Inca Trail--Day 2

     The second day of hiking was a beast of a day with 12km (7 miles-ish) of walking from an elevation of 3000m (1.9 miles) up to 4200m (2.6 miles) and back down to 3600m (2.2 miles).  That's nearly a mile up in 4 miles of walking....no.....climbing.  Needless to say, foul language exited my mouth often, and my anger was mostly directed at Tony Horton from p90x, Sean T from Insanity, and a dearest friend who convinced me to carry my own stuff.

     My saviors: pep talks, zig zags, and oxygen (even if it was in small amounts at this elevation).  The pep talks mostly came from myself, but I'm sure Pdub and Shamuel had some input.  As for the zig zags, this reduced the amount of "up" at one time.  Near the end, I was a mess of bad language, motivational words, one single zig zag followed by a break and intense breathing.  Looking back, interval training probably wasn't the best mode of preparation.

On day two, we started at around Wayllabamba, crossed Dead Women's Pass (the peak), and ended at Pacaymayu.*

Headed for the clouds.*

Oh so cute.

Group photo....snap, snap.

Sexy photo!  Manny, our guide, was obsessed with taking the sexy photos.

George, George, George of the jungle.....

Nap time?  NO!......more stairs.

Cheese!

Breakfast number 2.  Boy, did we need several meals on this day to replenish the number of calories we burned.  The meals were probably the best we had during our entire stay in Peru.*

Please stop your upward momentum and pose for a picture.  Thank you.

Crossing bridges.

Resting.....Thank you, walking sticks, for keeping me upright.

Stairs and stairs and then more stairs......and just around the bend, stairs.

Zig......Zag......breathe......So tired....can't do any more!

Almost to the top!!!

I was lucky the scenery was amazing.  It kept my mind off of the "up."

I came, I saw, I conquered!

Whoo hoo!!

Can someone just come and get me?

Dead Women's Pass.....Well-named.  You can see the trail off to the right.

Here come the clouds.....

The we-made-it-in-one-piece picture.

Sticks of happiness, accomplishment.....and heck yeahs!!!

Now that right therr is a waterfall.

Between 1996 and 2001, over 1,000 tourists were trekking the Inca Trail.  As you may have guessed, the trail was getting heavy wear and tear, and the tourists were camping wherever they chose.  The Peruvian government made a stop to this by limiting the number of trekkers and only allowing those with a guided group on the trails.  Now 200 tourists and 300 porters/guides are allowed on the trail per day.  Based on a friend's recommendation, we chose Peru Treks and were very happy with them!

Drying our clothing out from a day of sweat and rain.  Thank goodness for dry-fit.

There's nothing like sleeping to the sounds of a waterfall.

On day 3, we woke up and tortured our bodies with even more hiking but saw some wonderful sights.  Pictures to come!

*Pictures taken by other heavily breathing, fellow hikers.

My PhonyBro Gets Hitched

     Please refer to the blog entitled "The Story of My Fake Brothers" for a reminder.  Anyway, on March 8th, my PhonyBro got hitched to his beautiful bride, and I drove back to Illinois to witness the union.  He should have felt extra special because this was the first in-state wedding I had attended in.....well, since his brother's.  I guess I am slightly biased when it comes to weddings, but for family, I'll do anything.

My fake family.*

My real family.

The lovely couple.  So happy for you two!*

The bride's bouquet was made out of broaches.*

Game Boys.....now that takes me back to black and white Donkey Kong days.*

My office for the evening.  I was in charge of the guest book, cards, and programs.*

FakeBro's wife and such a good friend.  So happy to have PhonyBro's wife as part of the family as well!*

Their first dance....haha!*

Mother-son dance.*

We were......

.....and still are the coolest kids in town.*

*To my father-in-law: thank you for letting me steal some photos!

Inca Trail--Day 1

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

     Breathtaking, the one word which encompasses the entirety of our 4-day hike through the Andes Mountains.  There were times in which I did measure the number of breaths I took.  Why?  Two things:  One, because one month of training probably wasn't enough, and two, because I was afraid my body would just choose to stop breathing, give up, throw in the towel, end the pain right now.  Thankfully, there were many moments that did take my breath away (not related to extreme physical exertion).  I caught myself simply smiling at the splendor of just being there, surrounded by mountains, engulfed in clouds, and walking on a 15th century trail.  I constantly felt myself gasping at the beauty surrounding me.  In every respect, this trek was absolutely breathtaking.

     Day 1 was composed of the remnants of acclimation sickness, the last real toilets we would see for 3 days (seats amiss, but I was still happy with these thrones), and a simple warm-up hike, about 6 miles, in preparation for day 2 (the worst physically....and mentally).  I, personally, had serious nerves about being the only female to not have hired an extra porter to carry my crap; however, it was well worth it in the end.  Now when someone asks if I am capable of doing something, I simply say that I hiked the Inca Trail with 20lbs on my back.....yes, I can do anything!

Early morning, bussing to breakfast and then to our starting point at km82 and at a height of 2600m.

All clean, pretty, and smelling great.  Wait for group picture, day 4.  We knew everyone except the two Australians in our group....but it felt like we were long lost amigos!

Trail begins this way.  This is your last chance to yield a taxi (horse)?

Holy moly, now there's a view.

Getting pointers on how to chew coca leaves, used to reduce acclimation sickness.

Donkeys were allowed on the trail on the first two days (by day 2, I believe my fellow-trekkers gave up on avoiding stepping in their excrement).  Porters, also known as chaskis, were allowed to carry a maximum of 50lbs.  This guy was given the task of carrying part of our tent.....or something (I'm no engineer).  During Inca times, chaskis were messengers carrying information from one location to another (UPS or FedEx is probably slower than these guys....and sandals were main part of their uniform).*

Serenity.....now.

I named her Tina.

Classic Inca scenery with the ruins and the corn.

Beauty at its best.

The foliage changed throughout the day (and the entire trek).  Cacti were frequent visitors in the beginning.

Pdub posing for his awesome wife.

Manny, our guide, pointing out an insect that when smashed produces a red ink, used for dyeing clothing and coloring lips.

Loved this picture!

Bridge over troubled water never stopped me.

Well lookey at that gorgeous couple....Ignore the sweat and large thing on my rear.

Wayllabamba at 3000m high.

Big lens time, unreal.

Blue skies, ruins, and some perty foliage.

I loved these little plants.  So colorful!

Trekking!!!*

Lunch time!!!  Yes, our porters carried all of this for us.  They were in charge of everything except our personal items, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags.  Those who hired an extra porter got to take a load off....no, really.

At camp the first night.  The conquistadors obviously made it this far with their horses and churches.  The people living in this village depended solely on donkey transportation as there were no roads (for cars) linking this city to any others.*

Apples to Apples, a little added weight to the pack for some added fun at camp.*

Our tents on the first night.  The ground was slightly angled, so that made for interesting sleeping.

White-capped mountain in the distance from our camp.*

*Pictures taken by other members of our hiking family.