Day 3: INCA TRAIL (The 'Unforgettable' Day) _____________________________ SIG'S VIEW: 5am Bright and Early the morning ritual continued with Gregorio waking us with a smile and a cup of tea (if it was legal i'd take this guy home with me). The walk began steep with more Ruins along the way. Vic and i plodded on at our own pace yet everytime we reached a site we would have to wait for ages for the others to arrive, each stop seemed longer and longer. We got talking to many people as we passed them, and of course my customery and limited 'Commo est a?', then would see them again when we waited. One guy even asked if we we're doing the trail by ourselves? When, eventually, Bonet and the Moaning Dutch reached us at the summit they sent us on to lunch another 4 or so km along and down the trail. The walk was stunning! In fact all four days we're stunning but espicially today. Mountain cliff after summit pass. Caves and bridges. I was Amazing if not a little 'knee-Knocking' experiance! Lunch was served and it was a fantastically huge buffet of Roast Beef, Chicken, Pork, Tuna - you name it we had it!! Probelm was 'Good' old Jerome and Romey weren't eating, complaining of 'Food Poisoing!' leaving just Bonet, Vic and myself to try and polish off the banquet! Believe me we did our best! Hence the afternoon climb was a bit tougher than the morning! Hour after Hour passed and even Vic turned to the Coca leaf for energy, much to my satifaction 'Welcome to the Coca World my little one' :) Down Steps after steps after steps, some soo steep Vic would have to sit down just so her feet would reach the next, the trail dropped dramatically. Around 3000ft we dropped in little over 3 hours. Watchless, as we have been most of the word trip, it seemed like we had been walking for ages. More so - alone? No One! No tourist, No Porters, No Guides, not even an odd mountain cow or alpacker!! suddenly we started to doubt we we're still on the Inca Trail. Could we have got lost? cold we be going the wrong way?? Could we have over taken everyone and actually be in the lead?? We made a pack that if we got to Machu Picchu today by accident we'd keep it a secret - delusional maybe! ...Maybe another couple of hours passed then in the very distance a voice, then another. CAMP 3!!!! We rushed down the hairy descent to the increasing noise and raced sunset. An hour or so later we made it. 3 days walking over mountains, through valleys, across rivers and bridges and only a day from the sacred Machu Picchu there it was .....a Bar .... we'd really had made it! then we realised that so had everyone else!! it was full of Tourists!!!!!! 500 people do the walk every day and over 400 of them were here enjoying 'Mucho Cervazas'!! leaving only a handful behind us! Again we blamed the Dutch! i never liked the Cruyffs anyway (so close to Germany!) First? ha we we're almost last. Still a great feed, a rest and a shower (yes a shower!) and we slept like babies! Tomorrow 4am and Machu Picchu!!! ___________________________________________________ VIC'S VIEW: Day 3 With Jerome feeling a little better I had high hopes for today. But these were soon quashed when Romy woke feeling ill. Jerome still didn't eat and instead ate chocolate bars and drank gallons of gatorade. We had an hours walk up to reach our next archeological sight, Runkuraqay. When we got to the top Bonet gave us a tour and explained the purpose of Runkuraqay. It was in fact a check point for Inca's travelling to Machu Picchu. It also was a place for making offerings to the Patchamamma. Sig and I made an offering of coca -leaves in hope that it would help us with our walk. The weather was incredibly hot and so the Michael Vaughn hats came out and we looked a right pair of plonkers. Jerome and Romy were struggling and so Bonet told us to go on to the rest place were we would have lunch. Whilst walking we met a couple from England, Honeymooners in fact and guess what.. they are on there honeymoon for 6 months!! (Liz, take note of that one! Sorry Oli). We reached the top of yet another mountain and then made our descent towards Sayacmarca. It was really hard going on the knees and again the step were really tall. I wish I could meet an Inca and ask them why? They were only small people!! The views again were spectacular and we chatted with a porter who pointed out a deer at the bottom of the ravine. The porters were great fun. One in particular we kept seeing and each time he would ask me " are you ok Miss?" I was obviously looking a bit tired. Still he was very friendly and Sig gave him some of our sweets to keep him going. I'd like to say we visited the ruins of Sayamarca but we didn't. It was so unbelievably hot and the steps to the top were so high we (or I should say I) just didn't have the energy. We did however look at it from afar and so I think thats good enough. Next we passed through some tropical wetlands and saw lots of funny looking trees with things growing from them. We arrived at Conchamarca at 11am. Our porters were already there and had set up a tent for lunch. We lay on the floor in the sun for a while and drank mango juice. Bonet, Jerome and Romy arrived just in time for lunch but sadly Jerome didn't want any. Richard had excelled himself and cooked a real feast including roast beef! It was just amazing! Roast beef, chicken, tuna, pork, cauliflower, yucca... I could go on. I don't think I have eaten this well for months! After lunch we were back on the trail. As usual Bonet had given us instructions and we were on our own. I really didn't mind this at all. We were having so much fun I just felt sorry for her. Her patience was impecable. The walk in the afternoon was much further than I'd thought. We got to see some terrific sights and this time we walked through some tunnels, carved out of the rock face. We were very high up and perched on very narrow paths at times. We met up with our porter friend and yet again he asked " are you ok Miss?". We also saw lots of the charity group and the honeymooners. We reached Phuyupatamarca (3640 m) and yet again there was a very steep climb down. The steps where very narrow and slippy at times. Again the stick came in handy. In fact I can't even remember a time I didn't use it. A group of Germans came trotting past us, one of which had an uncanny resemblance to Mark Blenkinsop! Sorry Mark but it was infact a girl (see pics). I hated the germans, not only for trotting happily down the stairs but also because they used their usual way of not even asking iuf they could pass by and just barged you out of the way! Rule Britannia! After about an hour Sig and I were alone. We didn't see a sole. Not even a porter. We could see some tents and there was only one way to go but doubt crossed our minds. It was so quiet. It was just us and the elements. After a few hours we came across another guide who pointed us the direction of camp. Yes! we made it! only 25 to camp he instructed us. 25 mins no probs! But soon my happy face turned to one of pain. The climb down to camp was yet again very steep and this time it was on a sandy surface. Even with my stick I was slipping all over the place like bambi! I couldn't believe it! I'd managed Dead Womans Pass and I couldn't walk down a sandy slope to camp! I started to panic and even got a bit upset. Stupid really. After a few more slippy minutes we had arrived. Gregorio was waiting for us at the entrance as there was many campsites and he led us to our tent. This campsite was very different than the others and even had a bar and hot showers!!! Gregorio led us to the shower block. We had to take it in turns as we only had one towel but the wait was well worth it. The showers were just like school but filled with giddy happy trekers all chatting and talking about their day. I chatted with a lady from Essex, she was part of the big group of walkers and raising money for a local childrens hospice. It felt good to shower, only problem was I had to put my smelly socks back on as I had no clean ones. Showered and semi clean we took a look at the bar!! yes, the beer was calling but we still had a little walk in the morning and so beer didn't seem so appealing. Bonet was back and the not so happy campers. It was the final night and Richard had yet again prepared a mighty feast. Although Jerome did not eat he sat with us and for the first time we all chilled out together and had a laugh. Richard had created a condor out of a cucumber and a mouse out of a radish and put it in our food. It was so funny (see pics). But it was an early night as tomorrow we had to be up at 4am. ------------------------------------------------