18/04/2011 (posted 23/04/2011)
The company I´m doing the Inca Trail with (Peru Treks) said they´d pick me up between 5:20am and 6am. Unfortunately, I don´t have an alarm clock with me and wasn´t willing to risk sleeping in and missing my dream trip.
So what I did was drink loads of water, leave the light on and then went to sleep. This worked because the light ensured I couldn´t get to sleep for more than about half an hour at a time so I checked my watch each time I woke up and when it was 4:30am, got up. (Drinking water was an insurance policy as I thought it would hopefully wake me up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet in case the light didn´t stop me from sleeping).
So I got up, couldn´t shower as the water wasn´t turned on and went downstairs. They picked me up at 6:15am and took all of our group to a town called Ollantaytambo to buy last minute supplies. I needed a poncho and assumed I´d have to go to a supermarket or something but as soon as I got off the bus, floods of local women were hounding me selling everything I needed.
It was bloody annoying being hassled but I got the poncho as well as a walking stick and broad-brimmed hat.
We then all had a nice breakfast together and got to know each other.
There´s Edwin and Manuel, our guide and assistant guide respectively.
In our group is:
Blake, an Australian
Katherine, his girlfriend and a quadlingual German
Jon and his girlfriend Coleen from Washington, DC
Jenny, an Australian with her daughters Eve, 10 and Megan, 19
Roland, a 62-year old American who has retired comfortably in Costa Rica and is doing the Inca Trail for the second time
Jenny, his Costa Rican girlfriend
Joanna and her mum (don´t know her name) from America
Elena, born in Bulgaria and lives in NYC.
We were then driven further along a windy, tough path that you wouldn´t believe was the most direct route to one of the seven wonders of the world. We checked in with our passports and then we were away.
Today, Day 1, was described as an easy day and fairly flat. That said, there were some steepish uphills that slowed some people down.
I´m doing the trail with my 14kg backpack as my smaller backpack wasn´t big enough to fit everything in and there´s nowhere else to leave all my stuff. Most people have personal porters to take some of their stuff but I´m manning it.
The scenery is absolutely beautiful. We´re obviously in the Andes and there are snow-capped peaks, Inca ruins and huge mountains as far as the eye can see in all directions. This makes it pretty difficult to take bad photos and the ones I have so far are certainly beautiful.
When we stopped for lunch, we were applauded by the porters upon arrival which made me feel slightly bad as they´d walked the same distance with 26kg on their backs way quicker than us and had set up a food tent and cooked lunch before we got there.
We were served a magnificent three-course meal. First was avocado with tomato salsa, then asparagus soup and then trout in an amazing sauce with potatoes, rice and a platter of vegetables.
Not only was it all delicious but also presented spectacularly. I have literally no idea how the cook did it, he is a genius.
The afternoon´s hike was only a couple of house and was fine, especially with all that lunch inside me.
We then had some time to rest and then dinner, which was once again incredible and ended with a banana in some alcoholic sauce. Suffice to say there was enough alcohol to make me enjoy it - I´m not one for bananas and haven´t had one for about sixteen years.
After dinner I just crashed.
Tough day ahead.
JG
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