Inca Highlands Day 7 - Inca Ruins Galore

Waking up and extracting myself out of the sleeping bag on the morning of the third trail day was tough! Tough because of the ardurous day prior, and tough because it was early in the morning - 5:30/6am start. Some advice for people doing the tour... stretch. It really helps in the long run.

We were told that today was going to be another long day, 16 kilometers horizontally, wildly differing altitudes - "Peruvian flat" one of the tour guides joked. This was mostly true. Long, yet definitely not as tough. The great thing about the third day of the trek was that there was quite a bit to see!

The journey to the third and final peak began after another solid breakfast. The first sight of the day was only a short stroll away, the Inca guardhouse called Runkuraqay. As it was relatively early in the morning still, it was a quick fly by. That decision was primarly driven by the promise that there was plenty more to see.

The journey up to the peak of the second pass at 3,800m was steep due to the fairly large steps on the way up. Whilst the stairs were steep, the journey up to the summit seemed significantly easier. It's possible that the body was getting used to the tough inclines.

After a short stop with a bunch of the tour group it was time to move onward. The section to follow was the one between the second and third pass - this proved to be one of the most fun parts of the trail. The section consisted of a significantly steep descent, a block of Peruvian flat in the middle, followed by a moderately steep incline up to the third pass.

This section of the track was quite beautiful. The main reason for this being that it is the section that provides a view of the majestic Cloud Forest. Lush, fertile jungle speads ownwards as far as the eye can see at the bottom of a valley, accompanied by a fluid rolling mist that hovered just above. Photos that I took definitely couldn't capture the majesty of the place.

Along the way there was a significant Inca landmark for us to view, Sayacmarka. Sayacmarka was a large monestary-like building that was dominantly perched overlooking the cloud forest. As the mist was quite heavy I decided to skip the detour up to the ruin and continue onward.

Travelling down to Sayacmarka was highly entertaining as some of us were trying to get down at pace. Skipping through sections of steps seemed to be what the porters were doing, so this is what some of us attempted to do - with varying degrees of success. At several points along the trail I would let a porter pass through and I would attempt to follow them down as far as possible. One attempt of mine was even caught on video! As I had a yellow windproof jacket tied to my backpack I looked like a bit of a chicken waddling down the Inca trail.

After passing Sayakmartha we descended down lower into the Cloud Valley. Along the way, approximately 5 to 10 mintes onwards, there was another small outpost. Perhaps another guard post. Perching up on top of the walls of the little guard post proved to be an interesting rest point, as I could observe the other members of the group pass by the trail path just underneath.

Lunch was served just prior to the Phuyupatarnarka Inca site, at approximately 12:30pm. Originally we were meant to eat earler at the Chaquicocha campsite, yet this was moved further on as we were progressing quite well as a group. Lunch was another pleasant one... salad, soup, a particularly satisfying chicken drumstick, Inca version of fried rice, and a few salads. Yum, yum.

After lunch it was time for another Inca lesson, this time at the Inca site Phuyupatamarka. Here we learnt about the fundamentals of the Inca religion and the level of knowledge that the Inca had of astronomy. Impressive considering that the Inca had no formal standard of writing. Unless of course the whole talk was BS. Hah.

The cloud forest walk continued, not terribly difficult. The walk was quite leisurely with the guide Liborio accompanying us for a fair section of it - highlighting particular flora and fauna of the region along the way. Very interesting, although I struggle to recall much of it!

From Phuyupatarnarka there was approximately an hour or so descent followed by a choice marked by an electric power pylon. The quicker path lead to the Winay Wana campsite, the other would lead to the same campsite via the awe-inspiring views provided by Intipata. The Intipata route was chosen.
Plenty of mischevous snaps were taken at Intipata - including the Jestar starjump, a machete fight, and contemplative seated yoga poses. Intipata provided sweeping views of the river below and the towering land masses perched on each side.

Once we were over taking photos it was finally time to check into the campsite at Winay Wana. Campsite 2 to be precise. There was the option to do a further walk (not too far away) but just about everyone decided to stay at camp. The reason for this was that the rare commodities of hot showers and cold beer were available at the campsite!

I decided to make the 10 minute trek down to Winay Wana itself, rather than kick off my boots at the campsite. Unlike the some of the concave terraces seen along the Inca trail so far, the terraces of Winay Wana were convex. Not only were there terraces to be seen, but there were also well preserved buildings on display (missing their thatch rooves). Very green and very neat. The third trekking day was definitely jam packed full of visual treats.

I thought that the line to the showers was long, wrong! Once I got back from my trip to Winay Wana there was an extensive queue. As disgusting as it may sound, I avoided the shower for one more day. Instead, I opted for a cold water head bath - alternatively known as putting my head under a cold water tap.

Dinner was quite a feast - consisting of pasta, lasagne, jelly, and a birthday cake for one of the trekkers in the group. The chef came out with quite a nice orange zest cake. Impressive given the lack of proper utilities out in the middle of nowhere.

There was much entertainment to be had next, with regard to the cake. In a strange turn of events the birthday boy was tasked with cutting his own cake. Unfortunately for him the knife and the scoop were in the wrong hands. The result of this were diabolical pieces of cake. Admittedly the cake was on the crumbly side, so it was probably inevitable anyway.

To make matters worse (or funnier, depending on your perspective) a female member of the group offered to cut the remainder of the cake. Made sense. However, one of the other guys in the group decided that it would be a good idea to affix a headlamp to the girl cutting the cake. Fail. The headlamp fell onto the cake. Haha! A true comedy of errors.

The third evening would prove to be the last one on the trail. The next day would see us on the grounds of Maccu Piccu itself! As it was the last evening for all of us (i.e. with the porters and the chef) it was time for us to present a few gifts and say a few parting words. A sad evening.