At first I thought I had forgotten it at the last camp, but I knew I had seen it at lunch the day before. Second, I thought perhaps an animal of some sort had snagged it, but the zipper to my tent was done up. There aren’t many animals that would do a zipper back up after it had stolen your food. What I thought happened, and still maintain, was that someone had unzipped the front part of the fly on my tent and taken what they could reach, then zipped it back up. I was, of course, oblivious to any goings on outside my tent for obvious reasons. It rained incredibly hard so I couldn’t have heard anything.
Bite the bullet time… “Hi, someone stole some of my food last night and I won’t have enough for tomorrow. Would it be alright if I traded you a little smokey-smoke for some porridge/ granola/ bread/ pasta?” Almost everyone I asked pitched in and I had a full belly and felt quite good.
Time to start for the third camp. Everyone pretty much stays at the same camp the third day so I figured I would be one of the earliest and get a choice spot. The third day was by far the most aesthetically pleasing. Excellent views of snow capped mountains and huge ruins set among massive terraced mountainsides. The trail led me through the green jungle. The foliage was dense with huge leaves and trees that were completely alien to me. My legs felt good and my cough was minimal. I got to the third camp before 11:00 am and scouted out for a place to put my tent.
I set up my tent on a place with a great view of Phuyupatamarca (Cloud-Level Town). I was finishing getting my tent all up and setting things out to dry when a porter, who worked for a tour company, approached me. He said he already had that place. I explained, in my best Spanish, that there was no tent there so I had taken that spot. He then proceeded to get extremely mad. Instead of pissing off a tour company I decided to move. I found another place away from him and another porter said he had all these places. He told me to find somewhere else. I got a little angry. I was the first camper there dammit! All the people in the tour groups were way behind and they get their tents in the best places! Finally, I compromised with another porter and found a place beside his “reserved” area. This spot came with decent view. All the camp areas were a mixture of mud and sand, but this one was especially muddy. There was also a noticeable hint of urine.
That night the people from Alaska and I walked down a trail a little way to the restored ruin of Huinay Huayna (“Forever Young”). It was the best yet. There was a main complex in the middle of a huge series of terraces. At the farthest point in the main complex of the ruin there was an incredible perch. You could sit on the edge of this outcrop and be dazzled. Look right and there was a waterfall. Look left and there was the snowy Andes in the distance. Look down and you’d receive the jungle far, far below. It felt amazing and I lit up a joint.
That night we had a great dinner. We all pitched in a little food and let these two girls from Quebec cook. It was the best meal I had in Peru. It fed five people easily. After dinner we hiked back to Huinay Huayna for another look and another spliff. Then we all retired for the night. There was drinking and dancing going on in the visitor centre there but I wanted to get up early and see the sunrise through the Gateway of the Sun: Intipunku.
I rose, ate, and headed off in the dark with a few other hikers armed with torches and exhaustion. We reached the Sun Gate forty-five minutes later and settled in to wait for the show. Slowly, other hikers trickled in and vied for the best place to sit. I passed around another treat among the group I had eaten dinner with last night. Then it happened. The sun broke over the mountains behind us and shone on Machu Picchu. All the dullness of the colours in front of me transformed into intensely vibrant greens and greys and browns. Machu Picchu was in sight and I was ready to get rid of the lead weight on my back and explore this magical place.
Machu Picchu had me.
Read all five parts of the adventure!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five