Neither of us slept much on the night before the hike started. We were laying awake when the alarm went off at 4 a.m. After a quick shower, knowing that there wouldn't be another one for awhile, we headed out to the lobby for the 4:30 a.m. van pickup.
Freddy (our guide) and P&G, our companions, were waiting out front. It was about a three hour drive before we stopped in a small town to meet up with our porters, who all live in the town near the trailhead. Freddy gave us 30 minutes to have breakfast and coffee. During that break, "P" confided to us that he hadn't been feeling well since arriving in Cusco. He was already taking prescribed Diamox as a preventative for altitude sickness.
About thirty minutes later, we arrived at the trailhead. Before each day, Freddy gave us an idea about what to expect from the trail. This day would be the flattest and shortest day with a gradual incline in the morning and steeper "ramps" later in the day.
We took pictures at the beginning of the trail and then crossed the footbridge at about 8:30 a.m.
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| P,G,J&J |
Freddy's trail descriptions were always accurate, which is a good thing in terms of setting expectations. Things were easy in the beginning, and there were some small luxuries that we enjoyed. Due to being close to the trailhead town, small entrepreneurs set up small snack stores along the first part of the trail. Here, Julia and I stopped for fresh squeezed orange juice. Freddy and G had smoothies.
The trail continued along on flat or gradual terrain.
Then Freddy turned to us and said, "Here, things will change." That was pretty much the last we saw of flat trail during the week.
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| Heading Up |
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| Looking back down |
On the other side of the knob, we looked down on Inca ruins and terraced agricultural fields.
Continuing higher up, we came across ruins that we could explore on our own without other tourists.
We continued to climb until about 11:30 a.m. when we met up with our porters and cook, who were preparing lunch. This is where my hiking experience diverged from any other hikes that I've ever done. The porters laid out tarps for our backpacks. A cooking/dining tent was set up. On one side of the partitioned tent, our cook and his helpers prepared a three course meal for lunch. On the other side, there was a small table and chairs set up for Freddy and the four "guests." We often had popcorn as an appetizer and then some kind of soup. That was followed by the main course, which varied. Water was taken from whatever source was available, boiled, and then cooled to be available to refill our water bottles. Coca tea was also available.
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| Waiting for lunch to be served |
2 comments:
This hike may have been pricy but it already sounds like you get a lot for the money!
This was my first and likely only "supported hike" partly because I'm too cheap to ever do something like this again and partly because it made me feel guilty to watch the heavily-laden porters hike with 40-50 lb packs while I strolled along with my day pack. On the other hand, Julia would not have been able to complete this hike without the pack support, and it was fun to hike with her. Meals differed significantly from my oatmeal breakfast, a few handfuls of homemade trail mix for lunch, and a single pot noodle dish for supper, all of which is my typical backpacking food.
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