Inca Trail Day 3

Saturday October 23.

Up and off again by 6:00. Right from the start there was a bitch of a hill with a 300 metre vertical rise. Mark and I fell into our routine and took it slow. The breathing gets harder the higher you go. We took breaks and admired the scenery, because it is a truly beautiful place to be and if you keep walking most of what you see is your feet! The hill had three fake summits, just when you thought you were at the top, you'd see the trail changed directions and kept climbing.

After we finally crested, the trail descended for awhile and then became an undulating path. We saw several Inca ruins along the route today and a small lake. Then came a second climb up to another pass. The view was spectacular, you could see we were entering a cloud forest. We had lunch in the cloud forest and the scenery constantly changed as the clouds drifted by.

Then came what Ali affectionately calls the Gringo Killer steps. Six and a half kilometres of uneven stone steps, some of which are very steep, down to camp three. Ali gave me the 'power' to lead the group down. I don't find it hard on my knees or my breathing, just the legs. It is at camp three that all of the various groups that are hiking the trail meet and camp in there separate areas. Because all five hundred people are in the same area, they have showers, with tepid water, toilets that are slightly better than we'd had before, (Ali told us the toilets were better, but not to bring him pictures!), and a restaurant and bar. None of this is five star, or even one star, but it's better than the other two camps that have basically nothing. So, I rushed to get into the showers before the crowd arrived. Felt good to scrub off three days of sweat. Then back to our area for a snack. We were too tired to take advantage of the bar, and our food is good and already paid for, so we gave the restaurant a pass.

After dinner and a final meeting about the next day, and a 3 am start, we head for our tents. About a half hour later it started to rain. It poured all night.