Impending Doom
Okay, I´m being melodramatic. Tomorrow morning, not so bright but definitely early, we start off on our 4 days of hiking the Inca Trail. We´ve packed up the stuff we´ll need for the trek and stored the stuff we won´t need in my backpack at SAE. I´m feeling a little crummy today–just generally sapped of energy. This could be because I didn´t sleep enough or that I don´t have much of an appetite (yesterday I had eggs for breakfast, a pastry for lunch, and a little leftover pasta mush for dinner). We´re going to take it easy today and stock up on candy bars for the trip–I think some Snickers bars and peanut M&Ms will go a long way for moral as well as fuel while we hike. And I like packing things that we´ll eat because it means my day pack will get lighter as we go!
I´m still a little nervous. Maybe more so now that I´m not feeling very well. But we leave tomorrow regardless, so I´m just going to relax and read today. I´ve been reading ¨The Pillars of the Earth¨by Ken Follett. I bought it mostly because it´s very long, and I´m surprised that I like it as much as I do. It´s very epic and engrossing. I like the characters a lot which is the main thing for me and books. I probably won´t finish it before we leave, and I think I might miss reading it while we´re hiking. But I might be too exhausted to care! Here comes four days without showering, sleeping on the ground, and sharing (probably) very disgusting toilets along the way. But there will also be amazing vistas, neat bugs and plants (we´ll be hiking through the Cloud Forest which from what I understand is similar to the rain forest but actually easier to see the interesting plants because they´re not all very high up in the canopy) , and hopefully good companions. I also hope the food will be tasty since they´re providing all of the meals and other than our candy we´ll be foodless. Mostly I just hope that I feel okay along the way. Tomorrow is the easiest day and Sunday the hardest. I´m sure we´ll be fine. Steve is carrying our clothes, sleeping bags, and sleep mats. And they carry the food and our tents. I´ll just have my day pack with snacks and water bottles (which I´ve carried on many hikes in California without problems).
I´ll be out of communication range for at least four days. But I´m bringing a tiny notebook to write down any thoughts or important blogging topics for when I get back, so hopefully I´ll be writing a full report on my triumphant journey to Machu Picchu sometime mid or late next week.
Wish us luck and sunshine and good food–and pretty orchids and leaf-cutter ants!
Tags: Peru
montarsig
Good luck. You are in my thoughts & prayers.