Inca Trail – day 2

22.October:
During the night I woke up at about 2.30am to take a piss. This was not something you would like to do when it’s pitch black and freezing cold..

At about 5.30 we heard some scratching on the tent sail. It turned out to be a couple of porters, that wanted us to know that the breakfast was ready – nice service

After brekkie we got introduced to the whole crew and everyone in the group introduced themselves for the crew. Then we had some name games where we were supposed to remember randomly chosen porter’s names. This was close to impossible. In my defense I have to say that there were 21 porters and all of them were dressed the same.. Nonetheless, we were easily beaten by the porters who synchronously yelled out the names of everyone in our group except for Collin for some reason.. hehe. I guess they thought that was a hard name to pronounce or something like that.

the whole group with all the porters

We started to climb at 7.30am at 3000m (above sea level) and going for an elevation of 3300m in the first pass. As it was really chilly in the wee hours of the morning, most of us had put on too much clothes and had to strip off a couple of layers after about 30 minutes. We then continued to 3300m and had a break at Ayapata, which means the dead place. This site really lived up to its name as we discovered a human skull and a bone that even the porters had never seen before, just before we sat down for a rest. At this point, the weather was perfect, not to warm, no rain and a slight breeze.

the human skull we found - apparently not all tourists made it all the way to Machu Picchu

human bone we found

having a short break at Ayapata

After the break we started on the infamous Stair Master – a 400m elevation climb consisting of almost only long and high stairs. This part of the day went surprisingly well! We reached Lullujampampa and had a break with popcorn(!) and small snacks. Getting served popcorn on top of a mountain is not something I’m used to, but I was thrilled about it and it was very tasty! This spot also offered a great view of the steep and green mountains surrounding us on all sides.

Milan after reaching Lullujampampa

We then begun the last climb of the day from 3700m to 4215m. At this point I had developed a very strong and charming cough! Oosj! I kept on coughing for the rest of the day and it just got worse. I feel sorry for the people in my group who had to be around me, possibly living in constant fear of contracting the swineflu or something similiar. The first part up to 4000m went pretty damn well, but the last..Aah the last part.. The last 200m elevation was very steep and took quite some time to finish. It truly was a great excillyrating feeling to reach the top at 4215m. We had made it! We had made it to the highest peak of the trip – Warmawanuaska! At the top the view was great on the side we had just climbed, while the other side of the mountain was very foggy at first. At the top we met this 79 year old Norwegian guy playing “seier’n er vår” on a harmonica! Now that’s impressive

Warmiwanuska at 4215m

at 4215m above sea level

along with the 79 year old Norwegian guy playing harmonica

After a short break and a photoshoot, we headed down 700m (hight meters) and made camp at 3500m at 3pm in Pacaymayo. I have to say that trekking down 700 meters just after reaching the ultimate top of the trip felt a bit weird and demoralizing, but then again we head to keep on moving and it’s better to sleep low and climb high during the day time.

When reaching the camp I had a bit of a headache so I went for a sleep straight after lunch and slept till dinner. Dinner was great as usual and afterwards we wern to bed at 9pm (still feeling a bit tired, and still coughing, after what is considered to be the toughest day of the trek).

At dinner, Oskar (our guide) told us some stories about Peru and Bolivia. Bolivia has a small coastline to the Pcific where there are a lots seagulls. The poop from these birds contains a lot of nitrogen that can be used for explosives (believe it or not). Boliviaused to sell the nitrogen to Chile, but now Bolivia wanted higher prices for their “goods”.Chile refused and sent a massive force to Bolivia and took this coastline area. Peru, on the other hand, had a mutual military assitance contract with Bolivia and was thus emersed into the conflict. They sent forces to Bolivia trying to negotiate on both sides. Bolivia pulled away their forces, leaving Peru alone in the conflict! Chile then sent more forces, as they had a massive army, and took over a couple of areas in the south of Peru. Peru did not get these areas back until ten years later. After this, the Bolivians hate Chileans and for some unknown reasonthey also hate Peruans..

As an illustration of this  Oscar told us about a group of Chileans who went to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. They were driven out to the middle of the salt desert by a guide. Then the guide told them to go out of the car to take som pictures and explore the area. The moment they left the car the, the driver (who was Bolivian) just drove of leaving them in the middle of the desert. Alone. They had no food and no supplies. No clothes to protect them from the freezing cold when the night came. They wandered around in the desert with no reference point for 8 hours. Then suddenly a car came by, which is really rare. Just seeing a car at the place they were at is incredible in itself! They started running towards the car. The guy in the car pulled over, but demanded about 500USD pr person to save them, when he realised that they were from Chile. This was rediculous, but the alternative was dying in the middle of the desert, so they had to pay.

Well, apparently so strong is the hate between Bolivians and Chileans that some Bolivians will go to the extent of leaving Chileans to die in the desert while others will demand insane amounts of money to save them. But then again, this might all be a scheme to get money out of the poor Chileans.. who knows..?