INCA TRAIL: day 2 - a little sore and nervous

The first thing we were told about the Inca Trail is that day 2 would be the hardest. This is because you had to climb 5 km up a mountain, pretty much vertically, and at the ridiculous altitude level of 4200 m. So when we woke up at 530 am we were pretty apprehensive. Fortunately, a friendly porter served us coca tea in bed, which I, unused to such luxuries, spilled all over my sleeping bag. Breakfast was incredible. Cocoa, biscuits with jam, fruit salad, porridge, and fresh pancakes. Leah and I had hoped to possibly lose some weight on our hike, but after a day of meals we realized this was definitely not going to happen.

After breakfast we set off at our own pace and were told to meet up at a rest stop. We walked in three groups. The New Zealanders, Amy and Callan, in the lead, Leah and I in the middle, and Phil and our guide, Alex, bringing up the rear. This 90 minute walk was fairly difficult, much steeper than the previous day. We tried not to take too many breaks, but did feel quite winded when we finally arrived at our rest place. I indulged in a snickers and Leah had a twix, because we had obviously earned them, right? Then we went to play with the llamas in the field and psych our self up for the 2nd half of dead woman´s pass, which was going to be a real bitch.

This 2nd part was possibly the most grueling thing I have ever done, besides one swim practice in high school where I had to do 18 200 IMs at a ridiculous pace, but I digress. The actual walking itself would not have been nearly as difficult if not for the altitude. You literally couldn´t breath. We noticeably lost stamina as the air thinned, so we decided to take some altitude medicine and chew coca leaves (1% cocaine alkaloid). I have no idea if it helped, because we were still panting like dogs the entire way. We had to stop every 20 meters, but made sure we chose a landmark ahead of time to rest at, so we could at least make it that far. Looking back, the distances between those landmarks got shorter and shorter as we made it up the mountain.

FINALLY we reached the peak of Dead Woman´s Pass. We still have no idea why it´s called that. We heard at least 6 different stories, including women falling off over the side and that the mountain looks like a dead woman. Anyways, we relaxed at the top, laughing to ourselves about how easy it was going to be going down the other side of the mountain compared to climbing up. We were so naive. Since we were way ahead of schedule, we rested for a long time before beginning our descent down to our lunch spot, 6km below.

They way down was EXTREMELY challenging. For those of you who know me, I have terrible knees. Apparently that runs in the family, because Leah started developing severe pain after a while as well. So we basically hobbled down these ridiculously steep rocks to the bottom. And yes, I did slip and fall numerous times. About halfway down it began to rain, which was the perfect excuse for us to use our awesome hats we bought. They were excellent shields from the rain, and I have never regretted purchasing them. Amy and Cal, (who finished 25 minutes before us), said they could spot our hats from far off and that we looked like hobbits with our hats, ponchos, and walking sticks and walking through the green, rolling mountains of the Andes.

Lunch was great, obviously. We had a small salad, lomo saltado (shredded beef w/fried, onion, and tomatoes), corn soup, garlic bread, fried chicken, and quinoa with veggies. Then it was time to continue walking. I think it should be mentioned that all the other tours were done for the day. They only walked 10 km and covered Dead Woman´s Pass. For some ungodly reason that I will never know, Llama Path decided that we should continue on and go up and down another mountain for another 6 kms. I still don´t know how we did it. There were beautiful lakes and Inca ruins on the climb up which made it easier, but I was so glad when we reached the top.

I think the funniest part of the day was when we were resting on top of the second mountain. Leah and I were chilling with Amy and Callen when we decided to pull out the candy we had bought in the town the day before. Leah opened up her reeses cups and offered me one. I bit into it and saw that the peanut butter inside was not the normal light brown, but an off white color. I was grossed out and gave it back, even though it tasted fine. Leah finished them up and was studying the package when she noticed something in the corner. Reeses was holding a contest! Entries would not be accepted past Oct. 31! Oct. 31 OF 2006! That candy was well over 2 years old and I laughed at Leah as I ate my rather hard skittles, which turned out to have expired 6 months before. Needles to say, I will be checking the wrappers before I buy things in remote Peruvian towns, that is a promise.

We made our way down the second mountain and were the first to arrive in our campsite. It had been raining the entire afternoon and looked like it was never going to stop. Both of our sweatshirts were soaked, so we had the porters hang them in the kitchen to dry, since they never would outside. Then we tried to wash ourselves in the zipper space between our tents and the outside with our doggie bowl of hot water. It was difficult and resulted in more wet items that would probably never dry.

We played cards and had snacks (hot chocolate, popcorn, fried wontons) until dinner, which we were not hungry for at all. This consisted of soup, chicken drum sticks, pasta, mashed potatoes, and veggies. For dessert there was a chocolate pudding with sprinkles.

Once it got dark finding the bathroom was quite a challenge. Leah went first and proceeded to step in a giant puddle on the way there. With that warning in mind, I figured I would be fine. Well, I didn´t step in any puddles, but I did get completely turned around and just stood still in the dark trying to figure out where I was for about ten minutes. It was quite an exciting day and Leah and I finally turned in, sore and beaten, at around 8 pm.