Hello all...sorry it´s been a while since we were last on...but the trail and travel have prevented much journal writing. This note might be kind of out of order as I´m trying to recap MANY adventures and thoughts.
Well...what adventures we´re having!!! Starting with Sacsayhuaman...sexywoman...we hiked up the steep hills of Cusco to arrive at the most impressive stone work I´m sure the world has ever seen. Truly phenomenal and ridiculous...the effort that went into the impressive Inca site. Stones that must weigh more than 100 tons, white granite, perfectly and intricately shaped and fitted together with tongue and groove or male/female grooves create the fort (???) of Sexywoman. Much of it was destroyed by the damn Spanish conquistadores...I can´t tell you much about it except that it is an incredible site. We were told that the spanish killed the Inca noble class first off...thereby destroying the knowledge that was kept within the noble class...while the middle and lower class just follwed orders. Kind of a hard theory to believe for me...but...there you go. The three main principals of being inca are said to be as follows...don´t lie, don´t steal, and don´t be lazy. I truly believe they follow them to this day...a hard working people and impressive people to say the least. >The only thing I can´t stand about being here is the constant harrassment to buy their goods, eat in their restaurants...people will follow you (me at least...for some reason I´m a sucker for these kind of poachers) down the street calling out the names and good prices of every bloody menu item!! Amazing...´no´here must mean...please follow me and tell me more.
Anyway...after our tiring walk through sexywoman...at 3600m or so...we were convinced to take a 1 hour hourse ride to other Incan ruins. We jumped on our old and failing steeds (mine 7 years old and back cracking under my weight...poor beast...Julia´s 8 years old and similarly lethargic). This was from a local farmer who recruited us at the ruins...sounded neat, and cheap...thought of Dwight riding around on his old horse throughout the trip. ANyway...a young boy named Joelle walked beside the horses...up the mountain...while we lazily troted to another Incan site. It was fun chatting with Joelle in broken english and spanish...you should have heard me trying to describe Hockey in Canada...explaining that we used to play on ponds with frozen cow pies just wasn´t within my Spanish reach...and so, we ended up riding more in silence with more simple interactions. He took us to a place where the Inca WOULD HIDE FROM THE SPANISH...essentially hundreds of caverns and tunnels through a HUGE rocky hillside. We tried to keep up with the little peruvian whipper snapper...but eventually, we were adventured out and begged him to take us to high ground, under the sun. I could barely fit through half of the spaces that the tiny Inca would use...but it was quite neat and fun to think about the people who once relied on those tunnles to survive or escape. Julia impressed Joel with her rock climbing abilities...we had to scale several walls to get out...and he was also thouroughly impressed with her watch. He loved the indiglo function of the timex. On the way home...not much happend except when my horse decided to stop for a nibble of grass. I figured he deserved a feed...but Joelle didn´t...and non-challantly whiped my horse with a branch, yelled HIGH HO SILVER...and watch me gallop down the hill, fearing for my life, beside the cliff of the mountain. Julia smartened him up with a ´NO high ho silver´explanation...but it was all good. We hi8ked up to see a massive Jesus statue on the top of the hill of Cusco...and went back to town, tired and ready for a rest. We met a very nice peruvian guide named Tony, perhaps 23, on the way down who walked and talked with us...toured us through the oldest church in Cusco, and eventually we took him to lunch in Cusco where we learned more about the people and language there over a plate of fried rice and an Esquena...Cusco brewed beer. We also learned that they alway dip their fingers in their beer and flick some to the sky for the god of the mountains (or sun), and drip a drop on the floor for the earth goddess. Very nice.
The hike of the inca trail started at 5am the next morning...a 45 minute bus ride to Oleyentaytambo (sp?) through some crazy countryside...highlighted by a one lane gravel road bringing us to kilometer 82. On this road...we made a big gasoline transport truck back up the path (dangerously close to the river) for about 1km before we had room to pass him. Our guides name was Bobby...one HELL of a neat character who reminded me SO much of Phil Elia. He had hiked the trail 375 times or so...essentially completing the 4 day hike and starting again...hiking 28 days of the month on average. Amazing. He was so passionate in a whispery sort of way about the trail and manchu pichu...making for very sureal explanations of all the ruins, the customs, the plants, etc. He told us that the trail would be a ´piece of cookie´...so long as we kiked at our own pace. Our group was AMAZING too...very friendly, impressively athletic, and fun in general. 16 kikers and 22 porters (most of the group hired someone to carry their baggage...whereas Julia, myself, Jim Jr., and Mai tried to tough it out and carry our own loads) set out on day one...and became quite tightly knitted by day 4! On day one...a beauty of a day, we had an easy hike through some of the remaining farms along the trail, stopping for a few rests to see some local Inca housing...about a 13x13 foot mud brick house, 50 guiney pigs (eventual meals) running around the floor, chickens clucking in the corners, pot of corn on the open fire, a HORRENDOUS bed, cow leg hanging from the roof with pots and pans...not much else. The porters...some of whom we caught up with at these spots, would consume HUGE pints of a corn beer called CHicha...smelled like rotten bread, and we were NOT told to try it....didn´t really have to ask twice.
I have to leave this message here...I will complete it soon...we have dinner plans tonight, and I´m getting late.
Until later,
TW
Hello again...back to finish what I started. Let´s talk about the porters...peruvian...Incan descent I imagine...these people are small but mighty! They easily carried twice as much as any ´gringo´did, and they did it running, while wearing sandles, and after consuming several JUGS of that corn beer!! As an aside, their sandles are called ´sayoonaras´in their language...and after discovering that until a few years ago when rules limiting the about they were allowed to carry were implemented...several porters died on the trail either by falling off the edge of the path (which is always a HUGE cliff), having heart attacks and heat exhaustion...or perhaps by blowing one of their sayoonaras during a steep climb or decent. They were totally amazing though, and carried SO much stuff...22 porters carrying the bags of 12 hikers, their own gear, food tents, all the food, tables, chairs, our tents, propane cannisters, etc. They ran the trail such that they could set up the tents, cook AMAZING 3-4 course meals for us, then they had to take it all down when we were finished, and run to the next spot to have everytingt set up before we arrived. Truly impressive, and it was nice to find out that many of the porters are farmers in their ´spare´time. The peruvian people...are truly hard workers and very capable!
ANyway...day one finished with our group getting to know each other over a few beers purchased high in the peruvian andes, carried in by hand, and sold for about $1.25. Did I mention our group was a GREAT group of people? Every morning, we were woken between 4-5am, given coffee in bed, and were packed and on the trail before 6 (or so). Day 2 was rainy at the start, but the clouds were welcome as we had to climb up to 4200m and decend several thousand steps all before lunch time. We all made it through the high pass, and all found it quite challenging! The altitude is funny how it takes your breath away so easily...for those of you who know him...it´s probably like breathing through Benny´s lungs on a regular basis hahaha. Kidding Ben...but if you ever want to hike this trail, hire 3 porters, no...4...1 for your stuff, one for you, one for beer and one for cigarettes! Day 3 was much the same except with a few impressive Incan sites to visit along the way. THey built sites in strategic locations to view things (montains, sun, etc.), but also to have a clear view of the trail and other mountain tops. They would communicate between these sites/mountain tops using one of 3 ways, mirrors, sea shells (as horns), or using runners. Today...the record time to RUN the inca trail is 3.15 hours...it was likely better back in the day as they actually trained runners for the purpose of message delivery.
TO make a long story short...the trail was hard but rewarding, we hiked early, ate extremely well (each meal had a soup, appetizer, main course including meat, desert, and plenty of hot drinks!), slept early and uncomfortably. Day 4 was sort of a sprint to the sungate(highlighted by a ´gringo´female hiker who just couldn´t it any longer and had to squat in the middle of the trail...Julia and I coming upon her first and stopping the stampede before she was trampeled...quite digusting if you can picture it!)...only to discover that we were once again engulfed by a HUGE cloud...blocking any sun from coming through the gate and highlighting the ruins. We did however have a spectacular view of manchu pichu...and discovered so many neat things through our guide Bobby...and generally had an awe inspiring day! So many questions are unanswered by this place...after seeing it though...I think it´ll remain one of the most impressive things I´ll ever see! Julia and I sat at the top of the ´quarry´ for some hours, thinking about friends and family...how good our lives are, how different the past must have been, etc. It comes highly recommended from both of us.
More later...take care,
TW
