Peru: Day 3 (aka Inca Trail: Day 1)

On the third day in Peru, we finally embarked on our four-day Inca Trail tour.

We started by meeting our guide Raul in the lobby of our hotel at 5am. He took us to our bus, where our porters (18 porters + 1 chef for the 13 of us!) were waiting. We all drove 1.5 hours by bus back to Ollantaytambo, where we stopped for supplies (ponchos, etc.) and some people ate breakfast. We also picked up our assistant guide, Edison. From there we drove another two hours from to "kilometer 82" (Piskacucho), where we started our trek. It was about 10am when we finally left the entrance checkpoint.

Raul told us that the first day would be "flat", but we soon learned that the Peruvian definition of flat is not quite the same as the American definition of flat; we ascended almost 1000ft that day, from the trailhead (2720m / 8923ft) to the first campsite at Ayapata (3000m / 9842ft).

For much of the morning, we followed the Vilcanota River:


Along the way, Raul showed us various plants and animals; there was a parasite that grew on cactus that was used by the Incans to make dark red clothing dye, lots of insects (including a walking stick), and a few llamas and alpacas.

cactus parasite:


Raul demonstrating the dye:


walking stick:


We also saw several Inca sites; a fortress called "Huillca Raccay" and larger nearby site called "Llactapata":



We had been warned by friends who had done the Inca Trail that the camping food was likely to be boring and dominated by potatoes, so we were pleasantly surprised by our first lunch.

Our porters had gone ahead and set up a nice lunch tent, complete with folding table and chairs, and warm water and soap for us to wash our hands. For food, not only was there a sliced avocado appetizer and fresh salsa, Jorge the chef had caught and cooked fresh fish, as well as several side dishes:



After lunch, we refilled our water bottles with water that the porters had boiled for us, and set on our way. The porters cleaned up after us, ate their own lunch, packed up, and still passed us up about an hour later, each carrying a 25kg pack. Those guys were amazing!

From time to time, Raul would point out certain mountains in the section of the Andes that were clearly visible for much of the trek. He said that this snow-capped peak was "Mt. Veronica":


I keep thinking it's strange that a Peruvian mountain is called "Veronica", but I've yet to discover the origin of the name.

We hiked until about 5:30pm, when we arrived at our first campsite at Ayapata. Of course, our awesome porters had set up our tents on the best site in camp; it was closest to the bathroom and had the nicest view. We had a bit of time to change into camp clothes and shoes, and then at 6pm, we had "happy hour", which meant biscuits, popcorn, hot chocolate, and more.

Dinner followed immediately afterwards, and we carbo-loaded on two kinds of pasta, before enjoying banana flambe for dessert:


After dinner, Raul gave us a little talk about the next day's hike, and then we were off to bed, so we could get enough sleep before our 5:30am wakeup call.