Inca Trail Day 1



The beginning... so innocent and naive

 This was the day we had been looking forward to for 6 months!  We woke up early to be picked up by our bus and went around town picking up our group members from their hostels.   The bus ride was LONG and got absolutely CRAZY as we went off-roading on a single lane dirt-rocky road for an hour or two.  The crazy thing was...when an oncoming car or truck would approach and they would have to inch by each other.  Did I mention the road was next to a raging river?  Did we also mention, that he stopped on the train tracks deciding how to pass someone as Carolyn noticed a train coming in the distance.  If we could survive the busride to the entrance, then we could survive anything the hike could throw at us.   We had to go through a checkpoint and get our passports stamped , then crossed over a bridge over the Urubamba River and were on our way.  This was supposed to be the EASY day, to acclimate ourselves to hiking, to the lower altitude (we were several thousand feet lower than Cuzco) , and to get our feet wet.  We hiked for an hour, then rested at little huts, then hiked, then rested, etc. most of the day.  We passed by some very small villages of very poor dwellings and experienced our first  squatties.  We were passed by donkeys and locals along the paths as well as other groups of hikers.  It was awesome!

We had a very nice group of hikers with us.  Carlos and Manuel were our guides and we had 16 porters hauling up the kitchen tents, the dining tents, tables, chairs, our tents, food, propane tanks,  our stuff,  and many more  essentials.  They carried these things on their backs!  In our group, we had 3 from China - Julie, her hubby and his brother, 3 young men from England - Rob, Steve, and Nick, Mom and  college son from Calif - Kris and Todd, Husband and Wife from N. Carolina Rick and Brenda, and us three.   As the days went on, we laughed, shared, encouraged, and celebrated.    Compared to some of the other groups of hikers we met at rest stops and   passed on the way, we really lucked out!   The scenery was beautiful and the hike as not extremely difficult and steep, as compared to the other days come to find out!  When we arrived at our campside,  Carlos had each of the porters introduce themselves as did we.  We had a nice dinner and climbed into our tents, nestled into our mummy bags, and hoped NOT to have to get up in the night to use the squattie, because it was not close! 

After surviving the bus ride, we arrived at the beginning. 

The beginning scene - absolutely breathtaking

Home sweet home for night 1

Roomies - all cozy and happy

Hikers and Porters - Peru Treks