feet (I discovered later that my blisters on my left foot has crept up between my toes as well). The scenery was fantasic, soon Haydee pointed out a waterfall and once again the trail coupled with a flowing river. We could see the trail descend into another valley and extend beyond that and up another mountainside, that's what we'll tackle tomorrow. I arrived at the camp at 1:45PM. The others had been there about half an hour. Immediately I was offered some refreshing juice by the porters. Our tents were already set up.
Upon arrival I paid the porter, but he had me give the money to a different porter, like the porter-in-charge, which made me wonder if Gabino gets all or only some of the money!
After lunch some of us went tot he enarby river for a wash. The water was freezing, but I was glad to have the chance to wash my feet. Then I put medicinal cream on them and had a rest before tea time.
