Peru Adventura Day 3

So. Here’s a funny story. I am an idiot. I had been working nights for a week before leaving. I got off work Sunday morning. Slept for 3 hours then we went to church, a family function, then to airport. Flight was cancelled so we slept from 10-6. Then got up Monday. And Monday all night was spent sitting on floor in airport. Basically my body was used to being up at night. We slept Tuesday night just fine but had been up for almost 24 hours at that point 

Why am I telling you this? Well. Last night at expedition check in, I set an alarm for 3:45. Unsure if I would be sleepy or wakeful. We came home. Packed and showered and (by the way Eli used all the hot water, I took a cold wakeful shower) went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. So. I took a Unisom. And dozed off. Still feeling tired I dreamed of missing our bus to the start of the trail. Well at 3:58 I heard something in the street ( it is Cusco festival week) and I figured it was just partying. But in my dream, I thought it was our tour guide. So I looked at my phone and had a full adrenaline surge. 

“ELI GET UP THEYRE GONNA BE HERE IN 2 min”

He was out. I shook him awake. We dressed and headed out. 

So yeah. Working nights is hard. But switching back while traveling. And setting an alarm for 3:45, always check am or pm. 

As I write this in the bus to starting point he is asleep on my leg. 

So we finally met up with the group and took a 2 hour bus ride to the start of the trail. They fed us a banana pancake and gave us granola bars. They went through all the safety stuff and walked us to starting point. It was Peru’s winter so cold in the 40’s at first then warming up during the day. 

Here is our big group 16 signed up 14 hiked. 


Look at how fresh and clean smelling we are. Note the lack of trail dust. 

Still so full of hope and mystery. 

So these are the porters. The real men. They carry 55 lb up in the hill. Like it was nothing. One of the guys was 65 years old. He carries the toilet. 


This was a break point. 

The backdrop was amazing. Note the snow in the background. 

These are the ruins.  The first that we hiked too. It was a produce and storage facility for the Inka trail from Cusco to Machu Picchu and amazon. They stored potatoes. Beans. Corn. Clothes and weapons here. 

I think it was Wayllabamba. 




We had lunch. 

Camping at Ayapata. 10829 feet. 



Here is our camp site. They introduced us to our porters. All are Kichwa, they speak Spanish as a second language. kichwa is a local dialect, an Inkan dialect. May even predate the Inka. These guys were super awesome. 



What a beautiful evening.