Inca trail day 3

This morning we get a "sleep in" and are only woken at 6:00am. We are also hoping for a shorter day. As we open the tent we are rewarded with an amazing view of snowy mountains in front of a salmon tinted sky.

We get ready, have breakfast of pancakes and dulce de leche, and get going. We are walking along a narrow trail with a steep drop off on the left hand side. Porters are continuously rushing past us, and Jonathan has strictly instructed us to keep close to the right side as they pass. As someone at the back sees them coming, they shout "Porters!" and then everyone knows to move over. 

Jonathan takes some time to explain that the Inca trail is not so much a trail, as a wall, and points out that the steep drops on the left hand side are in fact Inca walls, really high and made of stone. Most of day 2 and 3 of the trail is like this, those Incas were sure hard workers!

The first exciting thing we come across is an Inca tunnel, and we wait for the porters to go through before Jonathan takes pics of us in front of the tunnel. It is pretty long, and dark, but was built through a natural crevice in the rock.

After this we continue climbing, and eventually reach the third pass, Phuyupatamarka, at 3670m. Here we get our first glimpse of Aguas Calientes - the closest town to Machu Picchu. We spot Llamas in the hills and walk up to them, Uncle John cuddles one while we take photos.

Leaving the third pass, we start heading steeply down again, and reach the Phuyupatamarka Inca site where Jonathan sits us down for another explanation. He says that this site is important for the incas as a temple to the sun and moon gods, this theory is based on the fact that the solstice results in the shape of a face appearing in an exact point on the temple. 

As Van, Wendy and I are walking, we reach another inca tunnel, and I manage to lose my hat over the side as we pose for photos. I try to reach it with a hiking pole, but it only falls further away, and Wendy, Van and two other tourists talk me out of trying to retrieve it.

We carry on walking and reach another very large Inca site called Intipata. We spot Jonathan and the Danes, and Jonathan shows us where we can go and sit. There are three adorable llamas lying together here and we take turns to touch them.

Mikkel really makes us laugh, he says that he always has bad luck with animals, so he wants to approach the llama carefully, as he doesn't want to be kicked or spat at. He leopard crawls to the llama and then goes belly up in front of it. He puts some grass in his mouth so the llama thinks he might be the same. Eventually he gets the courage to stroke its neck, and it seems to enjoy it. They are actually very cute and friendly animals! One of them gets sight of Vans orange, and almost takes it out of his hand!

We are still waiting for a few people, so we hang our legs over the Inca terraces and all fall asleep on a line. It is really hot and many of us have switched to shorts and t-shirts.

Once most people have arrived, Jonathan takes us to the bottom of the site, and explains it.

We then head to the camp for lunch, arriving around 1:30. Lorna and Brendon soon arrive, and we enjoy another huge lunch.

The rest of the afternoon is off, but those who want to can join Jonathan at the nearby Winay Wayna ruins. We walk about 10 minutes down steep hills, past an old lodge which used to be used by tourists but is no longer open. Now it seems it is only used by porters to suntan on the roof.

At the site, Jonathan sits us down and explains the ruins - this is the most impressive ruin on the Inca trail, often called "little Machu Picchu". The place we are sitting is a temple, which would have been used by pilgrims on their way to Machu Picchu for ritual cleansing. He explains that the name Machu Picchu means "old mountain" - the site is named after the mountain on which it is built. But it needs to be pronounced right - ma-chu pic-chu. If pronounced Machu Pi-chu, it actually means "old dick" in Quechua!

Van and Uncle John check out more of the ruins, especially the bath area, while the rest of us head back.

We manage to get bowls of hot water for bathing purposes, as the shower at this site (the only shower on the inca trail) looks rather disgusting. We also have a little celebration between the three of us, we have brought small bottles of Amarula to celebrate surviving the third day! Then we have another short nap, and before we know it it is tea time again, then dinner time. 

After dinner, Jonathan asks us all the close our eyes until he tells us... When he says the word, we look at him, and we see the cook holding a huge cake! This guy has actually baked us a cake on the Inca trail! It's called mountain cake, and we all give it a try, quite nice actually, with white icing and a bit of dulce de leche on top. Now it's time for the porters tip ceremony, so Jonathan gives us some time to discuss how we want to do this. We all agree that everyone should put what they can in the pot, and then we split it. We end up with 1000 soles, which equates to about 55 soles per porter, and 75 soles for the cook. The porters gather around, and my dad makes a speech to thank them for all their hard work. He also has to announce exactly how much we are giving, and Jonathan designates the cook to handle the money and split it between them.

We all pose for a group photo with the porters, and then they each come around and shake our hands to say thanks. They don't seem that thrilled with the tips, but this is what we were able to give - is is more difficult as we lost two members of the group early on... Afterwards we head to bed as early as possible, as it will be the earliest start ever tomorrow morning!