Day 176 - The Inca Trail, Peru

DAY 2 OF THE INCA TRAIL (26/06/09)

The trail at the beginning of the day was fairly flat and easy and we began to think that the people who had been telling us how hard the second day of the Inca Trail is had been exaggerating.

Meandering through the woods, crossing small streams and generally enjoying a pleasant stroll we probably became a little too confident. All of sudden, shortly after crossing this bridge, the easy, flat path turned into several hours of gruelling, painful uphill slopes and steps made all the more difficult by the thin air at +4000m altitudes.



So difficult was the climb that it took virtually all our concentration which is why we have almost no pictures before the ridge at the top known as Dead Woman´s Pass, the highest point of the Inca Trail at around 4200m.

Liz taking the last, very painful, few stairs to the top.

After perhaps 15 minutes rest we began to properly appreciate our beautiful surroundings.

Both happy that the ordeal is over.

Our sense of achievement was dampened slightly whenwe looked up to see the porters resting on the mountain side. Not only had they climbed to the top twice as fast as us but they had done it with bags at least five times heavier than ours.

After a long rest, lots of water and snacks we started the equally long descent. Whilst physically less exhausting the steep and uneven steps require a lot of concentration and use different muscles, creating a whole new set of aches.

Exhausted we finally reached our campsite. Hardly able to keep our eyes open during dinner we spent a brief couple of minutes appreciating the clear, star filled sky before heading for our sleeping bags.