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- Giving an offering of coca leaves and a prayer to God for an enjoyable and safe journey.
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- Our first ruin we viewed along the trail XXX. Notice the walls that curve along with the river.
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- Lori hiking uphill on the first day of the trip, “the flat day.”
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- Lori chatting it up with our funny and informative guide Julio.
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- An orchid.
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- Some other native flower.
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- A porter runs up the four hour ascent (for us, not him) on the second day.
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- Porter Salomon.
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- Fabian.
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- Their favorite sandals.
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- This was actually our least favorite meal, but still really good.
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- Walter.
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- Salomon passes Lori a couple hours into the second day’s ascent.
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- A well-deserved rest at the top of Dead Woman’s Pass.
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- Our second night’s camp.
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- The valley where we camped the second night.
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- The ruins XXX, possibly a lodge for Incan couriers.
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- Starting to look a little worse for the wear on the descent from the second mountain pass.
So, a little about the porters.
When we booked the trail we thought we would be with a group of five or six other people, which seemed a good amount — not ungainly, but plenty of new friends to talk with. It turned out we got a private tour, just the two of us, which normally costs a lot more, but still wasn’t really what we wanted. It worked out mostly well, we moved at our pace and our guide was fun to talk to — although as a 25 year-old single guy, girls are pretty well constantly on the mind.
So with our little party of two came four porters and a cook who also strapped on about 55 pounds – the most they are allowed to by law. At first we couldn’t imagine how it was possible that they were carrying so much for the two of us, considering we carried all our own stuff except the tent and food. At the first lunch we quickly learned when we found an eating tent set up with table, chairs, tablecloth and silverware. We received a hot tea cooked over gas, then soup and crackers. At this point we were satisfied with our lunch. Then they brought out the most delicious trout we’ve eaten with mashed potatoes and rice. Every meal was like this, just unbelievable. We even had eggs on our second morning.
Those porters worked so hard to bring it to us. They ran up and down the trail that pushed our physical limits in order to beat us to our lunch spot and then to camp and have everything set up and waiting for us, and did it with such grace. It was a little embarrassing really. They do all the running in sandals made from tires. The agencies all bought them hiking boots once, but they just hung them on their backpacks and went down the trail in their sandals.
These men are mostly local farmers who make most of their living on the trail. They speak Quechua among themselves – the language of the Incans.
To me, maybe the most disappointing thing about the porters is that they don’t get to go with us to Machu Picchu. After the 4 a.m. breakfast on our last day, they run down and around a mountain to catch a 5 a.m. train back to their children, corn and quinua. Some porters have done the trail hundreds of times without ever seeing Machu Picchu.
Because of internet problems, the rest of the trip will be in the next post.
