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Published: December 22nd 2007
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Apparently the server that hosts these travel blogs crashed in August 2007 and their backup system is not perfect so I lost the text to my Inca Trail hike, one of the hightlights of this trip. Thanks to my own stupidity I neglected to back up my travel blog. I am so choked! !@$*($(@#$ Anyway, expletives won't bring back my blog so I am going to do my best to recall; however, it's going to be incomplete at best. (#&($@&, yes that feels good :-) and yes, I'll back up my stuff from now on.
I woke up this morning refreshed, without the feeling of malaise and headache I had since arriving in Cusco. I had a hearty breakfast at the hotel and met up with my fellow hikers, a Swiss and a Swedish couple, and our guide Roberto at around 6:00am (I think). Our minivan drove us to Ollaytaytambo where most groups stop to get supplies before the hike. On the way over (or was it after?), we were on narrow meandering country roads that criss-crossed a railroad that eventually leads to Aquas Calientes. Every now and then we would pass building with various painted symbol like pots,
hammers etc. Apparently they are symbols of various political parties. When we got to Ollaytaytambo the first thing that greeted us was a statue of a warrior in the town square and many groups of porters and hikers milling about. Can't remember his name or the story behind the statue. (Was it Manco Inca?).
Anyway, we briefly met our porters who all seemed very enthusiastic, then went to a store to use the bano. On the way out I heard a various familiar voice coming from a cage nearby - there were a few guinea pigs destined for people's dining table. I still feel bad about eating half of a cuy yesterday! We got fitted for walking sticks, customized for my height on the spot for 3 soles. I also got some cocoa candies, a few bags of cocoa leaves (mostly for the porters) and at the last minute decided to pick up a poncho. Then we are off to Piskacuchu (Km 82 of the railroad from Cusco) and the start of the Inca Trail.
At the trail head, there were separate entrances for porters and the hikers. In recent years the Peruvian government has institued new rules
to prevent abuse of porters and to preserve the trail. The maximum weight that a porter can carry on the Inca Trail is 25kg, including a 5kg personal allowance, and there is a weight station at the entrance to make sure they don't violate that rule. After a quick check of our papers and passport at the entrance, we crossed the bridge over Rio Urubamba to begin our 42km hike to Machu Picchu. The first leg of the hike was very gentle, but Roberto told us that day 2 will be very gruelling and that he has had groups where some people couldn't make it and he had to escort them back to the starting point. He further stressed that we try not to hurt ourselves as it could take days to get out since rescuing hikers from the Inca Trail is not he priority of the Peruvian military. The other thing to note is that Roberto has done this hike 50 (or was it 200?) times so this is like a walk in the park for him and the porters. By the time we got to a suitable place for lunch the porters had already set up our dining
cocoa candy
it tastes better than cocoa leaves
cocoa tea ain't bad either tent and I could smell the food waiting for us. We had some sort of quinoa soup + ?, in any case very delicious.
After a bit of a snooze we were on our way again. There was some kind of checkpoint where we had to stop. I got my passport stamped here and out of curiosity weighed my back pack. It was only a puny 5.5kg! It did rain a little bit in the afternoon; I was so glad that I bought the poncho because it kept my back pack dry too. I can't recall much detail from here on but we as a group hiked at a relatively fast pace and we actually got farther than Roberto had anticipated so we camped at a site farther away from the starting point. The camp site was a bit wet but the clouds had dissipated and we were treated to a spectacular view of the rainbow. Roberto showed us how to properly chew cocoa leaves. It looked fairly straightforward. Basically separate the leaf from the stem and chew. Just keep adding leaves and eventually work up to a big wad of cocoa leaves in your mouth. It tasted leafy,
for a lack of a better word so I decided to stick to my cocoa tea and candies. Can't remember what we had for supper but it was good. I opted for chamomile tea instead of my usual cocoa tea, in the hopes that I could get some rest and be ready for the tough hike ahead tomorrow. I went to bed around 8:00pm since there wasn't a heck of a lot to do in the dark. The porters were still up, listening to a soccer match between Cusco and some other team. They won and advanced to the next round. There was cheer all around.
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