South America Adventure: DAY 15: DAY 3 OF THE INCA TRAIL!

The night was beyond freezing! But I was glad I was able to breathe normally and rest.

Once again we had a 5am wake up call and by 6:30 we had our backpacks on and started the hike.

I was a little more relaxed about today's hike because I knew the worst part was behind us but I could see how steep the hike ahead of us was so there was still some nervousness.

Jeiko said the first 2 hours were going to be up hill but we were going to stop in the middle to look at an inca ruin. At the top of the hill we would reach an elevation of 3998m. Today's hike is the longest... Aproximately 8 hrs (16 km) from Paqaymayo to Wiñaywana.

Today Michelle, Mia, and I were at the back walking slowly, chit chatting, enjoying the hike and surprisingly we reached the first ruin in 35 mins... Which meant that we weren't all that far from reaching the top! Yeay! At the ruins Jeiko explained a little bit of its history and gave us some time to take pictures.

Here he is doing a great job:

The next steep half went also really quickly since I got to talk to Jeiko about my trip to South East Asia and it took my mind off the nervousness of going up hill.

Mid way we found a little lagoon in the middle of the trail and took the opportunity to take some pictures and rest.

Once at the top of the hill the scenery was spectacular... A true 360* of pure mountains surrounding us! I specially likes the mountains with the white tops!

(No picture will make it justice)

Here we are showing our muscles and how strong we are:

Some people in the group decided to go with Jeiko and explore some other inca ruins but I decided to save some energy and keep hiking the trail with Elias and the ones who didn't want to visit the ruins.

I think deep down the 5 of us who didn't go to the ruins felt a little cool that we were the "first ones" on the trail. For me it was more of a relief knowing that I wasn't holding anybody back.

From the orientation Jeiko was very clear that the group could not be separated so no matter how fast or slow some people were everybody had to get together at the resting spots and wait for each other.

Our "advantage" didn't last long after about 10 mins in Chaquiqocha, the resting spot, people from our group started to show up.

While we were waiting we gave our snacks to some of the porters and they were so happy. I gave my cheese sandwich to this porter sitting right across from me.

Then came another porter and I had to take a picture of his feet! These porters run the trail in sandals made out of tires and some times they put grass/ straw to probably cushion it a little... I'm impressed by how they can do the inca trail on those things!

Also, I have mixed feelings about them. I know it is their job but it feels like they do so much and looking at their dirty feet breaks my heart! The happiness on their face when we give them food is indescribable... I wish I could do more! I really hope they get paid well enough to provide for their families.

We started walking once again, this time I was left with Sam, Sita, Jay, and Jason and it was actually really nice! We walked again in what seemed to be the jungle and then the coolest thing happened.... We were in the middle of the clouds! We were literally walking in a cloud forest!!!! It was so beautiful!

A little later we arrived to Phuyupatamarka aka 'the town above the clouds" where we had lunch. When we arrived it was somehow clear and little by little it got cloudy and we were literally having lunch in the clouds... It felt special! Haha

I made sure to go say hi to the cooks and porters and see what was going on with them. In our conversation I happened to ask how long it takes for them to go down the hill; the looked at each other and very nonchalantly they said "FORTY MINUTES"... I was in disbelief!!! It will take us THREE HOURS... hats off to these men!

Today for lunch we had a big surprise, the chefs had prepared a buffet... Yes! A freaking buffet in the middle of the clouds! We got fried eggplant, vegetable salad, chicken salad, rice, fried chicken, stew with vegetables and cheese, mashed potatoes, a delicious egg, broccoli and cheese casserole and... Lemon pie for dessert! We were all very very very impressed!

(We even got fancy Napkin folding)

After a quick "siesta" time we were back to hiking. We stopped by another inca site quickly and then saw ops one porters resting and our porters running down the hill.

Every time porters were near we would scream "porters" and move to the left. This time I was so impressed by their running that I quickly got out my camera and took a video. It felt good when the porters saw me and recognize me and they said "señorita Andrea"... I felt like I had done something right, which was to take time to really connect with them and thanked them for their job. Based on my group I think people really don't do that and I do understand that there is a language barrier but for me I was happy that it wasn't an issue... I feel like sometimes it takes one person to really make a difference.

We kept walking and we reached "Intipati" an Inca site at 2840m. It was a very impressive site with many "beds" (or layers) and we took the time to take some silly group pictures.

While going down to our camp site we could hear the train whistle blowing down in Aguascalientes.... That only meant that we were that close the reaching Machu Picchu! Yeay!!!

After 9 hours of hiking we finally entered the camp site only to be informed that we were walking more to visit the Wiñaywayna ruins. Jeiko said that we needed to finish the inca trail right and visit those ruins and the extra walk was totally worth it!

At night after dinner the chefs had prepared a little surprise for Kate who was celebrating her bday on the first day of the inca trail. The chef made her a cake from scratch and we all sang happy birthday. After we sang she had to bite the cake and Elias pushed her face down and she got it all over... Hilarious! We were all cracking up.