We had two guides with us, because the group was so large, and I am thankful for that otherwise we, and I mean Jo, Steve and myself would have kept the rest of the group back a bit. Casiano was the head guide and Marko was the second guide who's main job was to round up the stragglers.
Marko was supposed to wake us all up with a cup of tea in bed at 6am, I couldn't sleep, so at 5am I got up and watched the sun rise. There was a bit too much mist in the morning, so it was hard to see the glacier where the sun was coming up over. It didn't matter too much because we had a clear view the night before.
The highest point 4200m, we made it.
We had our breakfast and headed off for the highest part of the trek, dead woman's pass, 4200m, a 400m climb to start the day. I won't say we were all eager to start out, but we tackled the pass with the knowledge that the hardest part would be over. Well that's what we were told, and we believed them. The pamphlet we had said it should take 2hrs to reach the pass from where we were, and when Jo, Steve and I crested the rise it had taken us 1 and a half. Yes I know the rest of the group go there before us, but they are freaks.
Going down the other side was much better, at least we could appreciate the scenery without worrying where our next gulp of air was coming from.
Lunch day two
We had lunch at Pacaymayu, elv 3580m, a pretty little valley which i didn't take any photo's of. Lunch was another 12 course extravaganza, but i had learnt from the first day and only had the soup and nibbled the other dishes. After lunch our next ordeal was the second pass, this one was only 4000m a mere 420m up.
Roy, another troublesome Aussie, was starting to feel a bit sick. He had a bit of a head cold and when we stopped at each Inca site for a look around he was getting really cold and fidgeting all the time. The last time was when we were descending into our camp site for day two, we could see the site from another Inca ruin, which we were told once housed 60 families. Yeah whatever, they may not be tall but you try and get pass one of the local woman when she is standing in the isle of a bus....... not possible. Anyway Roy was doing his ants in his pants routine, but I didn't think too much of it at the time.
A watchtower, used to signal dangers
We left the Inca site and headed for camp. Oh, I must mention that the Inca site was called Sayaqmarka ( meaning inaccessible) and it sure was, we had to climb a very narrow set of steps to get up to it. So we were heading to camp for the night, and there was a slight uphill section and was a bit behind the group. As I crested the rise I saw Roy staggering along the path in front of me. Something was very wrong, I hadn't seen him on the trail since........ well the start actually. He said he was ok and we were within spitting distance, so I made sure he made it the 20m to camp and went to dump my stuff in our tent, which I have to add is also put up by the porters.
The next thing I knew there was a crowd around Roy's tent, with Casiano and Marko speaking in Spanish. I thought it was a bit serious when a oxygen bottle was produced, but Jo sorted him out with regular checkups through the night and making sure he was kept warm. Lets face it there really isn't much that can be done where we were.
The rest of us passed the night away playing more games of cards with Marko hoping that the Irish had brought two bottles of Irish cream and had just forgotten to bring one out on the first night, he was disappointed and so was I actually.
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