Lars Trek and the lost city of the Incas

Our GAP "Inca Discovery" Tour Continues...

Our next stop was both our practice hike and our first visit to some Incan ruins. I'm not sure the altitude, but it was at least 12,000 feet. The ruins were really interesting, and it was our fist glimpse that Silver really was going to be an excellent guide. We walked up by some terraces like ants on a hill, the place was really packed with tourists panting from the thin air as they walked alongs. The Incans were primarily farmers and had built terraces for farming right into the hillsides. It was amazing. Basically it was the Incan solution on how to farm on the side of a mountain- just build small garden areas like big stairs. They knew how to build rock walls- very impressive to us trail building folks. They also excavated the soil underneath in some areas to make it more fertile for growing. They primarily grew potatoes (200+ varieties), quinoa, and corn in multiple varieties. At the top of the terraces there were some buildings still standing.

The Incans were amazing builders and there buildings still stand due to the intense craftsmenship and awareness of the surroundings. They built all of their walls angling slightly in to each other so that during an earthquake the walls would lean in and support each other instead of falling outward. Traditional windows were also in the shap of a trapazoid for the same reason. Everything was done with purpose. There were windows in line with the way the sun would rise and set, shapes and angles that were part of the Incan cross, and lots of symbolism with numerology. Pretty impressive for a civilization that only existed for less than 500 years and was only in it's prime for just about 100 years. Silver is of Incan heritage, speaks the local language, and explained different things about the culture to us in a way that only someone with personal knowledge really can. We wandered around a little, and then it was back to the bus and off to the next town

SILVER AND THE MAGIC PILL

What I haven't mentioned until now is that I was really feeling horrible during this day. I wasn't sure if it was something I ate, the altitude, or just getting sick, but by the time we reached Ollyantambo (the next town and the next set of Inca ruins) I had a full on fever, aches, headache, stomach ache, and just felt terrible. Fortunately, we checked into the hotel before going to the next ruins. I walked into the room and got directly in bed. I only managed to take off my hiking boots. Larry went out to the ruins at my insistance, and I stayed in bed. I felt awful and had no idea what I was going to do as we were to start our trek in the morning and climb over 14,000 feet on our first day. I believe I had all of the thoughts you might have at a time like this (use your own imagination). Fortunately, I fell asleep for a little while. Larry came back from the ruins at Ollyantambo and we decided it was best to consult with Silver so he would be able to give us advice on alternate plans if need be. According to Larry, he didn't seem overly concerned (that made one of us) and gave Larry a pill to give to me, encouraged rest and fluids and just see how I felt in the morning. I took the pill and went back to sleep as Larry went out to get dinner with the group and try to find some food to bring back for me. By the time Larry came back, the magic pill was already working. My fever had broken and I felt hungry for the first time in a couple of days and was able to eat some soup before going back to sleep. I woke up the nex mornng and actually felt pretty good. I got out of bed after 14 hours and proceeded to get ready for the day. Silver's magic pill worked. Amazing!

We arrived at our starting point after a very steep drive on a dirt road and met the rest of our support team: an assistant guide, a cook, an assistant cook, two kitchen helpers, and four horsemen. Although it had started to rain, the lunch tent went up and we had a freshly prepared hot lunch in just a few minutes time. I was feeling better, Larry was feeling good, and it was time to hike!

TREK DAY ONE

The Andes are huge mountains. Having lived in Colorado for a while (10 years for me, 15 for Larry) we didn't expect to be so immediately impressed by mountains. The Andes are impressive. They are massive and all around. There are peaks behind peaks behind peaks. It was an immediately humbling experience to be surrounded by these awesome mountains hiking painfully slowly at 14,000+ feet just trying to get enough oxygen to keep going. It really was beautiful. I was just so greatful to feel better and to be able to hike. Amazing magic pill!

After what felt like quite a while we started to get near the top of the pass. The horses passed us carrying all of our gear and the horsemen walked alongside the horses without missing a beat (no oxygen depravation for them).

We turned a corner on the trail, and there off the side of the trail was an Incan woman selling Coca-Cola. Seriously. She had a little table set up with a variety of drinks, soda, and candy along with the obligatory Llama wool hats. There were no houses nearby and no animals near her. We couldn't imagine where she had come from, but there she was. We probably should have bought a coke just for the sake of doing it, but we were focused on getting to the top of the pass, so up we went. Unfortunately it was totally clouded over at the top, so we could only see a few peaks before we headed down the other side toward our camp for the night. We passed a variety of mountain lakes and got to camp just as it was getting dark- which by the way is at 6:00pm all year long becuase Peru is so close to the equator. It was hard to believe we were near the equator as the temperatures were close to freezing so high up.

CAMPING - GAP STYLE

When we arrived at camp, our tents were all set up and are bags were laid out for us to get and change for the evening. Hot water for washing up was brought to our tents. Neither of us have ever camped like this! After wasking and putting on warm clothes, tea was ready and it was time to head to the food tent for drinks, snacks, and then dinner. After that, we promptly went to bed. We were woken up in the morning bright and early with a selection of hot tea, hot chocolate, or coffee brought to us in our tents. It was a great way to warm up and start the day. Very fancy.

TREK DAY TWO

When we got out of our tent, the first thing we noticed was that we were camped near a HUGE glacier. We had not seen it at all the night before and it was spectacular. it was a bright blue morning, we were surrounded by mountains, and were ready to go.

Our first sop was at a home near to where we camped. A traditional Incan family lives there and for a small fee we were allowed into their home and Silver explained more about traditional living. This family farms on the nearby land and goes into town (by foot) every couple of weeks to sell some produce and buy a few items. The house was one room made of stone, with a thatched roof that was black and charred on the inside from the wood burning stove used both to cook and help keep the family warm. The floor was dirt- the super fine dark dirt that makes everything black with its dust and makes it impossible to keep clean. After some explanation of daily living, we were on our way. We both had a similar feeling to when we visited the weaving village, it was fascinating to see and learn about, but it felt very invasive of someone's home and lifestyle.

This way of traditional living is definitely changing and becoming more rare. From what we have seen, it seems like the balance is finding how to help improve that basic standard of living without losing the culture. It's a struggle that many traditional communities are having and there is definitely no easy answer. Would electricity be a positive benefit? What would that do to the culture? What about TV? What about different clothes? According to Silver, and easy to see ourselves, this is definitely a culture at a crossroads. These are tough issues to try to put on a good or bad scale. The only thing that is sure is that things are changing faster than they have before..

The hke was good. It was slow at that elevation and it was both literally and figuratively breath taking. After about five hours we reached the top of the pass at 15,800 feet and were feeling good. Again, we were fully clouded over, so the view at the top was more of looking at the relief and joy on our faces for having made it and the thick white mist that comes from being in the clouds. We didn't spend long at the top as the clouds were darkening and our fearless leader wanted us to get moving as weater was coming in.

Shortly after beginning our descent we heard thunder, saw some lightening, and then, well, it started to snow. This is late spring/early summer just south of the equator and it was snowing. We were told this was quite unusual, but we were glad it was snow and not cold rain (much better to hike through). We hiked down for a long time, some in the trees, some on ridges, and some on trails that had become slow running creeks from the moisture. Finally, after looking and looking, we saw our camp in the distance down at the bottom of the valley. Yeah! So with a little more energy, we continued on toward camp. Half an hour later, we had another view of our camping destination. unfortunately, it looked as far away as it had the first time we saw it.

We did finally make it after crossing one final creek (with about an hour to spare before dark). The night following the same deluxe camping routine. When we came out of the tent after dinner, the skies had cleared, and the sky was brilliant with stars. We could see the Milky Way galaxy stretched from one end of the sky to the other like a river of stars. Which, by the way, is why the Incan people called the river and valley in this area Sacred. The ancient people saw the river as a reflection of the Milky Way and believed that this area was specially blessed. From our view, I would concur with their assessment. We have both been fortunate to see the night sky with minimal light pollution on many occasions before camping in the wilderness, but for some members of our group, they had never seen such a bright sky (or even close). They were amazed and we spent as long as we could out star gazing that evening until the cold forced us into our tents and sleeping bags.

TREK DAY THREE

After a good nights rest, we had an easy morning hike down the rest of the valley to where our van was picking us up. It was beautiful as we continued to descend through the valley past small clusters of raditional Incan homes (made of stone with thatched roofs).

We had an opporunity to talk to Silver for a while about his experiences as a group leader and his hopes for the future. Silver is almost finished being a GAP guide as he plans to go back to school to get a masters in business and start his own travel business. Although GAP tries to support local people and communities, Silver has ideas and plans to develop his business in a way that provides more educational and employment opportunities to local people so that they can both continue in their traditional ways and also have more opportunities for education and improvement in meeting their basic needs. It sounds great. We would definitely sign up to go with Silver on a trip again in the future as he is a great guide.

We arrived at our pick up point and headed back toward Ollyantambo. We stopped at a bar for lunch that had a big enough dining space. While we were waiting for lunch, we were introduced to a traditional bar game in Peru- Sopa! Sopa is frog in Spanish, and the object is to toss gold coins and try to get it into the frog's mouth. It is like of like a ring toss game. There was a table with holes and a drawer underneath. After tossing all the coins, you pull out the drawer to see your score based on which holes and how many coins fell in. It's the best kind of game- simple, but very entertaining

After parting ways with our support crew, we drove back into town for lunch before taking a train to Agua Calientes (also known as Machu Piccu town) for a group dinner and rest before our early morning start to Macchu Piccu. Silver, always on top of everything, arranged a table for us at a local restaurant where it was finally time to try the famous Peruvian special meal.....guinea pig. Yup, the cute little animals many folks had as pets are often served up on a platter for special occasions. Not wanting to committ to a dinner of Guinea Pig, four of us ordered one to share as an appetizer. It was served grilled up and all splayed out with all four legs poking out. They served it with the head and then kindly offered to take the head away while we ate it. The whole thing was kind of gross, and yes, it did taste a little like chicken. There wasn't much meat and I guess people eat the skin and fat, but we just couldn't, so I had a few bites and moved quickly on to my main course of Alpaca. Larry was even more grossed out, but mostly by a few of our quickly becoming intoxicated group members who were making much more of a show of eating the guinea pig. Alpaca, however, is really good. Larry and I both enjoyed it quite a lot. It is almost like a cross between steak and a pork chop, but more like steak. It is very lean and very juicy and tastes lighter than traditional steak. I was surprised how much I liked it. After dinner and a couple of pisco sours, it was off to bed

MACHU PICCHU

We have to admit that Machu Picchu was not the highest attraction on our list. We wanted to go of course, but it wasn't the draw that some others have. It felt more like a place we had to go check out than any strong personal interest. Our interest did increase throughout the week through seeing some other ruins and learning a little more about Incan history. So with the expectation of not being awed, we were truly awed. The place is really amazing. The structures were so well made with purpose and meaning for every little piece. The ruins are massive, you can imagine an entire society of learners and dreamers absolutely thriving in this environment. We arrived after the first wave of folks whose life purpose was to get there first and well before the mass of other tour groups. It was perfect timing really. Also, because the ruins are so big, it didn't feel so crowded. Silver took us on a tour during the morning and we had the rest of the afternoon to check out the area as we wished.

It was quite hot and we were quite tired after our three day trek, so it took us a long time to decide what we were going to do. There are two peaks to climb- Machu Picchu (literally "old mountain") and Wanu Picchu (young mountain). We weren't feeling that ambitious. However, from down in the ruins, you can look up and see the Inca trail leading to the Sun Gate- it is the first time while hiking the Inca trail that you can see Machu Picchu. So, we decided to hike the Inca trail. Or at least the last part in reverse up to the Sun Gate. It was great. It gave us a good sense of the Inca trail and we had great views of Machu Picchu from far away.

We were impressed with the ancient city of the Inca's during the tour, but we really gained a sense of awe of the place from up at the Sun Gate. The most amazing thing about Machu Picchu is it's location. It is literally on the top of a "hill" surrounded by huge mountains all the way around. It was abosuletly the perfect spot to stay safe from attackers. It is also an absolutely crazy place to decide to build anything. The amount of work that must have gone into creating such a place is mindblowing. Silver's answer is- when it is for god, man can do anything. The creation and destruction of Machu Picchu were both for the same reason, just from very different points of view.

THE TRAIN
We thought the last event would be the visit to Macchu Pichu. However, on the tourist bus back to Ollyantambo, all of a sudden, the lights dimmed, the music came on, and a guy dressed up like, well, I can't even describe it (that is why we posted a picture), came out and started dancing. It was bizzare, but apparaently it was traditional Peruvian costume and acting/dancing/singing thing. If that wasn't enough at the end of that threre was a full on fashion show with two guys and two girls modeling different sweaters and articles of clothing make out of Alpaca. That was even more strange. Then, of course, they came up and down the aisles tring to sell it. Figures. After a very quet bus ride (we were all exhausted), we arrived back at our hotel in Cusco very ready for a long nights sleep.