Inca Trail Day 3

Because of the mudslides, Day 3 would actually be our last day of hiking. We ended up doing four days of hiking in three days time. Which means we got a super early start:

(The stars were AMAZING here. No light pollution, high in the mountains.

Little weird because all the constellations were different, though)

I was actually excited because today was supposed to be mostly all downhill. And my body is much better at doing downhill. I figured it couldn't be worse than Day 2, right?

Leaving camp, beautiful mist

(our group was the first one out)

Look! We are all smiling and not dead!

Absolutely beautful trail:

Absolutely awful for walking on because of course it was wet.

Everything was wet.

We were in a cloud.

The Andes are just incredible.

None of the pictures do them any justice.

We have conquered the Andes:

Smiles are starting to fade already.

I was not at all prepared for how very downhill this would all be:

Let's put stairs straight down a mountain!

Mom and Melaton navigating the slippery steps:

Misty ruins along the trail:

Seriousy. How did the children not fall off and die.

And this is the point where everything got absolutely horrible:

The mudslides had washed out part of the trail, making it unsafe for hikers. Instead they had us take an alternate path. They did not tell us that the path was made ENTIRELY OF MUD. And not just flat muddy areas. No. Muddy hill. Muddy sides of mountains:

Please do not underestimate this mud.

This was not a delicate mud layer.

This was MUD SOUP:

This was the hardest part of the hike for me. Maybe not physically, but mentally. We hit a part of the trail where it was a series of muddy switchbacks. But, as my Dad said, apparently Peruvians don't actually know how to do switchbacks. These were more like a tight zigzag down the side of a mountain. In ankle deep mud soup. Noah loved every minute and literally skied down the switchbacks.

I did not. Somehow at this point I was all by myself along the trail. I slipped in the mud and went down, covering my leg in mud. I was furious and couldn't stop from crying. Was this really the best option, Peru?? An hour of sticky, slippery, muddy trail? I still have questions. But thankfully after the mud switchbacks, we got to take a bit of a break and enjoy the view from some ruins.

Yes, these are the only shoes I brought to Peru.

Was not counting on mud soup.

View down the terraces to the river below:

These stairs were INTENSE:

 I still think falling down stairs/off cliffs must have been a leading cause of death for the Incas.

We are eating food and we are HAPPY because the food is AMAZING:

One of the areas of the mudslide:

Lots of damage to the trail:

By the time we made it through the mud, I was almost happy to see stairs again:

The stairs at the Sun Gate were so steep that we literally climbed them with our hands.

Incas were crazy.

Mist over the Andes:

And then, suddenly, people along the trail started pausing and taking pictures.

I looked through the mist and caught my first glimpse of Machu Picchu:

It was honestly kind of shocking.

After all the stairs and mud and rain, there it was!

At the Sun Gate, looking down on Machu Picchu:

The mist would occasionally clear so we could get a better view:

(obviously Peru DOES know how to do switchbacks...for buses going to Machu Picchu. Not for hikers)

Did we absolutely judge all the people who were there doing the one day hike? Or worse, riding the bus up to Machu Picchu?? Yes we did. We could tell exactly who was a survivor based off the mud on their shoes. Lady in the white yoga pants with cute little hiking boots? You're a poser. We EARNED this view with blood, sweat and (angry) tears!

Machu Picchu has alpacas.

Alpacas are always awesome. 

There was some sign near the alpacas that we thought was hilarious, but I can't remember what it said.

We might have been exhaustion drunk by that point.

Machu Picchu up close(r)

I made it out alive!!!

So did Marah and Stephen!

It was raining quite a bit by this point.

Marah and Stephen chose not to wear their stylish neon green ponchos.

I was a little embarassed to be seen with them.

Sisters at Machu Picchu

Mom and Dad made it!!!!

They are also fashionistas like me.

Our group:

Didn't lose a single person off a cliff.

Proud of us all.

Waiting for the bus down to camp:

Our first encounter with civilization in days.

Our campsite that night was near Aguas Calientes, and it was gorgeous!

There was a river running along the site as well.

It would have been perfect if it hadn't been raining all evening.

Plus, ACTUAL BATHROOMS.

Somehow our chefs whipped up an entire cake for dessert that night:

Saying thank you and goodbye:

Dad made me give part of the thank you speech.

My Spanish was pretty rusty, but I think they got the point (food was amazing, basically).

But most of the staff spoke Quechua natively anyway, so maybe they thought my Spanish was great.

Crazy to think that this was the last night of the hike.

Inca Trail Day 2

We were warned about Day Two from the beginning. It was completely uphill until we hit Dead Woman's Pass (about 14,000 feet), then straight down, then back up a mountain to 13,000 feet), then back down. 

We were optimistic about our abilities as the day began. How can you not be when this is your view? So lush, green, idyllic...

Look how happy we look!

So naive:

So if this had just been a regular hike, it would have been tough but doable. But it was steps. All steps. Miles and miles of uneven steps. 

Gorgeous view looking down (with guides/porters):

For snack they handed us this fruit called a maracuya.

It was delicious, but very weird to eat. 

You literally just slurp it up:

Found out later it's passionfruit in English

Also had some very sad low sugar Coke because that is all they sell in Peru apparently.

Even on the Inca Trail (women with donkeys hauled up supplies to sell to hikers)

As the elevation went up, we went from green to more brown:

The stairs near the top were killing me. My poor sea-level lungs could not get enough oxygen. Marah and I were stopping every thirty seconds to catch our breath while Stephen bounded ahead like some kind of Peruvian mountain goat. Guy's a monster.

Also fun: every time we got somewhere like this, we thought we were at the top of Dead Woman's Pass.

We never actually were.

It was just more stairs. 

Until, one random time, it actually WAS the top!

It was quite chilly and very windy at the top of the pass.

We stuck around long enough to catch our breath and then it was time for this:

Stupid steep stairs going down.

It was actually kind of hysterical how my lungs suddenly decided to work again literally the second we began going downhill instead of up. Absolutely bonkers. 

Our view looking back up the steps we just came down.

I would not have wanted to do this in the rain.

Mom struggled with the hiking up the pass as well.

I think they even gave her oxygen at one point.

But they made it to the top!!!

And then we got lunch, which was once again AMAZING:

The green of the tent is not helping, but I am still thinking about the food from the hike:

I decided to abandon Marah and Stephen and spend some time hiking with Mom & Dad:

Our guide Melaton was the best.

He stuck with Mom & Dad and was always there when we needed extra help:

I loved how we'd be hiking and random ruins would just pop out of the mountains:

All these little areas built onto the side of the mountains.

I wondered more than once how they kept their toddlers from falling off the cliff to their deaths.

And here let me sing the praises of my parents. This hike was hard. Stupid hard. And I'm more than 20 years younger than they are. To add to that, the hiking shoes my dad bought to replace his missing luggage shoes were absolute garbage. If the ground even thought about being wet, his shoes lost all traction and started to slide. When you're climbing straight down a mountain in fading sunlight, slipping is scary. Thankfully he never seriously injured himself, but it was really frustrating for him.

And my mom is a rock star. Her feet never got all their feeling back after her chemo with breast cancer. She does fine going uphill, but downhill is tricky. With the neuropathy, she can't always feel where her feet are and can't make sure she's safely planted before she steps down. So while I was loving the downhill parts (because I could breathe), she had to be careful with every single step down. Miles of steps. Sometimes wet steps. She was frustrated with herself for "slowing everyone down", but all of us just thought she was incredible (even though she will never believe it). There were several hikers that we'd see regularly who would tell my mom how great she was doing. I loved all the kindness and support they gave to her and to each other. 

Pausing for a rest before we go down some more steps

Joie helping Mom down some slippery steps

And, of course, it started sprinkling just enough to get everything a little wet.

Melaton and Joie helped Mom along the stupid wet stones (they were SO slippery):

It was after dark by the time we made it to camp for dinner that night, but everyone cheered when we showed up. Mom cried. It was a hard, hard day and she was disappointed by what she saw as her weakness. Mom, you were AMAZING. That is literally the only thing there is to say. AMAZING.

Also, shout out the the awful porta-potties they put at camp every night (yes, some poor porter literally carried a potty up the mountain every day). They were okay for the first few hours, but when you had to slip out for a midnight potty run, the ground around the potty was always so, so...mushy. I did a great job not thinking about what was causing all the mush. Very grateful I only wore hiking boots and didn't try to wear flip flops at night like Mom did. Once.