In the morning I got up way too early. It was getting late. Very late. The early morning sun was beating down on my massive pack and me. I was getting worried. Where was the bus! It turned out the driver of the bus had not been informed of me. The person I booked it with came to my hostel in a taxi and we chased down the bus and I made it. Barely. If this was a sign of things to come I was terrified. Why was I doing this?
After a few hours on a muddy, bumpy road through a beautiful valley in the Andes, we were there. The busload got out and stretched, checked their packs and donned rain ponchos as it was beginning to rain. What happened to the sunshine? Rain?!? What was I doing up here?
Having no idea where to go, I followed some other hikers. I also didn’t know where we were supposed to buy our tickets for the trail and Machu Picchu. I just started hiking. The trail was basically flat for the first little bit. The sun broke through the high clouds and it started to warm up. I shed my rain poncho first and then after a few minutes my T-shirt was off too. My pack wasn’t that bad and my legs felt good.
Before I knew it I was at the ticket hut. I stopped here for lunch. Amongst chickens and a rather noisy, hairy, black pig, I ate a sandwich. Then, after purchasing my tickets, I carried on, leaving the tour hikers behind. The trail was a little harder but not too bad. Plenty of places to stop and rest and get water. I passed Llactapata, which is the first ruin on the Inca trail. It was basically a series of badly ruined terraces. All around it was a yellow-green pasture of long grass. It was cool to see, but I didn’t stop to check it out. Hey, I was on my way to bigger and better ruins.
The first day proved to be very tiring. I set up camp at the furthest camp I could find. Actually it was just a farmers field. The last hour of hiking that day was brutal. Steep, rainy and many Peruvian men approached me and asked if I wanted a porter for the second day. I told them all that I didn’t want a porter. One man even said to me: “Second day is hell, Se�or!” Great. I had heard it was bad, but with all these men trying to get porter jobs, maybe it was worse than I was expecting. I had a big dinner and then crawled into my tent and fell asleep.
My legs were silly putty the next morning. I ate a large breakfast and brewed up some coca tea. “Yes! This stuff works!” I said to myself. The rain from the night before had stopped and the view out of my tent was amazing. Everything was a rich green, the green you think of when you imagine the rolling hills of Ireland. These were not rolling hills though; they were jagged and steep ominous mountain slopes on either side of me, blanketed in vegetation. They formed the steep valley I had hiked up the day before, and was now looking down. The morning mist was slowly rising into the sun filled sky. I was looking down toward the village of Huayllabamba and being inspired by the harsh beauty of this place. I was feeling better and was eager to take on the steep, daunting second day. After packing up all my stuff I headed up my first hill of the day with a good attitude. I was gonna be alright.
A few hours later the effects of the coca tea had worn off and my legs were not functioning the way they were designed. I stopped for lunch and felt ill as I forced food down my throat. I had now acquired a rather heavy cough and a scratchy wheeze. I continued up. What I had originally thought was my first hill, was actually a mountain. I can’t describe how absolutely horrible I felt as I neared the highest point on the trail. I could see a few people ahead of me sitting. They were resting at the pass called Abra de Huarmihuanusca (Dead Woman’s Pass). I was now walking for five minutes, and then resting for five minutes. That got worse as I got closer to the pass. I was only walking for a minute and then resting for five. My cough became painful and I couldn’t help but think I had altitude sickness. Liquid was filling my lungs. I was terrified.
Read all five parts of the adventure!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five