Day 1 - The Tire Fell Off

January 20th, 2010
At 7:45am, Lego and I were meeting Sylwia and Macarla at the market close to our hostels to get food and other supplies to take on our trip. Macarla brought her backpack, which was a perfect size for the short trip we were taking. We then walked down to another market where they have more food and after that, went to a shop to get the last minute details we needed. Back at the hostel, we packed up our bags and threw what we didnt need into my other big bag to leave at Sylwias place. At the last minute i decided not to bring my camera battery charger and rain jacket. We had bought ponchos to go over our backpacks and i also was bringing another jacket that was rain resistant, so i thought that was enough. We were just about ready when Andy showed up at our door to see if we needed any help. All we had to do was walk up 150 stairs up to Sylwia's hostel to drop off our bags and we were ready. Those 150 stairs are not easy while carrying a heavy sack and trying to rush up them. I got her sleeping bag, liner for the bag, and her rain pants. Thanked her, hugged her and ran out the door to grab our bags and meet the guys in the plaza. I didn't know until i got to the plaza that Christo, the owner of the coco chocolate shop, had offered to drive the boys up to Mollepata which is the starting point of our trip. After we had diner the night before we all went to the coco shop where we first met Christo.

Christo is an amazing character. He is all smiles and good cheers all the time. He explained how when he first came to Cuzco he met his wife, started working in the chocolate coco industry, fell in love with it and now is the president of the company. He also talked about keeping things simple and that keeps life happy. He has the opportunity to expand his stores all over Peru but then that causes more complication, more people, more stress, and then you get to busy and can't enjoy life. I am slowly starting to agree more and more with his perspective on life.

So infront of the church at Plaza San Blas was Christo's 1983 VW bus, they boys were loading their backpacks ontop the roof and it was a beautiful sunny day. I had a little pack and i still needed to organize the stuff i got from Sylwia, so i kept mine inside. We were all packed and ready to go, Christo full of smiles introduces himself as our Captain and Ike sitting shotgun was co-captain. And we were off, leaving the city of Cuzco. Our first challenge was to find a gas station with a working air hose. We stopped at three stations before finding one. I could tell already that this was going to be an interesting trip, little did i know, how interesting it was going to get. Christo had a good music selection starting with the sound track from the movie 'into the wild' which was perfect for us, since that is exactly where we were going. Then the song 'wear sunscreen' which i havent heard since high school, Bob Marley, Journey, and many other good songs. We took the same road our of Cuzco that I had entered only 2 days earlier on Monday. For the first part of the trip it was all up hill and it took the VW bus a bit of power to make it. Other cars and busses passed us on the way. christo would even smile, pull over a bit and wave cars by. He kept looking back through the rearview mirror with smiles and giving the thumbs up to us. It was a little interesting as he would sometimes turn around to talk to us or look at us a little more than the road.

After about an hour of uphill, we were working our way back down hill. Christo would take the curves a little faster than he probably should and the times he would look back at us was a bit nerve racking. But he was full of smiles and excitment as he was probably as excited as we were to start this trip. We were coming down one hill with the mountain on the left side of us, and a drop off cliff to our right. When all of a sudden we start to feel a little wobbeling of the bus. Instantly, i thought, oh no, we have a flat tire. Christo wasn't slowing down much, but i could tell he was wondering what was going on, all of a sudden we felt a drop in the left back side of the bus. I thought that was pretty fast for it to drop, as he slowed down and luckily out of now where a side aproach appeared and he pulled off the road. I watched as he stuck his head out his window to look at the flat tire and the look of complete shock on his face when he turned around to tell us 'It's gone!' The tire had completely fallen off. Later Ned told us, he had seen it fall off and roll up the road thinking 'that cant be good'. We had just past the drop off cliff and were hoping our tired didnt go over the edge or we were sh.. out of luck. Couple of boys ran up the road, and with cheers, came back rolling the tired down the road. Alright we had the tire, now where are the bolts. Back up the road to look for some bolts we found 4 out of 5 of them. Couldnt believe our luck. It took us 3 attempts to jack up the bus. First we were on an incline, then pushed it back to flat even ground, then had to add come rocks and a wood block under the jack so the bus lifted up high enough to get the tire on. We even dug some rock away from under the tire to make it easier. After all that, finally got the tire one. Only 3 of those bolts worked, one was from another car. So back up the road to look again, and found one more. AFter the tire was completely one, we went around and checked all the other tires to make sure they were tight. During all this, it had started to rain, of course. Cars, trucks, and even a pickup with the backend full of police past us and everyone honks. That's what they do here. honk honk honk!

Finally, back on the road, christo still in smiles and thumbs up, we kept going downhill. And our adventure was back on! After a few minutes, we just all start laughing. We couldn't believe we had just lost a tire and put it back on. Ned explained how he saw it rolling away and the shocked look on christo's face. Also, we all noticed the complete silence in the bus as soon as we felt the little shaking of the loose tire til we ended on the side of the road safetly. For a minute we wondered if we should continue this adventure, but once the tire was on, it was no doubt. A little bit down the road, the song 'Dust in the wind' came on, we laughed about that as well. It was interesting, that i have noticed for most of my trip, music would play at the right time to correlate exactly to what experience i was having at that right time. Crazy!

Each time we came to a little village, Christo would pop his head out the window and ask about directions to Mollepata, which is where we were going to start hiking. Each time he would ask, they would say a little bit further. Few more kilometer, each person would say the same thing. So at least we were on the right track, we just didnt know how long until we got there. When finally around the corner we finally saw a sign with an arrow pointing upward to Mollepata. Yeah! cheers! and up this little curvy gravel road we went. On this road, we climbed even higher and faster than the main road. And talk about drop off cliff. We were right there, thousands of feet below us was a beautiful river. It was quite a view. At one point I was thinking, hes still taking these corners a bit fast and wide, close to the edge, but then i remembered, you cant see around the corner, and just then a pickup with 2 nuns driving met us at the curve and luckily, he was wide enough for them to pass.

The rain continued on and off as we kept climbing up the mountain. When we finally got to Mollepata, it was pouring, and the roads were flooding with water down the hills.We had to climb up one of the streets to get to the main plaza where he was going to drop us off at the police station. Outside the station, the boys climbed out to unload their bags from the top and bring them into the station. I thought we might have to register with them so they would have a record of who was going on the trail, but no, nothing. At this point, i had immediately regretted not bringing my rainjacket. Stupid! but i would have to make it work. In the station, the boys covered their packs with the ponchos, I had my raincover from my big pack that i brought with. We talked to one of the police guys and he was going to show us the way out of the city to start our trail. We decided to have lunch before we left, and he showed us a little restaurant. This little city was amazing. The people were so friendly, everyone said hello, good afternoon and smiled. As the officer walked with us, he stopped to shake peoples hands and knew everyone by name. When we got to the restaurant, we didnt even have to say anything and they just brought out the set meal of soup, and a plate of rice, chicken, and salad and juice, all for 3 soles, ($1).

After lunch, we started off down the road and slowly the path would get smaller as we got further away from the city. The rain had slowed and eventually stopped as we walked. People we passed were still friendly and waving and smiling to us. We started going up in altitute cutting back and forth along the switchbacks. As we walked, you can see houses up in the hills far away, and after awhile we would all of a sudden be walking past that same house. It was crazy how far you got while walking. The scenery of the mountains was so beautiful, fresh green trees and plants and the smell was so good. After walking for a few hours, we did about 8km the first day. We came to an area called Cruzpata, where there was only a shed on the side of the road and an grassy area where we could set up a tent. We tried to find the least soggy spot to set up our tent and after getting our stuff inside, it started to rain again right as it was getting dark. Timing was perfect, and somehow we found our timing to be imaculate through out our trip.

Up the road was a house, and we thought we would walk up to see if there was a little shop or anywhere to buy food. We talked to an older couple that lived there, and they said this 'town' was mainly just the few houses that were there and there was no shop. Which was fine because we had plenty of food with us to cook. The woman offered to bring us down hot water in the morning, which was nice. So back at 'camp' we brought our food up to the little hut close to our tent, that had a little overhang shelter and we cooked our first meal. After eating, we cleaned up and decided to go to bed. Lego had his own little coffin sized tent, so I slept in the tent with the 4 brothers. It was plenty big enough for all of us and our stuff. It was probably around 9:30 by the time we went to bed. Laying there listening to the rain, was so peaceful and relaxing. It was also freezing cold. I had a nice sleeping bag, but I was not prepared as i felt the cold come up through the ground. I ended up covering my head and breathing inside the sleeping bag to make my own thermal heat. It worked, but it wasnt a restful night. I was still cold.