Tuesday 6/18 (Duncan)
Today was the really, really long one.
At the top of a mountain, we made an offering to the gods
and honored the four apus. Then, we
walked down, then up, then “Inca flat” until arriving at an Inca ruins where
some of our fellow group members were kicked out because they were shirtless.
We then entered a beautiful rainforest-like stretch, where we encountered a
family of llamas wandering down the path. We walked for a while longer than
arrived at our lunch spot, where we had a 360 degree view of the surrounding
mountains and saw a large bird called a caracara. We rested at the spot for a
while. Following lunch, the group divided into three smaller sections. One went
on ahead very quickly, leaving the second group behind with the porter bag, and
a third group taking their time at a lovely Inca site and starting the next leg
of the trek much later than the other two groups. At the end of the day’s hike,
we arrived at the another Inca site, then we arrived
at camp, which was definitively not as good as the previous camp, and decided
to go on an extra excursion as a group to an absolutely amazing Inca site.
Following that, most of the group then ventured to the waterfall where “somebody”
slipped and fell and scraped their arm and had to get a bandaged, but was okay.
The campsite was crowded and the bathrooms were unfortunate, but the food that night
was really good. We had pasta and cake, made by our amazing chef Cristobal. We then had a bittersweet ceremony where we jointly honored the porters and cooks that helped us survive the week and thanked them for all they did for us. We went to bed early in preparation for the 3 am wake up time the next day.
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| Lunch in the tent. We enjoyed delicious meals every day during the trek. |
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| Some of our porters. We had the best! |
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| Getting to Runkurakay pass (3,990 meters / 12,960 ft). Our lunch spot. |
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| We had 360 degree views |
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| Wiñay Wayna ( Quechua for Forever Young) was built into a steep hillside overlooking the Urubamba river. Photo taken before going to the waterfall. We camped here this night, at Winay Wayna campsite at 2,700 meters (8,900 ft). |
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| Our wonderful cooks truly did magic! Not only did they cooked healthy, gourmet meals every day but then on our last meal surprised us by making a cake on a camping stove! |
