Pain Sweet Pain yet an unbelievable accomplishment

Trip Start Sep 09, 2005

Trip End Dec 23, 2005

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Home Sweet Home Ollantaytambo

(Ollantaytambo hotels)

Flag of Peru Inca Trail, Peru
Thursday, September 15, 2005

If I had access to a computer or phone on the first �real� day of the hike, I would have begged and pleaded everyone to pool their money to rent a helicopter to get me out the pure hell that I was in. But I�m here typing in the Varig lounge in the Lima airport, so I�m obviously alive. I�m waiting for my flight to Rio, so I�ll see how much I can get in.

Wednesday morning we left Cuzco City, which used to be the capital city of the Inca Empire, through the sacred valley following a path of Inca ruins and to the city of Ollantaytambo to view the fortresses. We stopped for lunch near the Inka temples of Pisaq, a small highland village, where we were given an hour free time to wander around. I found an old woman weaving these beautiful belts. I picked out the colors I wanted, and watched as she tailor made mine for me, with natural fibers spoon into cotton and died with the buds from a cactus - all for $3 - amazing really

Day before the hike - me

. I have a picture, but can�t upload on this computer.
Anyway, after a day of uphill (ha - upmountain) and downhill climbs, mini caves and history lessons, I felt like I had an idea of what was in store for me over the next 4 days. I was tired after 9 hours, but I could handle it. At the end of the day we headed to the Ollantaytumba Lodge, which was more like private barracks than a lodge! Foam pads on top of wood planks for our final night in a �hotel�.

5am Thursday, we are up to meet for breakfast, many people in our group are sick from the altitude - nothing you want to experience - and nervous about the continuing increase in the elevation over the next few days. Luckily, I medicated myself up nicely and was feeling ok (if I ignore how tired I was, no one seemed to sleep, outside our rooms the night before it sounded like the entire animal kingdom was fighting allll night and the rooms aren�t heated...temp dropped to about 35 degrees). We boarded our van to ride to the famed Kilometer 82. As we were dropped off at the base of the Andes mountains, the sun rising, the temp was about 38-40 and everyone had a muted nervousness to them. I had to buy a hat from a highland woman because i was unprepared for the cold. (It is hand knit with llamas all over it with ear flaps - so appropriate.) Being that we were only allowed to pack 4 kilos for the porters to carry, I ended up with 8 kilos on my back - 3 times the recommended amount - but I was concerned about drinking the river water and thought I could handle the extra weight

Day before the Hike - team

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The morning went along fine, breathing was definitely noticeably more difficult with the lack on oxygen, but I was holding my own. The goal for day one, cover 10 miles and increase elevation by 3,500 feet. Keeping in mind, that each step is close to taking two stairs at a time - with a third less oxygen. We stopped in Wayllabamba, a tiny highland village where the people speak Quechua, a language they have been using for centuries. Here our porters had raced ahead of us to set up a meal tent, where we had a warm lunch waiting. These porters were amazing, it is a feat of the human body actually. They carry about 60-70 pounds on their backs and race up the mountains like nothing you�ve ever seen. Anyway this is where my day seemed to change. With 12 in our group, we tended to hike at different paces, separating us at times by almost an hour. While in the morning, I was near the front, after lunch, I couldn�t take ten steps without gasping for air. My inhaler didn�t seem to help, the elevation was too much. I fell back and hiked with the tail of our team for a few hours. As mid/late afternoon arrived, porters came by and kindly took our day packs, to help assist us with the speed of the rest of the hike. I had no idea how bad this actually was. I started to get antsy in the back and hike ahead on my own. About a 1/2 hour into it, the temp drastically dropped. I had a t-shirt and sweat shirt on, cargo pants (ones I bought with Janelle in San Diego, aka - very light weight) and was carrying a poncho, nothing else

In the Morning before the rains

. The sky clouds over dark and a torrential rain starts to come down, for the next hour. I�m soaked to the bone, freezing, out of breath, have been on my own for well over an hour, the sun is going down, I don�t have a flash light and the rain turns to hail. It�s about 15 minutes into this, that I have lost all motivation to keep moving - you could say the will to live - you legs want to give out, my lungs couldn�t keep up, and I didn�t even know if I was still on the right path. I sat down on a rock and waited for 30 minutes hoping, to no avail, the back of the group would catch up. To say the least, as I coaxed myself each step up the rest of the way, I thought I had made the biggest mistake in choosing this trip. Just at sundown I finally arrived at the camp, the first half already there, shivering in their sleeping bags trying to warm up. We had some hot chocolate hoping it would help - not quite, a light dinner, and headed to our tents for the night. Instead of sleeping, most of us laid there shivering, listening to the sounds of our teammates running from their tents to be sick...and it went on all night long. To say the least, when we were called for breakfast the next morning at 6am, it was hard to be motivated to start the next day.

I have to catch my flight. I will update later....hope all is well with everyone...