19/04/2011 (posted 23/04/2011)
Had a truly stunning start to the day. I was woken up (albeit at 5am) with a cup of tea brought to my tent. It was made with Coca leaves, magical leaves with loads of vitamins that the porters swear by for energy and the Incas used in rituals and stuff.
We were then served an outrageously good breakfast. There was fresh fruit salad, yoghurt, bread, jam, porridge and for Coleen´s birthday, pancakes. They really do spoil us.
I absolutely packed it in because, as alluded to on previous days, Day Two is the hardest of the four.
Edwin said we´d split the hike into four sections, so we set off at 7:15am.
The first section wasn´t too hard - Edwin estimated 80 or 90 minutes but I polished it off in 45, no problem.
The second was really tough. It was maybe 75% uphill and included some steps up which are tougher than you may think, especially with 14kg on your back at around 3700m above sea level.
But I made it ahead of schedule and thankfully there was a tap at the checkpoint so I washed my face.
We then had second breakfast which was bread and cheese, popcorn?! and biscuits. I couldn´t stop myself and probably ate too much.
The third section was perhaps 95% uphill and included many more steps. What made it even more daunting was that from the very beginning, you could see the finish point and it seemed so high up and far away, probably because it was high up and far away. I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath - we were getting seriously high at this stage.
It´s hard to describe how tough it was but take it from me, it was very tough. By the time I got to the top I was exhausted and didn´t even have the energy to take my bag off which makes no sense.
It´s 4215m high and trust me, you feel it. The air is thin, there´s a biting cold wind and this is added to fatigue and dehydration from walking and sweating profusely.
We were told to wait for everyone so I waited an hour in total, in which time my headache went but I got progressively colder. Hardly surprising.
We then began section four - downhill. This may sound easy and a nice rest but it was not nice at all. It was all down stairs and with each step, my bad lifted and then fell again on my shoulders. After two hours, this really hurt.
But finally we arrived at the campsite. I never thought this time was going to come.
My legs were shaking like jelly and my shoulders were extremely sore, but I got here in one piece.
We had lunch a little while later which again blew my mind. Mini pizza, soup, beef in a delicious sauce, rice, fried yuca and beans. Sooo much and all delicious. I then topped it off with a camomile tea. Lush.
We then had three and a half hours free time, in which I just slept.
The campsite´s not awful in itself bu unfortunately, our pitch is right near the toilets and occasionally the smell drifts over.
However the layers of dried sweat all over my body probably also contributed to the cheesy smell in my room.
We had some tea and then a massive dinner which I just about fitted in. As it is Coleen´s birthday, we also had an amazing elaborately decorated cake which I have no idea how they made up here, and some wine. It tasted really really good at the end of a long day but I´m kinda worried I´ll be hanging tomorrow - alcohol at 3600m maybe isn´t a great idea.
After dinner, I jumped into bed and somehow managed to ignore the cold and my reeking body and got to sleep.
JG
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