Inca Trail – Day 1
After sleeping sporadically for no more than 5 hours in the hotel Plaza de Armas (in the same bed as Selina for the first time in over a week☹), Jeremy, Cynthia, Sara and I met in the lobby at 4:45 am to check our luggage for long-term storage. Still groggy and depressed that Selina’s sprained ankle would prevent her from joining us, we left the hotel and walked 5 minutes to Regijo Plaza where a mini bus was waiting to take us ad our porters to Km 82, the start of the Inca Trail. We first bussed to Ollantaytambo for breakfast, which while overpriced and meager, gave us the opportunity to get to know Eric, a friendly Georgia Tech alum from North Carolina. After breakfast, we stocked up on last minute provisions for the Inca Trail: ponchos, coca leaves for chewing, and sweets.
The bus ride from Ollantaytambo was a harrowing one hour trip down a one-lane dirt road that traced the Urubamba River and the Peru Rail line to Machu Picchu. The heavy bus traffic on this one lane road necessitated our backing for long distances around blind corners to let the other busses pass us. Given the width of the road, I was amazed that we didn’t hit anything!
After arriving at Km 82, we gathered our things and began our walk. Passing the Inca Trail checkpoint required an inspection wherein government officials verified that our passports matched our Inca Trail permits (we got our passports stamped!). We took the obligatory group picture in front of the Inca Trail sign, and then began walking along the initial portion of the Inca trail. Flat and arid, we traced the river for several hours, seeing several blue and gold Peru Rail trains pass. Flat-leafed cactus, dry bunch grasses, and scrubby trees with red pods (used for medicinal purposes and as a dye), were characteristic features in the vegetation. Although it was dry, several people remarked how easy the trail was.
After several information stops along the flat section, we climbed almost 1,000 feet to our lunch camp at Wayllabamba (at 9,842 feet). Conversations died down as people became winded, and we were all happy to finally arrive. As we walked into camp, 21 Llama Path porters in their signature red tracksuits greeted us, applauding our arrival. The porters had passed us earlier, burdened with tents, propane tanks, food provisions for four days, and our personal belongings, so we were shocked to find that they had not only prepared a hot lunch, but they also set up a lunch tent, laid out personal hand-washing bowls outside, and set a table inside complete with a tablecloth. Inside the tent we were served huge portions of avocado salad, soup, and past. Following lunch, we were personally introduced to each of the porters, and learned that several of the men were in their 40’s and that the oldest is 56! Each of the porters carry 25 kgs, or 55 pounds.
Following lunch, we climbed another 1000 feet through thickening trees to our campsite for the first night (at 10,829 feet). Though tough, we arrived at camp feeling good. After washing up in the wash bowls outside our tent (which were filled with hot water!), I settled into my tent with Jeremy, then joined our group for coca tea and popcorn before dinner. We got to know several of our traveling partners better during this time: a Swiss/Irish woman with Ecuadorian heritage, several couples from the Cayman Islands, and a couple from Reno, and Eric, from North Carolina. We were served soup (with spicy rocotto pepper), grilled fish, potatoes, and cooked vegetables for dinner. Dessert was a surprise of flambéed bananas, served flaming in the tent!
