Inca Trail, Day 3

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Day 3 is supposed to be the most beautiful on the trek, and in part, it was great. but it wasn{t all shits and giggles.

we began the day with a climb from camp, at 11,000 feet, up to the second pass, at about 13,000 feet. on the way we passed the first inca ruins of our trek. it was apparently some guard station on the way to machu picchu, situated on a very steep section of the trail. it is incredible that they were able to build these constructions of stone on such precarious terrain.

a bit later we reached the second pass. this was, in my opinion, the best moment of the trek. the view from the second pass is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. there are incredibly huge mountains soaring up from deep valleys as far as the eye can see. there are snow capped 6000 meter peaks in the distance. it is a very humbling experience. i have never seen such enormity in nature, and it really gave you a feel for how powerful the effects of the tectonic plates that pushed these mountains up really are. these mountains aren{t like the rockies i have seen in movies. they are covered with lush plantlife that is as dense as any forest i have ever seen. again, my pictures will not do it justice, but it is a sight and a memory that i won{t soon forget.

soon after the trouble started. as we descended from the second pass a thick fog came upon us, followed soon after by a thick drizzle that made life miserable. we explored some more inca sights, but with the rain freezing us, we had little desire to learn and a lot of desire to get the fuck to camp. i learned to ignore the aching pain in my knees and scooted down the hill as fast as my blistered feet could carry me to the campsite. it felt like forever, but finally we made it, a little wet, but alive. again, i was totally exhausted. our fellow hikers were good to bitch with. we all were wet, tired, and excited that we were only a day away from machu picchu.

we made some good friends on the trek. it was a relatively diverse group, though all were native english speakers, and tom, chrissy, jason and i (the peace corps crew) were the only ones who spoke spanish. that made me feel cool.

by this point i felt a little ill, and my lower back screamed for relief. today we had hiked 16km and the rain made it feel like twice that. chrissy was sick as well, though even worse than i. i shat some muddy crap in the seatless toilet and passed out feeling like the final push to machu picchu tommorrow might kill me.

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Photos

One of the Beautiful views on Day 3
It was cloudy and rainy, but there were still moments on Day 3 that dropped our jaws.

Tom Atop the Second Pass
Look how proud Tom looks at 3900 meters.

Chrissy, Tom and I on the Second Pass
You can see the clouds that would soak us later in the day.

Coca
These green leaves taste like shit but theyll numb your mouth and help you with the toughest climbs.

Peeing on the Inca Trail
When you gotta go, you gotta go.

Jason and Tom in our tent
I didn´t sleep terribly well on the hard ground in a rented sleeping bag that smelled like someone had dropped a large deuce in it.