Inca Trail, Day 1

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So i got my student id card with a little trickeration and was on the trail on the 12th.

Day 1 was pretty tranquilo. we got picked up at our hostel at 6am and saw a bunch of other gringos on the bus. i am a little weary of talking to and meeting gringos, but they were cool. once we stopped for breakfast we met a british couple who is here travelling and then will be off to belize. there were also several australians, some gringos from Los Angeles, and 4 college kids from dartmouth. surprisingly, we all got along extremely well on the hike. they were very cool people.

anyway, day 1 was not a tough hike. we started at about 7,000 ft., lower than the 10,000 of cuzco. our guide, victor, spoke decent english, but tom, jason, chrissy and i found it much easier to speak with him in spanish. he taught us about the plants and shit. i chewed some coca leaves to alleviate the effect of altitude and to increase my endurance. it definitely works. it numbs your mouth a bit, but you really don{t feel as much pain inyour legs when you are "pichando" as it is known here in peru.

we stopped for a surprisingly nice lunch in a small village along the trail. the food on the entire hike was excellent, though by the end i was feeling a bit ill from all the hiking, high altitude and sleep deprivation that i didn{t relaly enjoy the final meals.

jason and chrissy struggled a bit on day 1 as they were carrying their bags. on days 2 and 3 they paid a porter to carry their stuff to the next campsite.

once arriving at the campsite for day 1 we got a great meal, some coca tea and chilled out talking in our tent until 11pm.

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Photos

Jason and Tom
They begin the lucha

Me and my stick
At this point my joints weren´t screaming at me.

Chrissy and Jason struggle up the incline
This was soon after jason vomited.

We begin the hike
Look at my slick bandana. Now thats style.