Inca Trail - Day Three

Effrey had us up at 5am as today was the "long" day. He became quite anxious when he saw another group heading out before us and urged us to hurry up a bit. My back is killing me today - TG for portable heating pads.

Heading out it was very very steep and Sophie and I were soon down to our usual coping methods - her with her iPod, me cursing silently outward but loudly inward. About 1 hour into the hike, we came to a ruin but it was 100 steps straight up to see it. I took a pass and continued on by myself while the group went up. The path changed to flat and downhill, the landscape from rocky mountain to cool forest. No one was around me at all, which was lovely and peaceful. And so I walked for about 30 minutes and then of course, the others caught up. Across the valley, we could see smoke. Effrey said it was farmers burning their fields to prepare for the rainy season. Then up along the side of the mountain we went, through several tunnels and along narrow paths with sheer drops on the side.

Lunch was on top - freezing cold even with my fleece on. Washroom was funny - in the middle of a field a portapotty on top of a hole in the ground. Door wouldn't close but view was lovely once you managed to balance.

Then after lunch came the stairway to hell - about one hour of steep and uneven stairs down to the next Inca ruin - no way to skip or rush so it was thud! thud! all the way down. The ruin was interesting and gave us a bit of a break before another hour of stairs down. Where the trees broke, we could see the larger ruins, small in the distance, of where we were headed for the last camp. They looked so small I wondered how we would ever get there.

It took about one hour to reach them and when we did, it felt like we had reached the end of the world. This was my favourite moment of the Trail. I remember sitting on one of the higher plateaus and dangling my legs over the edge and feeling very very happy.

Another 15 minutes we were in the last camp: 9 hours of hiking, including breaks. Camp was rowdy as all the groups got there eventually and there was beer and showers to be had. We kept clear though as we were to be up at 4am for the final hike to Machu Picchu. I found it a bit jarring to be in so much noise again and the sound of the train startled me.

That night after dinner, we said goodbye and thank you to the cooks and porters. They were to leave on the earliest train in the morning, taking a shortcut down the mountain with all the gear. Only two carried our duffle bags to Agua Calientes to leave them at a restaurant for us to pick up later. We put all our tips into one pile (150 soles each) and Effrey sorted all the tips out by seniority. Cook and assistant cook get most, then head porter, then a bunch of money to be divided among the others. We all had larger bills when 20s and 10s would have been best. Then he called everyone together and we stood rather awkwardly about when he asked us to say something and he would translate it for them. I said thanks to the two men who brought us cocoa tea every morning. Someone else generally thanked the cooks, others picked specific things like me, so I think we covered everyone. One of the porters moved forward and said he hoped we had had a pleasant journey. In order of hierachy, four of us - the three men in the group and I - handed the tips to the appropriate receiver and shook hands. Then we shook hands and said thank you to each person and the tipping ritual was done.