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We were going to do the 4-day Inca trail.
Day 1:
A train takes us to start of the trail. This day is mostly quiet, just walking uphill on the old inca trail which is made up of broken steps now. The altitude was having an effect and our going was already slow. On the way we saw some old ruins, had a nice soup based lunch prepared by the cook. On the way it had started raining a bit, but we were prepared of that. At a high point, we stopped and the guide told us about the trail and ruins etc. It was nice surreal place, covered in clouds on the path of famous Incas.
Day 2:
Today is the toughest day of hike. We will be climbing 1500ft, then down 1500ft and then up another 2000ft up to highest point of the trail. The first part was not bad. We had crossed the first hill and were at the bottom by lunch. At lunch though Rahul was really feeling the altitude and was very sick. Due to elevation we were not able to eat a lot either. But after some rest he was ok,
On the way
Guide explaining about the place and was able to finish the trail. The last 2000ft climb was especially hard for me. I was literally taking 5 steps, stopping, eating a biscuit and moving. We were not aware of energy gels by then. The worse part was I could see the whole trail all the way up to top and could feel how slow my progress is.
Dead Woman's pass
This was indeed a dead woman's pass, and that woman was me. Its called that because the top looks like a woman sleeping and since she has been sleeping for 1000s of years, she is presumed dead 😊 It almost killed me to get there. The elevation was 13000+ft, here and quite cold. We were almost the last people to get here. I ate the left over biscuits and a sign of relief that now its only going down from here. Rest of the way was down the old stairs into the cloud forest to the campsite.
Day 3:
Today we were going to go through the cloud forest. It was indeed in clouds and had interesting flowers. It was this cloud cover that saved the city of Inca from ruin for
Day 2
Trail all the way to Dead Woman's pass a long time. We heard that part of the trail was washing out in a recent land slide. It was not possible to go to the famous sun temple for our last camp. So final day we climbed down to Aguas Caliente and slept in a dorm there. The cook actually prepared a cake for us for last dinner, along with a very impressive spread. We were going to miss the awesome food. I could not believe how tired I was, I could not even sleep. I was almost crying out in pain on the hard floor. Every muscle in my body was aching, even those that I did not know existed.
Day 4:
Since we had to go down to the village, we took the bus up to ruins. That was a bit anti climatic after 3 days of hike. The ruins did not disappoint. Its the whole city out there, and the agriculture steps etc. There is also a high point from where you can get good view of ruins, but we were too tired to even think about climbing that. After taking lots of pictures of the place, walking around, being happy to
have made the journey we headed back to the village. From there it was just a train ride back to Cusco.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Those muscles can really hurt
You walked the steps of history. Good for you.