Day 5 First hell · then heaven

January 24th, 2010
Day 5 was going to be our longest hike of about 20km. We want to try and reach the railroad tracks so we can either walk along the tracks or catch the train if needed to get to Aguas Calientes, which is the gateway city to get up to Machhu Pichhu. The next spot on our map was LaPlaya which looked to be only 2km down the road. At our walking rate, it would take about 30 minutes to get there. After about 45min of walking, we got to a house and another tienda where we got a few snacks. This wasnt LaPlaya. Now it had started to rain, so i pulled out my poncho. We didnt know how far we had to go to get to LaPlaya, so the unknown sort of made it a longer trip. i dont know why, but I was already a little crabby this morning, although i tried not to show it. As we kept walking, i ended up in the back of the line again. I must not have packed my backpack right, because it felt uneven which made it uncomfortable. Then the rain would start and stop, so i had to mess around with the poncho. It would get too hot with the poncho, so i had to stop and mess around with taking my jacket off. It was one and off, and i was getting annoyed. Plus, my feet had started hurting and i was trying my best to prevent blisters. Lets just say, this part of the walk, was my least enjoyable.

Although, for the begining, i had Isaac as company as we walked and sang a few songs. The path was pretty level, so i had some oxygen to sing while walking. At points, it was just to exhausting to talk, and had to focus using my oxygen for my muscles. So for this bit of straight land, we sang a few songs. I had Bob Marley, Buffalo Soldier, in my head for probaly 3 days after this. Isaac would stop and look at interesting bugs along the way, so we got a ways behind the rest of the group. Eventually, i even lost Ike, and walked the rest of the way to LaPlaya alone. For what seemed like forever, i finally pulled into the first somewhat ´town´that we have been too. There were more houses, tiendas, and people. There was even a bus that had stopped to deliver supplies, and how much i just wanted to jump in.

I found the guys sitting under some shelter half way down the road. I really didnt want to know, but still asked, how long they had been waiting for me. Around 20minutes. I sat down, crabby, tired, took my shoes off and fixed my feet. The rain, water, and mud i walked through that morning already had ruined the bandages i put on my feet to prevent my blisters, so that was uncomfortable and i wanted to fix it. They told me about 10 minutes up the road there was a restaurant we could eat at. I quickly put on my shoe, and followed. Luckily, only a few more houses up the road, a woman in a shop said she could cook us lunch, so we stopped there. Yes, food would make me feel better. We walked through the shop to the back, where it was her house. There was a big table set up and an open kitchen. Ducks, chickens, and dogs were wandering around freely all over the place. She had to shoo them out the back door with a broom. Then she started to freshly cook our lunch. First thing i did was take my shoes off, and put them outside to hopefully dry a little bit.

As we waited for our lunch to be cooked, we pulled out our map to look how much farther we had to go. We talked to some locals, and they said the train tracks were out because of the landslides and no trains were running. Ok, so now what is our plan. We luckily had a box of Gato, red wine, and decided to open that up as well while looking at the map. We had two options. Follow a road to Santa Theresa where there are hot springs and a hostel we could stay at or follow more of the inca trail where we would climb up over another mountain and camp out where we would have a view at machu picchu. The boys, chose the more difficult trail, up the mountain.

When we got our food, we all ate in silence because it was so delicious and it was the first full meal we had eaten in 5 days. We got a huge plate of rice, french fries, veggy salad, and a slab of beef. For some reason, i havent been eating alot of meat in Peru, so this was just delicious!

After lunch, i got my shoes and they were a little dryer, thank god! I was in a better mode, and new we had a tough trek ahead of us. We walked down the road and got to a T, left was Santa Theresa with hot springs and R was the inca trail. (secretly I wished we were going Left). We walked past a field with kids playing soccer and also pasted the ´restaurant´that we were recommended. We kept going to finally get to a sign that was the entrance to the Machu Picchu inca trail. Beyond that sign, it was all green plants and incline steps.

I started out in the back of the line again, but for some reason i got in my head that i didnt want to be the last one to the top of this mountain. We had gotten to a point were we all stopped and rested, or to look at something, or to take a picture of the beautiful landscape. Our trail was a narrow 3 or 4 foot wide path with the mountain on the left and the drop off cliff on the right. Mountains surrounded us all around. As the boys had stopped to look around, Andy and Lego kept going. I stopped for a second and followed them. i wasnt going to be last!

This is the first mountain that we were actually going to climb all the way to the top and over before getting to our campsite for the night. It was also, the most beautiful trail we have walked yet. For the most part, I was walking alone or close to Doug. He would pass me and I would catch up to him either at a waterfall, or when he would stop to take pictures. Every once in a while, i would see a new, exotic flower or plant, and stop to smell it. Finally, I passed Doug as we were getting close to the top. We had climbed about a 1000m in height, and as we were getting closer, I really started to get mentally competetive. I really wanted to be the 3rd person to reach the top of this mountain. Usually I tell the guys they can pass me, but I wasnt going to let Doug pass me. I had this little game in my head, but it helped push me to get to the top.

Andy and Lego were already at the top, when i started to hear some hoots and hollars. Andy was calling to us as we were close. All of a sudden, there was an opening and a huge stone building was infront of us. It was some sort of old inca structure. We walked around the corner and there was Andy standing in the middle of an open green lawn with his arms in the air. Yea! we made it! It was such an accomplishment to reach it to that point. We walked around a bit into different rooms of this building as it started to sprinkle a little bit and the fog started to roll in. We had beautiful sunny weather the whole hike up the mountain. Walking over to the cliff, when the fog cleared. You could see across to where Machu Picchu and Juanapicchu was.

We waited for another 20 minutes for Ned and Isaac to arrive. Then from this point, we had to hike about 10 minutes down hill to get to the campsite for the night. It was an amazing campsite with little huts where we could set up our cooking stuff and Isaac was able to hang his hammock once again. The rain was on and off, and we were able to set up our tent around the rain. One of the huts had firewood stored under it, and we thought it would be great to have a fire. We found a firepit and Doug set to start making the fire. It was a little wet, but he got one going. I was able to partially dry some clothes around the fire before the rain started to pick up again. We ate our dinner and watching while the fire danced against the rain. The fog had rolled in full force so we couldnt see M.P. anymore.

It was such an amazing day after starting out so shitty for myself. We climbed about 15km and it was all incline after lunch. I enjoyed the hike up as i had songs in my head, and kept getting visited by little butterflys. I believe it was another early night to bed as again we were all exhausted. Day 6 should be an easy day to get to Aguas Calientes.