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Retun to Ecuador 1999

April 14th Friday
We are up early and walk to SAS travel to meet our group and the guide. The night before we had arranged to leave our passeports, luggage and extra money in the safe at the hotel, taking only what we needed for the hike. The group consists of five Americans, three adults and two young boys. Also a young man from France and a girl who had been traveling in Peru for some months. She was a mix of French and English but lived in France. The young man had come over to visit with her.

The guide, Antonio was busily getting the people sleeping in tents equipped with sleeping bags and mats. We were each given a poncho in case of rain. Ellen and I had decided to spend the night in the hostel on the mountain. It was about $10.00 American extra each but we did not have to carry sleeping bags.

We are driven to the train station in a van and then Antonio shows us where our seats are on the train. We are not happy with them as we are too crowded and Ellen asks if some other seats can be arranged. Antonio soon comes back to us with tickets for another car. The names on the tickets are Peruvian names so he must have traded with some one in another car. These are much better seats.

The train starts out of the station and we climb slowly out of the valley. The train goes forward for a short distanc and stops, then backs up and shifts onto another track. This happens many times to get us up the side of the mountain before we can proceed out toward the countryside. We notice little statues of bulls and ladders on the roofs of most of the houses and wonder what the significance is.

A group of young people had come on the train and two of them sat opposite us. They are tall leggy girls and they sprawl all over the seats. I find out they are from Israel. They must have had a fun time the night before as they slept most of the way. The train rocked and rolled into the mountains until about 11.30 where we got off the train at Km 104.

After getting off the train we walk over a bridge and enter through the gate to the Inca Trail. Antonio has our passes for the trail and he signs us all into the park at the checkpoint. A short walk and we stop at a rest area. There is a building here and washroom facilities. A little further on and we stop at a shelter for lunch which is supplied to us by the travel agency.

After lunch we load up and start walking. The trail winds steadily upward and is quite narrow in places. We peer over the edge and down the steep mountain to the river below

Across the valley we can see people on a trail making their way up the side of the mountain. We will eventually travel that trail also.

We struggle along stopping often to catch our breath. The two young boys with us run back and forth with energy to burn it seems. Sometimes we hold our breath fearing they will fall over the edge of the trail.

Down by the river we see what we think is a power station and some Inka ruins. The river is moving very fast indicating the steepness of the terrain.

Finally we are across the river and are climbing again toward the ruins. We groan when we realize we have to go to the top of the ruins to reach the trail to the hostal. Ellen starts counting (in Spanish) the steps as we climb and it lifts our spirits. Some young people stopped resting on the steps are amused by this. They wish us well as we continue on.

Finally we reach the hostal and we are shown our accommodations. There are eighteen beds in the dorm but only two people there so far. Two guys who are bicycling around the country. They had done the whole trail in two days. Another couple will come in later. There are toilets and showers also. Better then I had expected.

We then go sit out on the deck, relax and admire the mountains until it is time to eat. The guide and porter prepare our dinner. Some of the young guys whom we had met on the trail come and talk to us. Congratulate us for having made it to the hostal.

After dinner we climb up the hill to the dorm and settle in. We have to get up early to try and reach the sun gate to see the sun rise over Macchu Pichu. The two guys are already there. Ellen sleeps in her clothes but I put on my long johns as they are more comfortable. No problem getting to sleep.

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Homepage | Cuenca | Peru 2000 | Cuzco | Inca Trail | Machu Picchu | Lake Titicaca | Arequipa | Colca Canyon | Lima
Retun to Ecuador 1999