Inca Trail - Day 3 to Winya Wayna

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We got up early as usual. The sky remained clear and we could see the snow-capped Mount Veronica. We had a head start because we were at the farthest camp site. We walked at a leisurely pace with ETA of just around lunch to reach the last camp site at Winya Wayna. Roberto pointed out the camp site some people have to stay since there isn't a lot of room at Winya Wayna to accommodate everyone. We would have to stay here too had he not worked some magic (long story). To get to the Sun Gate from this particular site means having to start hiking @ around midnight. Something you definitely don't want to do because a good stretch of the trail are paved, wet, slippery and downhill most of the way. Like Roberto had promised, we got to the camp site around lunch time. This camp site has more amenities, including a shower facility, however, it didn't look very clean. I figured that since I've gone 3 days without showering I can wait one more day. Roberto suggested that we go visit the ruins of Winya Wayna right after lunch as no one else would be there. He was right again! We pretty much had the entire place to ourselves, except a couple of workers doing some maintenance. Again my memory is a bit faint here. There is a room shaped like a foot, a small waterfall, and a room of rainbows?

I took a well-deserved nap before supper. Roberto and one of our group members who spoke relatively fluent Spanish took our passports to get the final stamp. They took a while to come back because the checkpoint person didn't like the fact that we are actually here instead of the camp site a few hours back. We were told not to worry.

I am not one to take medications but I think coming downhill on those slippery steps most of the day today and part of yesterday really stressed my knees and I had to take some ibuprofen just to dull the pain. I hope my knees hold up for the final strech tomorrow! Went to bed around 10:00pm because our morning call would be around 4:00am. People were still partying when I fell asleep.

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