Well, night one of camping didn't go exactly as planned. In the middle of the night I woke up without being able to breathe! I took layers off and thought that positive thinking and telling myself to calm down would work but it didn't. My heart started racing and I got even more desperate; I couldn't breathe properly and decided to go get the guides since they said to wake them up if anything happened. Jeiko and Elias came to help and said that I was panicking and they gave some stuff to sniff that helped me breathe better! I think the altitude really messed up with me!
At 5am we got our wake up call along with some coca tea and by 6:30 we were all ready to go for our longest hike... 16 km from Wayllambamba to Payqamayo.
Before we left we took a group pic with the porters.
Today is the hardest day in the Inka Trail, it is a long and steep path all the way to the Dead Woman's pass or Warmiwañusca, the highest point in the trail at 4198m, and then all the way down to camp!
I of course was having a "little" anxiety about today since it's really hard and steep! I didn't even have an appetite in the morning...
We started the hike and it seemed as if we were going through the jungle! Mia and I took it slowly and made sure to enjoy the view, took a couple of breaks, and pictures. I love looking at the stream going down next to us and the trees with moss. We also took our time to take pictures of the pretty flowers along the way.
While hiking we encountered some people doing the inca trail MARATHON.... Say whaaaat? Some people are crazy! They started at 5am and were planning on reaching Machu Picchu at around 3pm... Super crazy! I can barely survive 4 days!!!
After a couple of hours we finally reached our first official resting spot, LulluchApampa, where the rest of the group was waiting for us. The higher we went the colder it got! It got to a point that my hands were freezing and Mia took her gloves off and gave them to me... God bless her heart!
After the first resting spot we had 2 more hours of very steep hiking to do to reach the Dead woman's pass... I put my camera away and concentrated on not dying! Haha the altitude was being really tough on me! I had a massive headache and felt as if my brain was compressing, and I wanted to throw up most of the time going up!
Jeiko saw me struggling and encouraged me to take more breaks and make sure to breathe very deeply. At one point he took my backpack and carried it for me for about 30 mins. Ten minutes or so before reaching the dead woman's pass I asked for my backpack back and started hiking and telling myself I could do it.
For me this was the worst part of the whole inca trail... The last 10 minutes before the pass... I saw some of the people in the group make it and I could see everybody and hear everybody but somehow it was really really hard to make it! Thank God for Jeiko and staying with me and being so nice about it! God bless the Inca trail guides' hearts... So much patience!
I finally reached Warmiwañusca and I was dizzy and out of breath. I sat down for about 10 mins while everybody was taking jump shots and what not... I couldn't move! It took me some time to recover. I was proud of myself because it meant that I survived the inca trail... Sam looked at me and said "I knew you could do it!" I like it how many of us in the tour are really taking care of each other, making sure we are doing ok during the hike!
After some rest it was time to go down a very steep hill for about 1 1/2 hours... It was terrifying and hard on the knees but slowly and surely I made it before 2 pm!
Once in the campsite they served us lunch but I couldn't eat, I was feeling so sick that I went straight to my tent and sleep until dinner time when I joined everybody for more shit head in the tent!
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