I woke up around 5am from the sound of the Brits, who were up chatting and laughing. I tossed and turned all night, so I was not feeling very well. Staying in bed as long as possible, I hoped to get in a few more moments of shut eye. But, the fun outside my tent lured me up.
Today would be the most difficult of the entire Inca Trail hike. We had to ascend 4,200 ft to the Dead Woman’s Pass, at 13,891 ft. Then, we would drop 1500 ft to our camp at Pacaymayu. There was no question in my mind that I could physically handle the exertion…But, would I enjoy these challenges, when I was so sleep deprived?
At breakfast, we had scrambled eggs, veggies, toast with buns. I brought my own, high powered instant coffee. It was awesome, the boldness instantaneously dissolved the sleepyness. Everybody was excited about the hike ahead of us and were sharing stories of past Exodus adventures.
We started hiking towards Dead Woman’s Pass. It was a beautiful section of trail, with lots of flowers. Rolando kept pointing out the ones he knew and he would stay with you, if you wanted to take pictures. Very helpful!
After a couple hours, we stopped for lunch; onion soup with veggies and salad. We headed out again at around 1pm.
It took me a little over an hour to reach the pass. A few times, I got stuck behind small groups of porters. Burdened with huge 70-80 lb bags, these guys were loath to let anybody by them.
Once I passed a few of them resting and asked if they would take my picture. It was the only time I received a “no” answer, in the entire time I was in Peru. Carlos explained that the porters are very loyal, so since I was not one of their group, it was a no. He said I should ask our own porters instead…Que Interesante!
In a short period of time the weather changed, from pleasant to hailing to rain back to nice. It reminded me of our mountain weather, but a little more schizophrenic.
As I sat and waited for everybody to reach the pass, I noticed there were several tours vying to get to the top. The porters for the various groups were mixed in as well.
The trail leading back to the valley was thus dotted with every color of poncho imaginable. As I connected the poncho dots of color, I tried to guess what poncho matched with somebody in our group. It was tricky because I think most folks bought their ponchos at the same store in Ollantaytambo!
Finally, I saw Fiona hiking up the pass. Actually, she was more or less charging up the pass. I thought it was awesome…she definitely has pluck! Brenda arrived soon after. The group rested and we took a few pictures, but then another rain squall came in, so Carlos suggested we get a move on. He said our tents would be ready, from here on it was all downhill.
I was having such a great time, the views were amazing and I felt great. It was only a couple km to camp, so I thought I’d jog. Ciaran followed me down the stone steps and it started to rain. We descended rapidly into the mist and at some point I lost him.
I pressed onward down the trail enjoying the feeling of gliding over the stones. Occasionally, I flew by a porter and they were surprised a girl was passing them. A few of them commented about a crazy gringa or said rapido! I think the addition of my red poncho made my appearance even more dramatic. The rain by now was driving downward. Big huge drops the size of quarters…almost so big they hurt.
When I got to camp, there were only a few tents up. I asked if #16 was ready, but I don’t think the porters speak much Spanish, so they just looked kinda funny at me. I decided I should just wait in the mess tent. A couple of the porters were hanging out in there; holding their hands near the stove which was busy boiling water. When I arrived, they were all really surprised and they didn’t know what to do…they offered me a pail to sit on (there wasn’t a table set up yet!). I was soaking wet. So I shook off the poncho and tried to air out some things.
Ciaran came charging by about 10 minutes after me. Since his tent was ready, he just went straight there. Alex was about 10 minutes later. Steve was next, and as he sat down in the mess tent, I started laughing because he was steaming. It was hilarious. Or maybe it was the altitude which *made* it hilarious?
I kept peeking out to see if #16 was ready and it wasn’t. I had hoped to get into the tent and pull our sleep pads out, unpack our sleeping bags, and get it all situated…part of the reason for the run was to get it all set up so Brenda could just roll into camp and relax. But, as Dennis says, “No good deed goes unpunished.”.
By the time Brenda arrived, the tent was ready. So, there was nothing for me to do to help except stay out of the way and let her get settled. I felt a little bad though, because I really wanted to do something nice and I was robbed of the opportunity! Oh well.
I waited a few minutes and then went over to the tent. I could see that she was quite wet too, and looking forward to getting into her sleeping bag. At that point, we both took a nap and it was rather nice. After about an hour, I woke up and meandered over to the mess tent. They were serving tea and graham crackers. The brits called them “grackers”, which I thought was really funny.
Decided to check out the campsite at Pacaymayu with some of the guys. We walked around for half an hour and when we got back we saw Brenda walking around…I was happy she got up from her nap and had a chance to check out our campsite. It was so pretty, with the mists rolling in and out, covering the mountains like a cloak.
Dinner was corn chowder, chicken with mushrooms over noodles with gravy. Very good! The dessert was “pudding” as defined by British culture. We socialized a bit after dinner and had a lovely time. Somebody brought rum so some had spiked their hot cocoa. While I was busy drinking my last Cuzquena beer…Fiona helped me finish it off. At altitude, even 5 percent alcohol is enough to get a good buzz! The porters kicked us out at 8:30pm so we headed off to bed.
Tags: Dead Woman's Pass, Exodus Tour, Hiking, Huayllabamba, Inca Trail, Pacaymayu, Peru