Inca Trail, Day 3
Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006
The day started with a bit more up stairs, which after the previous day should be nothing… but nobody was particularly happy about it, nonetheless. But the 3rd day should be the good one… in theory, we should be pretty used to the hiking now, and the hardest part is over, and the scenery on Day 3 is some of the best… except for the fact that most of the day is spent going down these Incan steps. It started bothering Joe pretty badly… his knee starting giving out and was having to take things rather slow. Lindsey, on the other hand, was wise enough to hire a porter for the day after nearly dieing the day before. At times she was kind of bumming about not being able to pull through the whole way, but we assured her it was for the best. She proved herself plenty, and there was no reason to overdo it and put herself in any danger through overexertion. Besides, this way she could actually enjoy herself for the day, and not struggle through it. So today was quite the shift in dynamic as she plowed ahead and skipped down parts of the trail. I had my 2 REI trekking poles, and though much more expensive than the walking sticks everyone else bought in Ollayntambo, I was sure glad I had them. Using two poles to support my weight I think helped a lot on the way up, and definitely did on the way down. Once I got in a groove, I was able to pick up quite a bit of speed cruising down the steps.
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