Day 2 Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

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Day 2 begins with the porters waking us up by tapping on the tents saying "Buenas Dias, Amigos!" and bringing hot water for coco tea. After a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon porridge (I never thought I would eat porridge, but I have to say it was wonderful!), caramel crepes, fresh fruit salad, toast and hot tea (this is definately not a time to start the South Beach Diet - most meals are very high in carbohydrates to provide the energy needed to hike for so long!), we began the hike for Day 2. After going through a check-in point, we made our way up a very steep incline and hiked for the next 4 hours through beautiful mountains. We stopped for tea at around 11:30am - the porters set up a table for us with cheese sandwiches, crackers and popcorn, and cheered and clapped when we made it to each site! They also had warm water, bars of soap and towels out for us to wash our hands with before meals...what a luxury when camping! We then began the 2 hour hike up to Dead Woman's pass. I now know why it is called that - at some points I could only take 10 steps before I had to catch my breath - the air was so thin up there (14,000 ft) that it didn't take much before my heart was pounding and I couldn't breathe! I was very thankful for the hiking poles that Doug purchased before the trek, they really helped us to conserve energy and helped save our knees on all of the steps! The top of Dead Woman's Pass was colder and windy, so we rested there for just a few minutes before hiking another hour and a half down steps to our campsite for the night. We arrived in camp that day at 4pm for a late lunch, then rested and took care of blisters until dinner at 7pm. After dinner, everyone went to bed early to rest for Day 3, the longest hiking day of the trek.

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Photos

At the top of Dead Woman's Pass!
We made it! 14,000 feet!