Inca Trail - Day 2

Juan explaining the day of pain

Day two is classified as "challenging". Yeah. I do enjoy the euphemisms they use to describe these things. 12k uphill...

We got our 5:30 wake up call accompanied by a nice hot beverage. Ahhhh now, when was the last time you got served tea in sleeping bag?? Classy!

Our campsite was in between of two mountains - not quite a valley. When we looked around we understood quickly that there was no where to go but up. We could make out the small scar that the trail made on the mountain. The Andes are young mountains so they haven´t had time to soften up - the slopes are almost always steep.

By the time we put on our packs, our camp site was already broken down and the runners were starting to leave. We began our ascent (into madness)...from 3100m above sea level to 4200m - Dead Woman´s pass (sounds inviting no?) and then beyond. They had wisely given us a very light breakfast - they didn´t want us hurling eggs and bacon on the trail.

Dead woman's pass

We walked up. One foot in front of the other. Sometimes, when we were lucky, it was an incline. But mostly it was steps - stepping stones going up. Oh, did I mention that it was drizzling? It was Katrina made me keep going...Katrina and the Waves - Walkin´ on Sunshine. Slowly, slowly. I was very glad that I rented those walking sticks - I used them to haul my body up the stairs...the slopes were so much easier. I hated the stairs.

One foot, next foot. Step up. Step up. We had a mini second breakfast at one point, just to keep us going, lunch was going to be after the pass - at around 2...it was only 10:30. ETA to final camp site 4:00....Challenging, eh?

We met other trekkers while going up this hill, all of them wet with rain and sweat, all of them with a haggard, but determined look in their eye. Runners passed us all - many of them had only sandals on their feet, sandals made of recycled tires (or tyres for my Aussie friends). Tom, one of the guys in my group later reported that he saw one runner playing a pan flute while almost skipping up the stones. Everyone witnessing the event scowled. Runners can carry anywhere from 15-20kg...most of us were carrying less than 5. Oh, and no, I didn´t get a porter - I carried my own stuff.

Dead Woman´s Pass was cold and windy. It appeared suddenly. I had made it! There were snow capped mountains all around. Beautiful. There were many trekkers taking a break here, but the journey wasn´t yet over. Now, we had to go down.

Sounds easy, doesn´t it? Sadly, that´s not the case. More stairs...now, when I say stairs, there´s no uniformity here - these are rocks that have been placed to form a stair-like structure because the incline is too great for people to walk down (funny, the way up looked much the same...) After about 10 minutes my knees and upper thighs hated me - I thought for sure they would walk out on me (har har)...Oh, and just to make things more interesting, the rain had formed small running streams - right down our "staircase".
 

Anyway, I shan´t bore you with every jarring and agonising step down - suffice it to say, I made it. The sun had made its appearance for most of the afternoon, which should have dried us up, but no, we were drenched. The views from our campsite were spectacular though. We were overlooking a valley couched in clouds.

At dinner Juan warned us that this night would be cold. He wasn´t kidding. It dipped to below 0 and I barely slept because I couldn´t get my feet warm.