Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 - 8:52 p.m.
"The Longest Day"--Day Three of the Inca Trail
Woke up 6AMish, breakfast abou 6:45. We were on the trail by 7:30. Again, porters brought tea to our tents in the morning. I didn't sleep so well the night previously. It was freezing outside and the ground is hard, even with a flimsy mattress roll. At breakfast I learned that one of the ozzies, Callie, was feeling sick. She hardly ate anything, just drank some tea. She said she felt horrible. A bad sign since today is known as the longest day on the trail.
We started to hike. Today I carried my bag. My feet are a little better, but the fungus had developed into blisters right behind the toes in a really sensitive area. For the first 1.5 hours, the trail was all uphill, it was really tiring. Again, I would take 25-50 steps and then rest for about a minute before trudging on. The trail followed the valey on the mountain side. It was beautiful. We hiked about 30 minutes more and got to the first archeological site of the day, Runturacay, an oval shaped ruin with great views of the area. This ruin was up the hillside, towards the second pass. It wasn't very big, but interesting. We stopped as a group and Maritza, our guide, told us a little about it. I think it was discovered in 1914, after Macchu Pichu, by Hiram Bingham. Also, some of the places along the trail that the Incas built were like rest stops. They were small structures set up for people traveling the trail to stop and rest, maybe spend the night, with probably one or two families living there. I saw Callie when we congregated as a group. She was laying on the ground on her pack and didn't look well at all.
We kept trekking up to the second pass, past two small lakes, to 3,998 meters. This is the second highest point of the trail. I was so elated to get there. I knew at this point that I would make it to Macchu Pichu. I climbed up to a lookout point on the mountain side and gazed at the green valley below. Haydee told me she was happy for me that I made it this far. Lula told me something like "You're a strong woman." As I continued down the path, after the pass, I felt so happy, despite the stone steps jarring my knees. From the first ruin today on we walked along the original Inca Trail, even with the same stone steps. These ruins we visited were built around 1430, the height of the Inca empire. I walked with Trent and Dror (from Israel) for a bit. It was the first time I really walked the trail with others in the group.
Soon we arrived at the second site, Sayacmarca. This one was also on a cliff side, the views were amazing, this one was bigger and there was more to explore. There were other groups there the same time as us. Martiza showed us the place where the Incas held religous rituals. Also down in the valley below was another smaller fuin discovered only 7 years or so ago. Little insects were flying around everywhere, pestering, hoovering around us and our bags. I put on bug spray, but it was too little too late. I later discovered bites on places I'd missed and didn't expect, like around my ankles, calves, wrists, neck and back. These itchy bites lingered for days afterwards.
We hiked down into the valley, a short trek 20 minutes took us to a clearning for lunch. Again, Callie didn't eat much. While at the previous ruin I discovered that my camera batteries had died. We had left our bags down below at the bottom of the steep stone steps and I didn't have time to get new batteries. By lunch time I doscovered that the extra batteries I'd bought at the market in Cusco were cheap and half-used. I'd also bought a cheap flashlight prior to starting the trail that hardly worked at all (another problem I discovered on the 1st night, esp since I don't share a tent). I asked the group if anyone had any extra batteries, but no one did. I ate my lunch in frustrated conemplation. Later I asked Haydee and was relieved to hear I could buy batteries at the last campsite. However, during the rest of the hike that day, I hardly took any photos, although I really wanted to.
After lunch we continued to hike, at first the trail was (again) ascending up steep steps, but the trail goes up and down, even on the "flat" parts. I kept going, again I soon found myself trekking alone, through beautiful cloud forest. The only sounds were my heavy breathing, the soft thud of my walking stick on the earth and stone and sometimes some birds singing. the breeze brushing the tall plants and sometimes the soft sound of the distant river. I had to stop along the trail, not only to catch my breath but to gaze at the views in awe. How can I fully describe the infinite beauty of this earth?
I discoverd that through the cloud forest, the trail laid in stone, sometimes with the edge that cut straight down the mountainside, nothing but air between you and the side of the path that dropped down. We were hiking along the spine of the mountain, dark greenery covering the mountain sides, in the distance, some with snow, an occaisonal waterfall on the opposing mountainside. A few flowers of reds and yellow sometimes a small brown bird would flit away from the tree or nearby bush. I was alone, but on occasion passed by a porter carrying two or three times as much weight, walking twice as fast. At one point I saw that the path cut into the mountainside as a tunnel, known as the Inca Tunnel. The path also became stone steps, the tunnel, while short, was also narrow and steep, I placed my hands on the damp rock sides as I carefully walked down the tunnel steps. Soon I arrived at the third pass where the majority of the group was waiting. The pass was windy and cold, I put my jacket back on. This last pass is the lowest at 3,700 meters. After this, we walked down, down, down the stone steps, again jarring the knees. Soon we regrouped at another ruin, this one called Phuypatamarca. Most of these ruins have been partially restored, including this one, which is known best for it's cermonial baths that had running water rushing through them. We sat as a group on the edge of the ruin, gazing out at another valley below us. Martiza told us about the ruin and pointed out Macchu Pichu mountain, which had a flag on top. Behind that mountain was the famous ruins of the lost Incan city we would visit the next day. It looked pretty far away. Down below, at a distance, to the right of the mountain was another valley with structures. I learned that it was the town of Aguas Calientes. we would stay there the next night after visiting Macchu Pichu. Callie looked miserable, she said she felt worse.
From the ruins the path was almost entirely stone steps dropping into the valley. The steps were incredibly steep, you had to walk carefully. We soon entered another beautiful cloud forest. The afternoon sun was starting to set, shining on the mountains, they were almost glowing. At this point I was limping a little due to the well-developed blisters on both feet. Going down steps hurt both my feet and knees. The path kept going, I soon was passed by everyone else inthe group and again was alone. I also saw the last ruin on the same mountainside, but farther away. This one, called Huinay Huayne was mostly just sone terraced landscape.
Soon after I arrived at the last campsite and Ross said "You're just in time for tea!". Not even having time to unroll the mattress and sleeping bag I went to have tea with the others in a small wooden shack and soon after Maritza suggested we figure out what we wanted to tip the porters. Dror became the unappointed person to collect the tip and initiated the discussion of how much to tip them. We all knew that they don't make much money and work really hard. (I also bought some over-priced batteries). That night I unrolled my mattress and sleeping bag in the dark before dinner. Callie was sick in her tent and didn't emerge for tea or dinner (or breakfast the next morning). During dinner we learned that one of the Swiss girls, Judith was also sick and had tossed her cookies inside her tent! Her friend and tent-mate Crystal, also didn't look much better.
Dinner was a huge affair, there was so much food I didn't have much appetite. Afterwards we presented the tip to the porters and guides. Collectively I think we tipped well. Lula said a few greatful words in Spanish and Maritza looked very pleased. That evening I saw the constellation of Orion and the first quarter moon.
As I was settling down in my tent to go to sleep, I overheard Paul talking in the tent next to me. Paul had found a baby scorpion in his tent! I borrowed Trent's flashlight to make certain there weren't any scorpions in my tent. I'd left the tent door open when I went to go brush my teeth. I didn't think there were any scorpions at this high an altitude!
