I woke at 4am; the group was supposed to pick me up. I hadn't gone to sleep till late, drinking wine, packing and re-packing.
I got in an argument with the hostal guy. I was tired and cranky and so was he. We made a big production of storing some of my stuff while I was away. We called each other names and I felt violent towards the little man for not doing what I wanted. My emotions run unchecked for sure.
He accused me of not trusting anyone. I didn't disagree, and thought it useless to tell him the endless number of times people have tried to swindle and rob me while traveling. If I have my guard up and seem unreasonable, it is for good reason...following directly from the events of my life. Arguing in Spanish is hard so I went back to bullying.
The mini-bus finally came around 5. I was afraid it wouldn't come, or I would miss it. I am always paranoid like that, especially when tired and just out of an argument at 4 in the morning with a complete stranger about nothing important.
Traveling re-connects me to the world. I love that about it. However, it also reminds me that, in the absence of what you know....it is often you against the world.
I was extremely tired and everyone on the bus looked unfriendly. I was hungry and defensive from the night before.
We drove an hour and a half out of Cuzco back to Ollyantambo in the Sacred Valley...back to where I'd been with the Argentinians on motorcycle two days before.
I ate a quick breakfast with a Swiss traveler, bought a bamboo walking stick for two soles and stocked up on coca leaves for the hike. I think about Nepal...something that has oddly been on my mind a lot lately.
After breakfast the bus took us to the mouth of the trail down an unpaved, one lane, dirt road past chickens and adobe houses.
During high season 200 folks a day hit the Inca Trail. It struck me as bizzare that the trailhead of the most famous trek in S. America would lie down a dirt path so thin the mirrors of the mini-bus threaten to clip the buildings on the side of the road. All of Latin America is like that in a way.
I feel good as I hit the trail in warm morning sun and cool breeze. The going is easy and my pack is light. I always walk near the back. The altitude leaves me short of breath and I enjoy the leisure and scenery. Walking has a curative effect.
Everything on the Inca trail is famous according to our guide. The flowers she points out are famous, as is the high pass we will make in the afternoon. The various ruins (essentially stacks of rocks) are famous Inca ruins, the rivers are famous and so are the birds.
I had never heard of any of these things. I confirmed with the others in my group that they hadn't either. I thought to tell her that perhaps only Machu Picchu itself is famous and that everything else on the trek is largely unknown....but decided against it because it was so funny to think of everything as being famous.
I began to refer to everything as famous and even asked our guide on occasion whether or not X or Y was indeed famous. It always was, usually preceded by the word Inca....as in the the Famous Inca jungle. Everything in Peru is associated with the Incas, and so I assume everything must be famous too.
Soon after the trail really began to go up, and then it kept going. For hours and hours and hours it just went up. Then we stopped for lunch where I ate forever and napped for 10 minutes on the cool, dry grass under a very close, hot sun....and then we kept walking up.
I labored forward, leaning on my walking stick (which now appeared to be the best two soles I ever spent). My pack was enormously heavy. It had seemed so light earlier. I was sweating profusely in the thin air. I had bought an orange hat of wool back in Cuzco to shield me from the thick, clear, hot sun. I was sweating so much the dye from the hat made my sweat orange and stained my face. I ceased talking. I didn't have the spare breath. Everyone seemed more friendly now that we were all undertaking this laborious effort together.
I was again reminded of Nepal. Walking long distances in thin air clears your head for there is nothing else to think about. Distilled, life becomes walking, food, and rest. That is simple enough even for me to get my head around.
A long period of ascent was followed by a steep increase in the incline of the trail. I thought surely we must be at the top of the world. We never reached that point, but we did eventually climb out of the balmy river valley up above the clouds near the tree line.
One more step. That's all I am thinking. The group took occasional breaks, but since I was walking so slow by the time I caught up with everyone they were already moving again....so I didn't get a break. Not that it mattered. I was just walking.
There were some very nice people in my group. We all became quick and close friends. It was the first regular English I'd spoken in a week or more...it was nice to be able to really express myself. Life is much funnier like that.
We eventually made the famous Dead Woman pass....which I thought to rename the famous Dead Man pass after I was surely going to die from exhaustion. It was very cold at the top and the weather looked like rain. We were at the top of a jungle mountain and were set to hike part of the way down to the valley below before ending the day.
Although very tired, I was in great spirits. I don't like rain though and the prospect of everything I had getting wet (including my digital camera) and sleeping in a wet tent....didn't appeal to me. I was told it rains almost every day (which it actually did).
After almost 10 hours or walking straight up and then straight down we finally reached camp....it was the most difficult day of physical exertion since Pete and I biked to Leuwarden and back in 1995. I was hallucinating at the end of that trip.
And sure enough, it started to rain almost the instant we reached camp and I put my stuff in the tent. It remained mostly dry. The tent was cramped, I was soaked from sweat, but didn't care. I rested until dinner and watched the clouds roll by outside completely satisfied and very hungry.
To be continued...
Posted by kelliottdykes at April 17, 2005 01:53 PM