Woke up on the morning of Day 3 of the hike and peeked outside my tent. The fog from the night before was gone, and we had an amazing view of glacier topped mountains in the distance.
This was the day my legs said "Ouch"! I was doing a lot of groaning as I got up and got going. The day before was a complete leg workout -- climbing up and down! Today was luckily only going to be a half day hike and we would stop at camp for lunch and then just stay there for the rest of the day.
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| Camps down below us. |
We headed out hiking once again. I have to say that I found Day 3 a little hard. I was just really tired, my legs hurt and I still had a headache. Also, I think I had overestimated what an easy day it was going to be. It was a shorter day of hiking, and for the beginning the trail was much more like what I had expected the whole hike to be like. It was up and down -- but not long stretches of either. So it really was an easier day. It was more like hiking through the woods around here. I think my struggle was more mental than physical. I had gotten through the hardest part with day 2, but hadn't given much thought to the fact that I still had to keep going!
The hike today was a lot of cliffside trail. It was very beautiful, but you really had to pay attention and might be tough for someone afraid of heights. Luckily the vegetation "hid" the fact that you were walking on a cliff to a degree.
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| Donny and I posing before heading into the cave! |
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| I'm headed into the cave -- that's a Porter in front of me. |
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| The path kept us right on the "edge"! |
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| Top of the world! There is nothing but air behind me! |
As we got closer to camp, we found more ruins.
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| These "steps" were worn so smooth that they were more like "bumps". they made me nervous coming down as they were wet and slippery! |
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| Leo, Annie and I were hiking buddies that day. It helped to have company while I was feeling tired! |
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| Rest Stop! |
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| Where's Waldo? Can you find the tiny people again? |
Finally we arrived at camp! This camp had a little more in the bare necessities depatment: A toilet with a seat, a lukewarm shower and a bar!! We got here early on purpose. A lot of groups would be converging on this camp throughout the day since this was the final camp before Machu Picchu. Our porters got there early and got us the best campsite!
When we first arrived at camp, there was still 40 minutes before lunch. Javier said there were some more ruins just a 10 minute walk away and we could even wear our sandals. Most of the group went, but I was really "done" at that point. I chose to hit the showers before the crowds arrived - and get a beer! Under normal circumstances, this shower would be nothing to write home about, but it felt wonderful anyway. When everyone arrived back to camp, they all said that I had to go check out the ruins later. So after lunch, feeling clean, well fed, and with my sandals on and another beer in hand, I headed out to the ruins with Dane #1, dane #2, and Jake. I was sooooo glad that I did. I think this was one of my favorite places of the whole trip. It was beautiful, and so peaceful to be there with just a few other people. We sat here for a long time! As the evening started coming in, the birds started flying around over the terraces catching bugs.
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| The 2 Danes! |
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| Dane and Jake headed down to explore. I was happy to stay at the top and not have to climb back up the stairs! |
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| One of my favorite pics, but I need a pedicure!!! |
After hanging out at that beautiful spot for a while, we headed back to camp. I was so glad they had convinced me to go check those ruins out! We now had the rest of the afternoon/evening to just relax. I read for a while, then headed back up to the bar. I was done with beer though and had a cup of "Milo" -- a cross between hot chocolate and Ovaltine. The folks from Australia were all familiar with it.
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| This was our view from the bar! |
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| Leo, Jake, Annie, and Renee |
Then it was time for dinner. Perfectly timed, the rain started just after we all got into the dinner tent. This was the night we thanked and tipped the porters, because they would not be heading to Machu Picchu with us, but catching a train home very early in the morning - once they packed up our tents etc.
Dinner was once again delicious, and we had a cake. I was back to no appetite though, and felt like my stomach wasn't feeling too good. After dinner we headed to bed for our last night in our tents. We were going to be woken up at 3:30am, to try to get to Machi Picchu for the sunrise!
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