Day 263
Day 3 of Trek on the INCA TRAIL to Phuyupatamarca, Cusco, Peru
Machu Picchu Trek Day 3 of trek 12km´s today
Woke early. 5am. The first morning tea was cocoa leaves..and the water to wash presented itself before i was ready. I wasn´t feeling at all excited about getting going today. My shoes were still not properly broken in so my little toes were suffering. I had to bandage them up. It was going to be a 12km ´a bit up, and a bit down´day today.
We were still having trouble breathing. We walked 5km before our morning tea stop. Between morning tea and lunch our walk elevated upward for 2km over Warmiwanusca pass which was at an altitude of 4215m. It´s commonly called the Dead Woman´s Pass!
We kept on keeping on...walking up...then came a steep descent then up again to Runcuracay to a little place that looked like a ruin..in the shape of a dome. Runcuraracay actually mean´s ¨resting place´.
An interesting name..because at this point, Greg and i were behind the group (again) but up ahead we saw a group of people ascending. We saw the American group guide resting outside this dome, didn´t think much of it, but decided we´d better not rest and because we were behind, we´d better keep trekking regardless.
SO on we went...until Trish past us....then Barb was behind us and said, ¨Jose was waiting for you in the Dome!¨
Great. We did not realise that or we would have stopped to rest, THAT´S FOR SURE!
We were feeling a bit peeved and short tempered a this point...so any little thing like that was just enough strengthen and illuminate those feelings.
Then..that little saga paled into insignificance when it STARTED RAINING!
Out came our ponchos. And that covered our backpack and it covered a good bit of us. So we thought!
Soon..the rain was pelting down, the rocks became slippery, our shoes got tested and water was pouring into them from the stream that was being formed on the track..the wind picked up, our nerves started fraying...and it started cracking with thunder and lighting. The altitude was over 4000m and we were worried we´d get hit.
We kept trekking.
Soon we were slushing in the huge stream in the track.
Weird, Greg had asked just before where the water he saw in some of the puddles on the trak had come from...and where the water from the gorgeous waterfalls had come from.
Well, he found out! It was from the HEAVY RAIN that just developed and continued once it started!
By this time, i was slowing down. It was an ascent and even the walking poles were not that helpful at this point. Trying to keep the poncho away from the front view so i could see the steps in front is a big hard when the hands are fully occupied by clinging on to the poles for balancing purposes!
I found a cave..and stopped. Jose caught up. My hands had frozen. I didn´t want to put my jacket on because that was all i had for when we stopped if the porters didn´t have our duffle bags ready. But it was bad luck. I was saturated and needed to pull the jacket out of my pack to wear NOW.
My hands were so frozen i couldn´t even undo my pack!!!!!
The cold was my undoing.
Of all the things..going up and feelingl nauseas...going down and feeling the strain....nothing was like feeling the fear of the cold.
I started crying...................
Oh my....
Jose got heat pads out so i could warm my hands...and Greg found some plastic bags to cover my hands over my poles so i could get to the campsite.
Everyone else had passed us.....
And here i was havng a stress attack at being cold.
That was the only point i had realised how illprepared we really were. We had not received the appendium for the trek because we were not in Perth to collect it, priority mail. Our travel agent had not told us...nor had the trekking company told us what we should bring on the trek.
We had to rely on what we read on the net prior to the trek and what we found out the night before at the ´trek preparation meeting´
Having a change of clothes, or clothes for wet weather was not something we´d thought about. Everyone else had a change of clothes in their packs. We didn´t.
Greg was suffering as well. And having the knowledge that we were about to descent 1000 steps did not help him. His calves were giving him hurry curry.
What happened next was not short of a miracle.
I seemed to get a second wind on the 3km steep descent. The oxygen level in my blood must have increased because i started practically dancing down the rocks....heat pad and plastic bag in both hands, covering my walking poles....
Boots charging off before even i could catch them. Pounding down and down and down...
I passed everyone..saying, ¨lemme past, i´ve got to get warm!¨ My catchcry! I couldn´t believe it. I think they wondered what gust of wind shot by beside them!
Greg and i were actually the third ones into the salvation of the warm tent on the third day!
Lunch had never tasted so good. Hot soup wih french fries!
We were still cold....and shivering our heads off as Jose wondered what to do about the pelting rain....but at least´we´d arrived in one piece, at least minutes in front of the other´s...and freezingly in good spirts. Except Greg had chronic sore calves.
We had arrived at The Qonchamarca which was at an altitude of 3600m.
Soon, afternoon tea was served...
We ended up staying put at our campsite. The Dry Lake, or Chaqui Cocha. And it was the first time i just sat there, and thanked god, that we were warm! I´d say, after that experience, i felt i could do anything..and i decided you could never under estimate the tortoise and that IS for sure!!!!! We became the hare on Day 3!
That night we had dinner and then told ghost stories!!! We found out that David senses ghosts..and in fact, doesn´t just sense them..he feels them. Lots of interesting experiences came out of Jim´s one conversation opener..Ï´m going to tell you a ghost story!¨
We all fell into bed again at about 9pm.
And i couldn´t get into my sleeping bag...grrr...
Why is it when you´re tired your voice gets higher....(and hence more audible to neighbours!!) In the end i was trying to rouse greg out of his slumbourous state to help...and he wouldn´t budge. Grrr....trekking makes everyone tired and helpless.
It teaches us to be totally resourceful unto only ourselves in the end.
I chucked the liner out, and found my way into the bag!
And grumbled myself to sleep! With gloves, furry hat and heat pads stuck into my socks!!!!! IT WAS A FREEZING NIGHT!!!!
Our tents.......
