National Lampoon´s Inka Trial - abbreviated, but still long

Matt typing:

Yes, Sarah and I are still alive and well and traveling in Peru. Much has occurred since I last blogged. Now for the recap:

National Lampoon´s Inka Trial (sic)

Sunday: 10/28 - We leave the warm home and friendly confines of the home of the Gamarra Ardiles family for the beginning of the Inka Trail. We start walking, thinking it it won´t be all that difficult. The trek gradually becomes more and more difficult. We´re pooped by the end of the day, afraid of what day two may bring for us. Despite a week living with the thin air in the high altitude, and three chewings of coca leaves, we´re still left gasping. We had met everybody in the group before the trek and we tried to figure out if I would be the only American in the group. It turns out that I am the only American in the group, and that I wouldn´t see another American for another few days.

Monday: 10/29 - We have 800 meters (2600 feet) to climb and the past day has made this more daunting, especially since we had only climbed about 400 meters the previous day. We climb 400 meters as soon as we wake up - and it isn´t so bad. We snack, and then we find that the next 400 meters is much steeper. As the air thins, we find it more and more difficult to make it up to Dead Woman´s Pass. We stop every minute or so, as many members of our trekking group jet their way up to the top of the pass. We eventually make it.

By the time we make it up top, it´s pouring and it´s freezing. And we´re hungry. To make matters worse lunch is just down the mountain.

And it turned out that the uphill climb, while not as bad on my lungs as I expected, completely killed my knees. It´s pouring, I have terrible balance under normal conditions, and now my knees are killing me more than they have ever done so before. While others climbed up the mountain slower than Sarah and I, they jet past me on the downhill. Because of my awful knees, Sarah walks at a normal pace and then waits hungrily as I struggle to climb down the treacherous path with my hurting knees.

We eventually make it down for lunch, but we don´t eat much. We know that we have to climb another steep 400 meters, and descend another 400 or so, and we don´t want our stomachs stopping us. It continues to rain.

We make our way up another mountain and we get to see some Inka Ruins along the way.

Then comes our downhill path. It´s raining. My knees are killing me. It´s rainier and colder. We can´t see the beauty of the landscape, as a thick fog covers the entire view down the cliff. The stair-path converges with the river and soaks our shoes as we trudge through it. Sarah slips, falls, and bruises her butt on the rocky path. The rain soaks Sarah´s supposedly waterproof jacket. Sarah thinks that I´m not trying hard enough to make my way down hill faster. I´m trying as hard as I can. This frustrates both of us, and we can´t seem to communicate our feelings. I struggle, but darkness falls before we reach the campsite, well after everybody else, due to my hurt knees. We´re cold, we´re hungry, and we´re hoping we´ll be dry enough to sleep at night.

Tuesday - 10/30 - We wake up and we get to see just how beautiful the surroundings are. My knees are feeling better. Sarah isn´t mad at me. One of our guides takes our picture with our camera in front of a cave. He turns it off. The camera never turns on again. We try everything we can to see if we can´t get it working. We can´t. Sarah cries, but we move forward. Instead of climbing down 2200 steps to reach the next campsite, our group opts for a longer, less traveled route which takes us past a tree-covered ruin site that was only discovered about three years ago. We then traipse down through a jungle-like landscape to a number of old Inka terraces, and make our way to our campsite. Our guides, Marco and Fredy provide us with a tutorial on Inka culture at a ruin nearby. I bask in a 5 minute hot shower.

Wednesday - 10/31 - We wake up at 4:00 in the morning. It´s cold, it´s wet. We need to eat breakfast and pack up by 5, so we can make it past the checkpoint before the other groups staying at the campsite. In the midst of the frenzy and the early morning dew, my wedding ring falls off. The porters take down all of the tents, and I can´t find it anywhere. Sarah doesn´t talk to me for another hour. We´re both distressed. We reach the sun gate, from which there is supposedly a great view of Machu Picchu, but all we can see below is fog. We then make our way down to see the site for which we made this entire trek. Sarah and I embrace, but she´s still mad at the situation. We explore Machu Picchu - we´re amazed by its beauty and its integrity, but I can´t enjoy it in full. We take pictures with our memory card in the camera of one of our fellow trek members. Six pictures after using our card, they experience a memory card error. Our guides provide us with a 2-and-a-half hour tour of the site, and then leave us on our own. Sarah and I sit silently for a while, then we kiss and make up.

We had conquered the Inka Trail and enjoyed the beauty of Machu Picchu and we felt exhausted - physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Some other tidbits of information:
·Nobody can trek the Inka Trail without a licensed tour guide our group.
·We trekked through Llama Path in a group of 16 travelers, three guides, 25 porters, and 1 cook. Llama Path is a class act operation and we highly recommend them.
·Each porter carries roughly 25 kilograms on his back. All we had to carry was a day pack.
·The porters carry tents, cooking equipment, personal items, food, and more - and they do it while smiling and barely breaking a sweat.
·The pictures attached from days 3 and 4 of the trail were taken by our fellow trekker, Chris Yunfan Lu.

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