We started our trek last Sunday and finished on Wednesday. It's taken several days to recover enough, both physically and mentally, to begin to make sense of its all.
We had a bit of a rough start. Last Sunday was election day across Peru. Because of mandatory voting, it was a chaotic scene, with many rural people from the highlands flooding the towns and cities where the polls were located.
Our porters and guides spent hours waiting to vote. As a consequence, we got to the trailhead SIX HOURS late!! It was almost 4 pm when our group of 8 hikers, plus our guide, passed the control gate.
We had a deceptively easy hike that first day, only 5 km. To avoid hiking in the dark, we made a makeshift camp in a farmyard. The roosters started crowing at 2:47 am, and the closest one was 5 feet from Frank's and my tent -- no (chicken) shit!!
The next two days were...well, we all agreed on the word "gruelling". 15 kms on Monday, and 16 kms on Tuesday. Not much sleep, plus extreme altitudes (over 14,000 feet at the highest point, Dead Woman's Pass) plus unbelievably steep inclines and declines, made for VERY long days.
Still: there was so much beauty, and surreal moments.
Even better, there was amazing camaraderie and encouragement in the group. We got to know one another well, in a pure kind of way. As our new friend Kelpna said, knowing all the facts about someone doesn't really matter much. It's learning about the best of each other's hearts and souls that matters. Here are Kelpna and her husband Padam, from Calgary.
The camping conditions were really rough. I don't see myself sleeping in a tiny tent, in a mummy sleeping bag, on a thermorest pad, any time soon again! Here's our last campsite. The tents were on a 12-foot-high terrace, with 18" between the front of the tent and the dropoff.
The food was amazing, though: 3 meals plus teatime every day. The cook, Nicholas, would bang around in the cook tent, barking out orders to the porters (5 of them) and thereby turning out 3-course dinners, a far cry from the trail food we imagined.
On the subject of the porters: it was a strange situation, a little too colonial feeling for most of us to be comfortable with it. The porters carried everything we needed for 4 days tents, etc., clothing, food, dining tables and stools, kitchenwares, on their backs, in huge packs, up and down the crazy-steep trails, at unbelievable speeds. This is a hard, hard, hard life: they spend most of the year away from their families; their bodies are prematurely wrecked, and they are looked at with scorn by much of the Peruvian population. Still, the trekking company we chose treats their porters well, and it is considered good employment for undereducated highland men who don't speak Spanish, only the indigenous language, Quechua.
The final day of the trek started at 3:15 am. The control gate opened at 5:30 and we trudged along, single file, mostly in silence for the first while.
This stretch, the so-called "Gringo killer", is so steep it's more ladder than steps:
We got to the Sun Gate around 8 am and were rewarded by that amazing, instantly-familiar view. Frank cried! A lot!
We were all giddy with relief, and sense of accomplishment:
What can I say about Macchu Picchu? It's all clichéd, and true: massive, brilliant, astounding, like a scene from Indiana Jones.
The llamas were a source of amusement and fascination, too:
After a tour of the site, and lunch together in the town at the base of the magical mountains, we said goodbye to our guide, Willy, and our fellow adventurers. Saying goodbye was hard. Enough said.
So, where are we now in our meaning making process? Dawn and I both agree it was the physics hardest thing we have ever done. Dawn says it was far harder than any other hike she's ever done, including the steepest trail in the Rockies (with Olivia, this summer) or 10 days in Kluane Park with a damaged knee ligament. I deemed it harder than childbirth. Harder than both of mine put together, in fact! Frank says it reminds him of the physical and mental fortitude required of iron working. And yet, none of us regrets doing it. Maybe the full impact still hasn't quite hit. But something amazing definitely happened. And so, Trish, to answer your question that I just wasn't able to answer the day after we ended: yes, overall, thumbs up.
Here's what I've been thankful for since the trek. Frank. Dawn. Good people who helped me do this. Real beds. Showers. Sleep. And clean toilets you sit down on instead of squatting over.
Happy Thanksgiving, dear ones.
Wendy, for Dawn and Frank
We had a bit of a rough start. Last Sunday was election day across Peru. Because of mandatory voting, it was a chaotic scene, with many rural people from the highlands flooding the towns and cities where the polls were located.
Our porters and guides spent hours waiting to vote. As a consequence, we got to the trailhead SIX HOURS late!! It was almost 4 pm when our group of 8 hikers, plus our guide, passed the control gate.
We had a deceptively easy hike that first day, only 5 km. To avoid hiking in the dark, we made a makeshift camp in a farmyard. The roosters started crowing at 2:47 am, and the closest one was 5 feet from Frank's and my tent -- no (chicken) shit!!
The next two days were...well, we all agreed on the word "gruelling". 15 kms on Monday, and 16 kms on Tuesday. Not much sleep, plus extreme altitudes (over 14,000 feet at the highest point, Dead Woman's Pass) plus unbelievably steep inclines and declines, made for VERY long days.
Still: there was so much beauty, and surreal moments.
Even better, there was amazing camaraderie and encouragement in the group. We got to know one another well, in a pure kind of way. As our new friend Kelpna said, knowing all the facts about someone doesn't really matter much. It's learning about the best of each other's hearts and souls that matters. Here are Kelpna and her husband Padam, from Calgary.
The camping conditions were really rough. I don't see myself sleeping in a tiny tent, in a mummy sleeping bag, on a thermorest pad, any time soon again! Here's our last campsite. The tents were on a 12-foot-high terrace, with 18" between the front of the tent and the dropoff.
The food was amazing, though: 3 meals plus teatime every day. The cook, Nicholas, would bang around in the cook tent, barking out orders to the porters (5 of them) and thereby turning out 3-course dinners, a far cry from the trail food we imagined.
On the subject of the porters: it was a strange situation, a little too colonial feeling for most of us to be comfortable with it. The porters carried everything we needed for 4 days
The final day of the trek started at 3:15 am. The control gate opened at 5:30 and we trudged along, single file, mostly in silence for the first while.
This stretch, the so-called "Gringo killer", is so steep it's more ladder than steps:
We got to the Sun Gate around 8 am and were rewarded by that amazing, instantly-familiar view. Frank cried! A lot!
We were all giddy with relief, and sense of accomplishment:
What can I say about Macchu Picchu? It's all clichéd, and true: massive, brilliant, astounding, like a scene from Indiana Jones.
The llamas were a source of amusement and fascination, too:
After a tour of the site, and lunch together in the town at the base of the magical mountains, we said goodbye to our guide, Willy, and our fellow adventurers. Saying goodbye was hard. Enough said.
So, where are we now in our meaning making process? Dawn and I both agree it was the physics hardest thing we have ever done. Dawn says it was far harder than any other hike she's ever done, including the steepest trail in the Rockies (with Olivia, this summer) or 10 days in Kluane Park with a damaged knee ligament. I deemed it harder than childbirth. Harder than both of mine put together, in fact! Frank says it reminds him of the physical and mental fortitude required of iron working. And yet, none of us regrets doing it. Maybe the full impact still hasn't quite hit. But something amazing definitely happened. And so, Trish, to answer your question that I just wasn't able to answer the day after we ended: yes, overall, thumbs up.
Here's what I've been thankful for since the trek. Frank. Dawn. Good people who helped me do this. Real beds. Showers. Sleep. And clean toilets you sit down on instead of squatting over.
Happy Thanksgiving, dear ones.
Wendy, for Dawn and Frank
Wow! What an amazing experience!! You must be so very proud and pleased with all of the training you did - culminating in this very difficult hike. I gather not everyone makes it (Sarah was telling us this morning that on the hike her nephew was on, a woman had to come down).
ReplyDeleteI must say too, that I am really surprised at level of difficulty shown in the photos. I was really hoping that you would say you over-trained, that it was not so difficult (just in case I follow in your footsteps again). Gives me something to think about (like do I really want to do this!).
How neat that you came together as a group. And yes, I can imagine the difficult feelings about your porters. As you say, at least they are well treated as employees ...
Happy thanksgiving to you three as well. Hope you get some rest on the next stage in your journey!
xo
Robyn and Keith