Inca trail, day 2
A wake up call with coca tea at 5:00 was the start of day 2, the toughest on the trek. 12km hiking, slightly less than day 1 but much steeper terrain at higher altitude reaching the highest point of the trail, dead womans pass at 4200m/13,800ft. After breakfast we started with the climb to dead womans pass, about 1km of elevation gain over 4km of distance, pretty damn steep.
I made it up there without any of the altitude sickness symptoms except a headache, that would be with me on and off for the rest of the trail, something about my brain liking oxygen or something…. Anyway, the view on the other side of the pass changed dramatically and we were looking at the kind of mountains we’d be looking at for the rest of the trek now, with high jungle growing on them.
It’s slightly disheartening after you have just gained 1km of elevation at your own effort to descend 700m very steeply immediately and the whole time knowing you have to go back up another 500m after that for the 2nd pass of the trail. All together I climbed a vertical mile in the day with two long descents as well. So after the very steep descent down stone stairs from dead womans pass we stopped at a campsite for lunch there and regained some energy for the next climb.
The climb to the 2nd pass of the day was much easier than the first, about half as much elevation and we’d just completed the hardest part of the trail and covered half the distance so that boosts the energy a bit. Up inca stone stairs on the side of the mountain with jungle growing around you the scenery from here was better than the morning hike too. We also had a fantastic view of the massive mountain we’d just hiked over. About halfway up to the 2nd pass we stopped at an inca lookout station perched on the cliff for a break, good stopping point.
At the top of the pass, 4000m, the clouds started to roll in but fortunately didn’t bring any rain. From here it was a more gradual descent through the jungle on the stone inca trail we’d be on for the rest of the trek. Beautiful everywhere you look and the clouds coming and going gave it a cool aura.
About an hour before dark we reached another inca site, Sayaqmarka, a short distance from our campsite. Another lookout station, this one was larger and more impressive. Since our main guide seriously lacked in organizational skills (among other things) he gave us 15 minutes to explore it on our own and gave us no information on it before heading to camp, leaving the 2nd guide behind to make sure we all found the camp when we were done exploring. Fortunately the 2nd guide was cool, didn’t care about the time (since there was no reason to) and we stayed for longer, the place was really cool in the fading light with clouds all around the valley.
Thus ended day 2, the hardest of the day and I felt fine, legs only slightly sore. After dinner they gave us a local drink made of rum, oranges, apples, spices and some other stuff I don’t remember. Same idea as hot apple cider but a lot better. Macho tea they called it. After a few of those we all went to bed.
Tags: Peru, Travel
Adam
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