Stairway to Hell

South America » Peru » Cusco » Inca Trail
August 11th 2005

Published: August 25th 2005

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lindyblues

Fantastic views all day long

This was our longest day of hiking - over 10 miles. We started the day with a long climb up that seemed to wake everyone up. After about an hour, we reached the first pass of the day where we took the opportunity for some silly picture taking. After that, we descended on a series of Incan stone steps. And we went down, and down, and down, and down some more. There were a few ups (to a second pass), but it was all down. On one of the uphills, I was able to catch up to the Billy Goat. He's 15 like his twin sister. We chatted on a bunch of different topics mostly revolving around Scotland and how bad Mel Gibson's accent was in Braveheart.

Also, at one stop along the way, I showed off my complete lack of knowledge of geography to the cute lass by drawing in the dirt England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. She was kind enough to educate me about the area. I also drew America for her - wow, I'm such a wonderful ambassador.

We finally reached our final camp which included a restaurant where we were to have our final dinner

Wake-up view

View from our tent in the morning

together. While preparing for dinner, I caught up w/the Billy Goat at the sink. There, he said something to me which I didn't catch. I asked him to repeat and again I didn't understand. I just smiled at him because I didn't want to ask a 2nd time for him to repeat. As wonderful as I think the Scottish accent is, I was having the worst time catching some words. Anyhow, he must've thought I was bizarre since I later found out over dinner that he was telling me that his sister was sick with a nose bleed. Wrong time to smile I guess. Anyhow, the Scot Father bought our table a round of beers which was awesome. I finally heard him speak and he is rather friendly - just really reserved. He's apparently done this trail before at a time when there weren't porters. I really think the enjoymjent for him is to see his children have fun. These 2 kids certainly are adorable and I do envy him for having raised some fine human beings. Honestly, I enjoyed talking with them the most (besides my travel mates) because unlike some others in our trekking group, they didn't talk

Some stairs down

about politics, law, or some other 'heavy' topics.

In any case, I would like to record one very traumatic event that occurred in the evening. Saggy Buns felt the need to bathe himself with some wet wipes, but he didn't want to walk all the way to the bathrooms. I don't blame him for that, but his next move was to turn off the light in our tent with an announcement that I didn't really want to see what he was going to do next. Oh Christ! All I could do was turn away, roll up into the fetal position, and call out for my mommy! "Mommy, it's like when the principal called me into his office all over again!" Joke. haha. Well, I certainly won't miss sleeping on the ground anymore after tonight. We've got an early wake-up tomorrow so we can catch site of Machu Picchu as the sun rises.

Night!

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