Continued from here
Day 2 was a full day of walking, about 8 or 9 hours, so we got off to an early start after an even earlier breakfast.
Day 2 was a full day of walking, about 8 or 9 hours, so we got off to an early start after an even earlier breakfast.
After dinner last night I had
been introduced to an American girl called Grace – she had been with a
different group the previous day, before being put with our group for the rest
of the trek. Realising that we were the only two native English speakers,
someone had thoughtfully introduced us. We therefore looked out for each other in
the morning and spent much of the day together chatting.
Grace was really interesting and
already had a great many impressive accomplishments under her belt. She was a regular
sailor, and had once come second in a day-long running race down and up the Grand
Canyon! To say I was impressed would be an understatement!
The walk began along fairly level
ground and I practiced walking with poles for the first time in order to reduce
the impact on my still-untested hip. I found this really clumsy and difficult
to get the hang of, but based on how my knees felt at the end of the day compared to how they normally feel after a day of trekking up and down steep paths, I think
the poles did make a difference (hip, knees, I know, I’m a wreck…)
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| Urubamba River |
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| My Chilean friends |
Very early in the walk we crossed
the swollen Urubamba River and came upon an abandoned village. The village had
been destroyed in a land slide several years earlier, with the loss of many lives,
and so what was left had been abandoned and a tribute to the dead had been
erected. It was very eerie to wander through this ghost town, and see the
crumbled empty buildings.
This feeling did not last long
however, and we wound our way along the track at the side of the river, the
tumbling and crashing brown water cutting through the vibrant green vegetation.
Butterflies and birds were everywhere, and there was constantly some new sight
to delight the eyes – including giant millipedes and exotic plants.
The track at first was mostly wide
enough to take a car along, but we soon got onto a narrow walking trail that
began to rise higher up the valley side above the river.
We passed small patches of low-key cultivation,
with plants such as coca and coffee along the side of the track. Coca leaves
are available everywhere in the parts of South America we visited, they are dried and then powdered and added
to hot drinks, used as an ingredient in sweets, or simply chewed as they are. They
give a buzz of energy and wakefulness – like super caffeine – and are also
reputed to help with altitude sickness, headaches and nausea. It was really
interesting to see the coffee too, I have seen plenty of tea plants before but
never coffee.
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| Coffee plant with its red berries, inside which are the coffee beans themselves |
After a while of pretty leisurely
walking, we came to a section of path going straight up a long set of steps. We
were given the strange instruction to keep going until we got to the monkey. I
thought this was rather cryptic, but it turned out to be completely literal as
we arrived at a house with a little monkey tied up in a porch area. It was sad
to see such an intelligent creature just tied there like this, but one of the
guys with us spent a lot of time playing with this monkey, making games for it
and letting it figure things out and interact with him. While it was sad seeing
the monkey tied up, it was also fascinating to watch the incredible way its
mind worked, to see it so inquisitive and having such fun.
Our rest stop over, we carried on
upwards again following sections of the ‘real’ Inca Trail for some time until we
reached a bit of a tourist set-up.
There was a sheltered area with
demonstration items for the guides to give talks, and there were basic toilets, and the
opportunity to buy some drinks and snacks. There were also several tiny kittens
that captivated everyone when we sat for the cultural talk by our guides!
The talk
was carried out in Spanish, so I didn’t understand everything, but something
I found pretty fascinating was a water jug. The interior shape was such that when you
turned it upside-down you could pour water into the hole at the base. You could
then turn it back the right way without the water falling out, and pour it away
through the spout at the top. It was so cleverly designed.
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| Water goes in the bottom... |
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| ...turn it over, the water doesn't spill... |
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| ...pour the water out of the spout! |
We had a little time here for
taking photos, and while doing so Grace and I spotted another pet monkey. This one
was also tied up, but seemed much happier as its leash at least allowed it to be
out playing and climbing in a natural habitat. It was also a very friendly little
thing, and we posed for some pictures with the little monkey on our shoulders.
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| The face paint was part of the cultural lesson, and came from the inside of a fruit |
Returning to the shelter to get
our bags ready to start trekking again, I suddenly noticed another creature had
arrived and was eating some bananas that were set out for it. It was very
relaxed and didn’t mind at all that a small crowd was gathering to admire it. It
was very unusual, I had never seen anything like it before, and the guide didn’t
know what it was called either – except that it was treated as a pet, but was a
rare creature. It was so cute in the way it manipulated the bananas in its
little hands, and with its snuffly nose investigating its surroundings. I still
have to find out what this lovely creature is, but if anyone can assist then I would
be really grateful!
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| Investigating my camera :) |
The guides finally dragged
everyone away from the monkey, kittens and the unusual creature, and we
continued our trek. We climbed some more, although not as steeply now, and
eventually came out to a high point where the track rounded a bend giving
spectacular views over the valley with the Urubamba River at the bottom. At this
point there was a small cave within the rocks to the side of the track, and our
guides led us in an interpretation of an Incan ceremony during which we honoured
Pachamama (Mother Earth) and placed offerings of coca leaves into the cave.
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| Coca leaves |
After this we continued along the
track, which was now traversing this high level along the side of the valley. We stopped
a couple more times along the way for talks by the guides about the Incan
culture, but mostly we walked. Then came some sections of steep downs to negotiate as well
as ups and walking on more level ground. My legs, unaccustomed as they were to such exercise after a
long rest-period for my hip bursitis, were tiring by now and unfortunately this
caused me to slip as we were descending a section of steps and I twisted my
ankle. It was painful but I ‘walked it off’, however I had to do this slowly
and my spirits sank somewhat, along with my confidence in my ability to
complete the trek, as I lagged behind the others. This disappointment was compounded as Grace and I noticed a
heavy rain squall heading our way during one of the cultural talks.
We all set off again, but it
was not long before the weather caught up with us and we were trekking through
very heavy rainfall. I had to put my camera away out of the wet, which was a
real shame as after this I saw a flock of macaws go by on several occasions.
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| Last photo before the rain arrived and got too heavy |
We trekked for some time now,
trudging through the rain, and were told that we would have to use the cable
car soon to cross the river; the bridge was not open when the river was in this
much flow. This was all well and good until we cleared the jungle, walked
along some rocky-shale paths for a while, rounded another cliff above the
river, and saw the cable car: a single cable, suspended from cliff-to-cliff high
above the raging river below, upon which was hung a plywood crate with a rope
fixed at each end. The rope was attached to metal loops which were also threaded on
the cable, so that a single giant loop didn’t form when the rope was slack, and
the other ends of these ropes were attached to anchor stations for the
cable on each side of the gorge. Not very high-tech or comforting at all!
There was a slightly wider flattened area
carved out of the cliff as a waiting area beyond the narrow single-file track
that preceded it. Therefore, with our group-size, it was a little time before I could
see that what I had assumed was a mechanism to hoist the cable car, was in fact
only an anchor point for the cable
itself, and the hoisting of the cable car and its contents from one side of the
gorge to the other was all done manually. Each time a group of us (2-4 people
could fit in the cable car’s crate – with no proper seats or any safety
equipment, just sitting in a crate with feet dangling over the side!) a man at
one end would have to haul the rope to drag the crate across to his side. Watching
what hard work it was for our guide to haul the empty crate back to our side
for the next batch of travellers, I did not envy the cable car man his job AT
ALL!
By this point I was feeling
pretty exhausted: as I said before, I wasn’t really fit enough after a
long-term period of resting a stubborn injury, lunch had come very late in the
day, and now after waiting a long time in the rain for the back-and-forth
journeys of the cable car to ferry everyone across the gorge, the chill damp was
sapping more energy from me.
Although a bit sore, I was glad
to finally get moving again once we were all safely on the far side, and as we
continued trekking for another few hours the scenery changed and levelled out. We
were no longer following steep valley sides, instead the ground was flattening
out around us before rising up to hills again, and the walking was easier. The thought
sustaining us at this point was that at the end of the road awaiting our
arrival was a set of geothermal hot springs. What luxury for a weary traveller!
We talked of how wonderful we
expected the springs to be, how they would soothe our aching muscles and
relieve the weight from tired feet.
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| Image from www.panoramio.com |
When we arrived at the pools,
they did not disappoint. Once a little confusion over changing areas and
baggage storage was sorted, we made our way down to the pools. There were three
in total – one was for families with children only, and the other two were
for adults. Large rectangular pools, the natural rock formed one side while the rest was man-made. The bottom was a coarse gravel – but not too coarse –
and they were deep enough to cover my shoulders when I stood up straight. Leaning
on the natural rocks at one side, I could even feel the hot volcanic water
seeping through fissures in the stone. It was glorious, and as darkness fell
and the stars began to twinkle, it only became more so.
