Unlike Day 2, which was hard work and not terribly rewarding, we loved Day 3 on the Inca Trail. Once again we set off almost as soon as it was light. Wilbert's plan was again to have all the walking done before lunch, in part because of convenience, but this time he also knew there were a lot of ruins to see and was quite keen to get us to them before everyone else got there. In this he was successful. We generally got to look around ruins on our own, but a big group would arrive just as we were leaving.

The first of these was Runkuraqay which Wilbert described as a fuel station for people, which we interpreted as meaning an Inn.

( Runkuraqay Pictures )

We then went up and over a pass, a little lower than Dead Woman's Pass the previous day, and a shorter climb because we'd started higher. Then we came down towards Sayacmarca, a much larger ruin.

( Pictures )

Once we left Sayacmarca we continued down to about 3,500m. After that the trail was much more level. Strava shows a steady climb, but I felt much more able to look about me at the scenery rather than paying close attention to where I was putting my feet. As the trail levelled out we got to Qunchamarka, another Inn. It wasn't clear how to access this, but we walked around the outside. I think at this point we were up in a Cloud Forest - though I'm hazy on the difference between Cloud Forest, Rainforest and regular forest, all of which I think we walked through at various points.

( Pictures )

Wilbert spent some time telling us about the Inca Tunnel we would meet. B was pretty sure this was just a large fallen rock which the Inca's had run the path under. Wilbert got distracted at this point since he found a dog in the brush above the tunnel. After some encouragement he got it to climb down and it ran off down the path ahead of us. We met it again at the next campsite where, presumably, it belonged. I'm afraid we failed to photograph the dog, so you'll just have to imagine it.

( B did photograph the tunnel, however )

We arrived at our campsite in good time for lunch. The camp was above another Inca ruin, Phuyupatamaca, and after lunch Wilbert packed us off to take a look at it on our own. This involved going down some steep steps and it seemed like the water source for the camp was at the bottom, because we were passed by a lot of porters carrying water back up them. At the time we assumed he sent us to look at it then, rather than the next day, because the plan was to leave before light so that we would get to Machu Picchu in time to meet up with the rest of our group. However it transpired that pretty much everyone was leaving before light and we seemed to be the only party who's guide thought to encourage us to check out the ruins we would miss in the dark.

( Pictures of Phuyupatamarca )

We had an excellent position in the camp right next to a large rock that overlooked the view. We were next to the camp of a group of three people who were on the "Luxury" tour. Wilbert was very contemptuous - they had three guides and a masseuse. They were also served cocktails in glasses made of glass when they reached camp. The most disconcerting thing was that they were played into camp by Andean pipes. B felt he would have been quite happy with the cocktails and the larger tents (including a shower tent!) and so on, but felt he wouldn't have coped with the pipes.

( Pictures in the Camp )

Day 2 on the Inca Trail was the least fun of the trip. We had to climb 1,200m to get up and over "Dead Woman's Pass". Wilbert, our guide's plan was to get going as soon as it was light (around 5:30am) and aim to reach our campsite at lunch time. His reasoning was to get most of the actual climbing done while we were in the shadow of the tall mountains around us. It also made life simpler for the support team who wouldn't have to pick somewhere en route, unpack to make lunch, and then pack up again to get to the campsite. He also, I think, quite liked the idea of catching up with the group that were ahead of us who were starting around 700m up the climb and who would be having lunch at our evening campsite. In the event we arrived at our campsite about 2 hours after they had left, having another pass to go over before they got to their campsite for the night.

We were on modern trails, according to Wilbert, and although I think we passed some Inca ruins at a campsite en route, we didn't look at them. Wilbert's explanation for the route wasn't entirely clear. As I understood it the original Inca road went over a different pass, though I never figured out if it was higher or lower. I got the impression a large section of the road from Cusco to Machu Picchu was destroyed by the Inca themselves, triggering landslides, in order to prevent the Spanish finding their way along it, so maybe that explains why we were following a modern alternative.

We started at about 3000m. At around 3,700m I began to feel quite tired and a little concerned about the 500m still go. At 3,900m as we came out of the shade and into the sun, my legs felt like lead and I made it up to the pass only by doggedly walking 300 steps and then stopping (300 steps, if you are interested, gets you up about 50m). At the time we put this down to the fact Manchester is super-flat and so our uphill muscles don't get a lot of exercise. However, I wasn't remotely stiff the next day, at which point it occured to us to measure my blood oxygen using my watch. It was down at 81%, rising to 88% if I took several deep breaths (B., in contrast was generally in the high 80s/low 90s). So it's possible the issue was lack of blood oxygen - even though I wasn't showing any other symptoms of altitude sickness.

Once over the pass we descended around 600m to our campsite. I badly wanted to go to sleep, but B. and Wilbert forced me to have some lunch first. Then I slept for an hour, after which I felt much more like myself.

We walked a total distance of just under 12km.

( Pictures under the Cut )

Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.


( Outfits below the Cut )

Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!

Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!

Costume Bracket Masterlist

Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.

We did our Inca Trail holiday with Explore! who (out of necessity as I understand it) subcontracted to a local tour company. At some point something went wrong with getting permits for the trail. The story we were told was that the local agent forgot to apply for our permits, but several other people in the group had had permits delayed, so we concluded that there had been a more general permit mix-up which was simplified for our consumption as "forgot to apply for your permits". The up-shot of all this was that instead of travelling as part of a group of ten walkers with a guide, cook and porters it was just the two of us with a guide, cook and porters, setting out a day after everyone else with the aim of catching up with them at Machu Picchu. This was a mixed blessing, we got a lot more time with our guide and didn't have to worry that we were slowing anyone down, on the other hand it felt like an awful lot of staff for just us and even though our guide as very good at leaving us alone for various stretches, or sending us off on our own to explore things, it was quite intense.

( Photos and more under the cut! )

Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.


( Outfits below the Cut )

Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!

Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!

Costume Bracket Masterlist

Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.

We went on holiday to Peru and walked the Inca Trail. More in due course but in the interim have a photo of Machu Picchu.