Inca Trail - Day 2 Dead Woman's Pass

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I think we got up at around 5:00am. It was raining, cold and miserable but our spirits were still high. Roberto pointed out to us the Dead Woman's Pass, the highest point where we would pass through today at some 4200m. It wasn't named as such because some woman died there but rather the overall terrain is shaped like a woman lying on her back. My poncho came in handy again as the rain came down hard and steady. There wasn't much to do other than to trudge ahead. There wasn't much celebration when we got to the the highest point of the hike. We took a couple of photographs and kept going. The weather was still miserable when we sat down for lunch. Now we may potentially have another problem as our intended camp site for tonight may not be open due to the heavy rain. Not a whole lot we can do except pray and hope for the best. Roberto did say that if someone born in the month of May asks for the rain to stop, it would stop. My birthday is in May; I did it with much skepticism but nothing happened. Then came the first good news of the day - the camp site is open and we can move ahead! After a short hike even the rain stopped! I guess someone did listen to my prayers.

Along the entire hike Roberto pointed out the various flora along the trail, many of which have been put into practical use - natural dye for cosmetics, medications including aphrodisiacs etc. Not much fauna along the way although spectacled bears are supposed to be around. We heard crystal frogs (?) - named for their translucent skin but were not actually able to spot any. We also stopped by the various ruins and Roberto went into detailed explanations about the life of the Incans, but again I can't recall much other than the terraces for experimental farming to acclimatize plants from up from the Peruvian Amazon; Incans were also big on astronomy with temples at most ruins and had intricate knowledge of of the trajectory of the sun.

I think we reached the second peak today. We scrambled up to have a look around but not much to see. We did see a hummingbird, something I wasn't expecting to see on this hike. It saddens me to see garbage, mainly candy wrappers and plastic bottles, strewn along the trail. I suspect mostly from the hikers since many were found in places where porters wouldn't bother going. Our group has a leave nothing policy. Roberto said even the local garbage bin isn't environmentally friendly because it just gets dumped in the back somewhere.

We visited a more substantial ruin today just before our camp site. I don't remember the name, Runkurakay, perhaps? Our camp site was the furtherest away but it was also the quietest. Since the sky had cleared we had an amazing view of the night sky. Roberto pointed out the various constellations. We could see Venus clearly that night. I thought I could sleep well tonight because we were right next to a flowing stream and frogs were croaking softly in the background, but it was COLD! I had to sleep with my fleece, pants, and toque despite having a 3-season sleeping bag. Oh, I heard snoring from the tent next to me, someone must be tired :-)

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Photos

Day 2
miserable hiking weather

Day 2-2-4
fellow Canadian hiker