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Published: June 13th 2010
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The Map!
Today was the really steep bit! Another early start of 6am was provided by the GAP adventures alarm clock... a gentle shaking of the tent followed by being given a cup of coca tea for Soph and two bowls of hot wash water. Coca leaves are reputed to relieve altitude sickness, suppress hunger and thirst and keep you awake. You are right in thinking that coca is the principal ingredient of cocaine, but it is safe in this form, you need a lot of chemicals to make the drug. Although apparently for a few weeks after chewing the leaves or drinking the tea, you could test positive for cocaine!
We followed breakfast with introductions to the team followed by a bizarre ritual of the porters forming an inner circle, us an outer one, hands behind our back and hopping around tapping righ ankles together. I'm starting to lose track of Inca/Quechua customs and GAP ones.
Day 2 of the Inca Trail starts with 9km uphill over Dead Woman's Pass. Uphill has never been a problem for Soph or I, built with long legs we were in the front group the whole way. Downhill however, Soph's knees begged to differ. We stopped part way up for
lunch before attacking the final few kilometres to the top. The Canadian sisters were starting to feel the altitude on the way to the 4215m peak, especially Erin and Heather, so we decided to stick with them for a bit to provide moral support. The summit was spectacular, shrouded in clouds, which eventually unveiled spectacular views both sides of the mountain. A huge temperature drop from the blazing sunshine we had experienced since the beginning of the trail.
Over the summit we slowed our pace dramatically and found those we had walked past with ease, passed us on the way down. Erin was actually sick from the altitude, but the sisters insisted we go on ahead, and with the aid of our new poles, Soph made progress. When we reached camp our afternoon tea was a delight - with wantons filled with cheese or apple accompanying the daily popcorn and biscuits. As a group, we relaxed in the food tent until dinner, finding the conversation entertaining, especially fuelled by Emma's insistent probing questioning of the love lives' of the boys, Matt and Claire.
How Sophie See's It At the start of the second day's trail we were
shown a profile of the trail, showing the steepness and length of each ascent. Christine (later dubbed "CL" for "Crazy Lady") nearly had a heart attack. True, today's climb was going to be tough, as we had to ascend 1200m to Dead Woman's Pass 4200m, but everyone knows the second day is the toughest! I'm pretty sure we knew it before we even booked! This confirmed that CL and gang clearly had no idea what they were getting themselves in for when they booked the trek instead of the train to Machu Picchu, and everyone got an earful of complaints. Luckily they were so far behind us most of the day that we did not have to suffer their bad tempers.
The uphill was relatively tough due to the sheer heat of the sun, but whilst a few people suffered from the altitude Chris and I were well accustomed to it as we have been above 2500m for a few weeks, less a few days in Samaipata. The real challenge for me was the 1600m descent after Dead Woman's Pass.. the majority of which was huge uneven steps.. my knees buckled on every one so I used my walking
poles like crutches to take my weight, and by the end of the day my triceps hurt more than my legs!
We didn't arrive at camp much before CL, a true indication of how slow I was, and she got right up my nose by disbelieving we had taken just as long as them. You're not the only bloody person who is suffering woman!!! Anyway, after a wash and cheesy wantons I was in much higher spirits, especially as we had such a laugh that night. I was really thankful for such a cool group (crazy Canadians aside) - whilst I certainly made some friends for life on the Kumuka trip, we enjoyed socialising in our little cliques, and the group didn't really gel as a whole. But the Inca crew was non-stop laughter and conversation, even at our lowest points! Thanks guys! :-)
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