5am. Up and at ’em. The porters come by to wake you up with some coca tea ready to go. We got dressed and then enjoyed some delicious porridge and pancakes. And so it began.
We walked step-by-step through the cloud forest and up to the higher elevations. I really enjoyed walking through the cloud forest. There was a lot more to see with the greenery that surrounded us. But we continued to take each step higher.
While I was walking, I noticed a dirty sheep dog that ran ahead of me. I thought it was weird to have a stray dog on the path. I didn’t think anything of it until the dog stopped about 20 feet ahead/above me and waited. I then walked passed the dog, and he just stood there, waiting. And suddenly I realized why. Llamas were coming!
About two minutes later, 10 to 15 llamas climbed up the path and the dog was herding them. At the end, the farmer was directing the llamas ahead. Kinda neat. And when we arrived at the clearing, the llamas were rolling and grazing in the meadow.
This break gave us a chance to pack our cheeks with coca leaves. We were now heading directly towards Dead Woman’s Pass, named after the pass’ shape. And with each step, we were closer to the end of 13,780 feet climb. The path was a bit deceiving: I would think we’d be close to the end, and then we’d turn in the path, and I’d see an additional 100 steps. But the climb kept going and going until… we were there. We conquered Dead Woman’s Pass.
I quickly took some pictures and then saw one of the most amazing sites I’ve seen. I looked over the other side and saw the clouds below resting on the lower mountains. Quite beautiful and worth the hike up.
We took a break at the top and waited for the rest of our group. Then we headed down. (I think down is a lot harder than up.)
After Dead Woman’s Pass, the trail we walked on was 90% native from the Incas. They were built with thousands of larger stones to guide the way. We had a lower peak to conquer, which at the summit had two ponds. But now we were starting to get some of the Inca ruins. We visited the Sayacmarca, which means “Inacessible Town” and explored the site a bit. Within the ruins you could see how this ingenious culture brought in the water within the towns through the stone channels. Some of these fountains were still working. We then visited one more ruin before nightfall, Phuyupatamarca, where yellow flowers littered the ruins. We then hiked quickly to our camp. That night we celebrated with a little bit of sangria. What a day!
