The Inca Trail - Day 2

The sun shone bright and early as we awoke at 6:30am to tackle the toughest day on the Trail, the ascent up to Warmiwanuska or "Dead Woman's Pass". From our campsite it was a 900 metre change in altitude to the Pass, and we set out an hour after rising on a breakfast full of pancakes. Miguel said that it would take about 3 hours to get to the top of the Pass, so no one was really looking forward to the ascent. We could see the Pass from our campsite, it looked little in the distance, and someone made a joke about hiring a helicopter. Before breaking camp we had a group photo, which you can see below was more like a small army.

The ascent up to the Pass was fairly steep and consisted of quite a lot of steps as well as inclines. What made it worse was that the sun decided to shine brighter, and the sweating episode that occurred on the previous day was about a million times worse. But as tough as it sounded the ascent was a lot of fun, with great views, a few strategic stops, heaps of water taken in through the mouth, and promptly lost through the pores, as well as some singing when breath allowed. I can't believe that I voluntarily sung "Mambo No 5" but anything that took the mind off the climb was welcome. The body held up superbly and as the Pass came into sight the adrenalin started to kick in and the pace intensified. No big problems with the altitude, although I put that down to the coca leaves I was putting back at regular intervals.

Just a quick note about Dead Woman's Pass. You can see from the photo below probably why it is called so. It's a dead woman lying down and this picture shows her breast, with the actual Pass just underneath her breast! The Pass is at 4.2 km above sea level and the view from the top is amazing. We managed to prove Miguel wrong by getting up there in 1 hour 40 minutes, and I was so pumped I even ran the last 40 metres or so. Simon and I were first up, closely followed by Sam, then Merryn and Mitzi. Actually we passed some of our porters on the way up, but I suppose they were carrying 40kgs worth of stuff!

The view from the top was amazing. The first two photos below shows the view back down towards our first campsite, where you can make out tents. The third photo looks out across the valley on the other side of the Pass. The fourth shows Merryn, Simon, Mitzi, myself and Sam with well rested lungs.

We rested for an hour before we headed off down the other side. A few others of our group had turned up at that stage, but as Miguel had said at the start of the day, just rest and then keep on going down the other side of the Pass until we reached our lunch spot. In continuing our power walking episode Simon and I charged down the other side of the Pass and reached our lunch stop at Paqaymayo, which for some groups is their second night stop. We arrived way before the porters had even started setting things up, so we gave them a brief helping hand then we sunbathed for a while waiting for the others and lunch. I also had to hang my singlet out as it was drenched in sweat. Yummy!

Following another hearty lunch and self-applied sponge bath, it was back on the Trail and up towards the ruin of Runkuraqay and the high pass above it. The altitude differential was only about 400 metres from where we had lunch so the climb wasn't as tough as the one up Dead Woman's Pass. The clouds began to roll in and it cooled down so I welcomed the relief from the sweat. Runkuraqay was an interesting ruin. It is designed in the shape of a moon and the Inca and his queen(s) would stay there on their journeys to Macchu Picchu apparently. It also housed runners who were part of the Incan message chain that existed along the highways of the empire. The Pass was a little higher than the ruin, and going down the other side consisted of quite a steep downhill leg and stairs.

Just before we hit our second night campsite of Chakiqocha, Miguel, Simon, Sam and I checked out the ruin of the fortress/temple of Sayacmarca. The others headed on to the campsite but we pottered around at the ruin for an hour while Miguel spoke about its significance. The fortress was cool as it sat on a promontory that jutted out into the valley. Clouds hugged the ruin and shrouded it at times from the rest of the valley. I liked the idea of Incan soldiers posted up here and living their lives awaiting prominent visitors and royalty to pass by, while the clouds rolled in and out.

Our second night campsite wasn't too far from Sarcamarca and we arrived there at about 4pm to find tents erected, warm water waiting, and the girls sunning themselves. The view from the campsite was amazing, which wasn't a surprise as the rest of the Trail was superb and I expected nothing less. It was so peaceful to stand and look at the snow covered mountains, and imagine life up here in a much less modern time.

I think I was pretty wasted from the day's efforts, and not to mention that I sweated out heaps of water, as I got a migraine at dinner and hit the hay at 7:30pm! The group joked that I was having coca leaf withdrawals as I hadn't had any since lunchtime - there was probably an element of truth in that!