Day one of our hike on the Lares Trek to Machu Picchu began at 5am with cherished hot showers, a delicious breakfast, coffee, and coca tea-- it's good for altitude! Willie and Daniel, our chef, met us at our hotel at 6am where we were to throw our stuff into large duffel bags, stuff our day packs full of layers, and stuff ourselves into a car with Jamie driving us again. Five people, 4 seat belts. Luckily Heather is the tallest.
It is worth noting that Willie had us rehearse how to say Machu Picchu, as most tourists and Americans make an embarrassing pronunciation. The common tourist way is "Mah-choo Pee-choo". The correct way is "mah-choo Peek-choo." See the subtle difference? Apparently that is the difference between saying Old Mountain and Old Penis. You choose.
We had a 1 hour drive to a little stop at a local market. They sold everything, but the meats were the most memorable. All of the carcasses, feet, ribs, heads, fillets, etc that your heart could desire! We decided to go upstairs, away from the chaos, and ordered two cafe con leches from the sweet old lady at the coffee counter. Willie and Jamie ate breakfast somewhere within the market and Daniel picked up some last minute ingredients. We finished up, gathered our troops and packed back in the car.
Heather sat on the backseat window, Willie on the other, me in the middle. As we began the 2 hour drive up to the starting point of the trek, the roads started winding and the rain started falling. The roads wound and wrapped around the edge of the mountain, like something out of a movie. And trust me when I say, it is much more enjoyable in the movies.
Then it started to snow. There were sheep, alpaca, speed bumps, other cars, and straight up waterfalls that forcefully shared the road with us. Jamie and Daniel chatted away in Quecho, a native language to the area that is not even close to Spanish. I rolled around in the middle seat, hugging Heather, then Willie, then Heather again with every turn. I wanted to close my eyes and nap the trip away, but it was quite frankly too disturbing to sleep in my position. I tried to enjoy the extreme circumstances, chalking them up to adventure, but the fear of tumbling down the mountain prevailed.
Willie slept and snored. Heather slept and then vomited. It wasn't exactly fun. But we made it. I don't think we have ever been so excited to stand out in the freezing rain as we were after that drive. Give us our poles and our own two feet; we'll take it from here. See how excited we look?
I'll just say it upfront: hiking in the Andes Mountains in pouring rain is not fun. We were so excited to start the trek, but torrential downpour, no peripheral vision from having to wear a hood, and a severe lack of oxygen was really putting a damper on things. All you can hear is the rain pattering on your outer layers so even if you had enough breath to speak, you couldn't hear what one another was saying. Plus, we were overdressed in warm layers which created a severe monsoon of hot sweat in between our bodies and waterproof layers. Descriptive enough? Okay. Luckily the rain slowed up a bit and we could strip to a more comfortable level and take a look around. And wow.
This place was amazing. The hillside was greener than green with waterfalls babbling through the middle of the land. There were stone houses with thatched roofs and more rocks, sheep, and horses than you could even imagine painting into a landscape like this. The best way to describe it is a place that looks similar to pictures we have seen of Ireland. That, and somewhere out of Lord of the Rings. Willie didn't appreciate our reference to him being our Bilbo Baggins leading us through the Shire. That, or he didn't understand.
The rain did not let up but our spirits certainly improved. We were in awe of this fairytale like place we were slowly (altitude, remember) adventuring through. We came up upon a blue tent with 3 horses, 1 donkey, and a few stray dogs outside of it. Willie started yelling something in Quecho, and lo and behold- there was little Daniel, in a chef's hat and jacket, cooking over a camping kitchen and waving at us with a smile. LUNCH!
We took shelter under this tent where a small table with a Peruvian blanket for a table cloth, three chairs, and table settings were waiting for us.
This is where we met our horseman, Mario, and his 11 year old son, William (who we later changed to Papito because only one "Willicito" is allowed per trek). Mario and Papito are Andians from a village we will pass through on day 3, who assist on tours by bringing beasts of burden (the 3 horses and 1 donkey) to help carry the equipment (sleeping bags, tents, cooking gear, etc). They speak mainly Quecho, with Spanish as a second language. Papito showed off his English numbers 1-10 but he said they do not teach that in school and that is about all he knows. They wear their traditional brightly colored ponchos and hats, and maneuver through the Andes with complete ease, all while wearing sandals. Papito also has an Adidas sweatshirt and a Spider-Man backpack.
Lunch was spinach soup, chicken, rice, and vegetables. And of course, coca tea and coffee. Diuretics are your friend at 3600m. So is a warm, "home" cooked lunch. Feeling recharged, we wrapped up lunch, bundled up again and continued our hike to our campsite.
The sun started to come out about three quarters of the way there, and we were happy to accept it. This is also when we started to see a bunch of alpacas. Double bonus.
And of course, a photo with our alpaca doppelgängers:
We finally arrived at a village where children swarmed out to greet us, but not without motive as they know tourists come with candy. Luckily, we knew this too, and proceeded to hand one piece of candy to every rosy cheeked, dirty faced child. They would whisper "gracias" as they looked at it in awe. These children don't actually speak Spanish but they have learned "hola" and "gracias" as part of their sweets recruiting efforts. It works. It is damn cute.
We set up camp in this valley next door to a local family who allows us to use their backyard and latrines for our overnight stay. We have a few hours before dark which are spent stretching, reorganizing our backpacks, enjoying tea time, and taking in the view.
Dinner is served and we have vegetable soup, fried fish, rice and veggies. All prepared at a level that is beyond gourmet for camping. Thoroughly impressed and satiated we retire to our tent where ear plugs are the best defense against the nighttime shenanigans of dogs, cats, foxes, and donkeys. It's a good thing we are thoroughly exhausted because our wake up call is only in 10 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment