Day 8 SA Day 3 on Inca trail

Day 3 began the same as Day 2 with a knock on the tent and offer of coca tea and warm water for washing. We woke up at 3600m with a beautiful view from the tent once again with clear skies. We have been lucky with the weather as it is still considered the rainy season. We had all googled weather before coming on this trip and rain for about 10 days was forecasted and we only got the one day of rain at tha Amazon so we are thrilled. Over the last 3 days we have had short periods of rain but it did not last long.

Julie had to forego the tea as she had too much liquid in her body and had to make the run up the 50 meters to the facilities. Julie now remembers what she doesn't like about camping, getting dressed laying down while having to go the bathroom is a memory Julie would rather leave behind.

This is now our third day of hiking the Inca Trail. We have a quick breakfast and start hiking at 5:30 am as today is the longest distance at 16 km. We have two mountain passes to climb before reaching our final camping site at Winaywayna at 2,650 m elevation. The first pass (Runkuraqay Pass) is at 3900 a climb of 300 vertical meters. The climb to Runkuraqay Pass is done by 10 and we travel down and then back up to Phuyupatamrca (3700 m) for lunch. For lunch we again are given a 3 coarse meal and are surprised to find desert is a cake which the chef prepared earlier that day. None of us are celebrating our birthdays so the cake was a congratulations cake for our success of day 2. One would think we should lose weight at this altitude with this exercise, but the food is plentiful and very good.

We pass a couple of Inca ruins one at Runkuraqay, then ruins at Sayacmarca, then ruins at Phuypatamarca. Late in the afternoon our group had to make the decision to visit another Inca site, Intipata, or to take a short cut to camp. The short cut was about 45 mins shorter, as a group we chose the longer path. We were rewarded with more beutiful views and were able to look back up at our lunch location. We were all impressed with the distance we had covered. The ruins are all starting to merge together. They are impressive and everywhere. Our final destination today is Winaywayna at 2650 meters altitude. As we hobbled into camp we looked across at Machu mountain (no ruins in sight), and down at the town of Aguas Callentes and a hydro dam site.

A couple of interesting sites along the way was a Rock outcrop which had the shape of a Guinea Pig complete with eye and the last steps of the hike nicknamed the "Gringo Killers".

We are all very exhausted as it was a very long day of hiking, particularly after the previous Dead Womens pass hike. This is our last night on the trail so in the evening the porters and cooks join us for introductions. The porters ranged in age from 18 to 57 years old. A few of the porters had 6 kids, but mostly 3 or 4 unless still single. We introduced ourselves, and thanked them with many Mucho Gracias. Amongst our crew we only had 6 kids in total. Shows the different culture. Dawson had collected the tips so him and Mirja did the speeches in English to thank the Porters and Chefs. We will tip our guides Odie and Davis (Deybis) tomorrow on the trail.

Photo Notes
1) Ruth with Julie in background on climb to Runkuraqay Pass
2) Another snow capped Andres mountain peak
3) Llama in the mist, a group of llamas meet us at the top of Runkuraqay Pass
4) Porter along trail - Note the home made pack
5) Julie and Dawson along the trail
6) Inca wall, packs and walking sticks - Sayacmarca Inca ruins
7) Lunch spot on trail
8) Cake prepared that morning for us
9) Another Inca site
10) Julie descends a section of the steps nicked name "Gringo Killer"
11) Guinea Pig out crop
12) Group at Intipunku with the Urubamba River in the background
13) Julie and Dawson at Intipunku
14) View looking up from Intipunku to are lunch spot. A long way down1,050 meters.
Cheers Julie and Dawson