Inca Trail -- Day Two

This is our opening shot of day two. This is our the 11 hikers, plus our two guides, two cooks and 14 porters. The porters are basically in charge of running ahead of us -- literally -- with all our crap, putting up our eating and sleeping tents, boiling water, and all the other odds and ends that made our trip so enjoyable. They were phenomenal. The cooks were amazing. We devoured everything they made. I couldn't have asked for better service. GAP is a seriously amazing company to travel with and I would certainly recommend them to anyone and I would not hesitate to use them again.

Today's hike was exhausting. We had to clear a summit of 13,650 feet, which is about 100 feet higher than Mt. Fuji. We started out in a with some small hills and rested in a valley that was full of llamas (Alpacas? Who can tell the difference, really), wild deer, hummingbirds, etc. Then we hightailed it nearly straight up for the rest of the way.

My strategy was to keep to the middle of the pack and stop at every large rock I could find. It worked pretty well. I made it to the top with energy to spare.

This is no way does the experience justice. We were totally thrilled to have reached the summit, but we were so exhausted it was hard to enjoy it. It was also freezing up there. I also know, from Fuji, that is is MUCH harder to hike down a mountain than up it. I was dreading the next five hours or so.

That's where we came from.

Some random Llama or Alpaca. It stank and was covered in dingle berries.

Why no photos of the way down? About 10 minutes into our descent it started to rain. Then it started to hail chunks of ice that pelted us like BB pelts. It was a miserable and cold next few hours. I fell down the rocky terrain not once, but three times. My camera also broke in half again. Boo.

The highlight to this part of the adventure was playing 20 questions with Ozzie. He wanted us to pick a vegetable, mineral or animal. He was so funny to trick. He had no idea it was illegal to ask questions like: what letter does it start with? He would also waste his questions by repeating them. To be fair to us, he would always pick a random Peruvian bird, like the Andean Condor, when it was his turn. Who the crap -- outside of Peru -- would have any idea what that is? I didn't want to say that of course, so usually I just pretended that I already guessed that bird and he must not have heard me. I am so competitive; I never lose.

It rained all night, so we ate and went right to bed. Morning comes early in the Andes and you have to take every advantage sleep can provide.