After writing last night i packed myself up and headed back down the trail we came from, hoping to help Deb with her pack on the last part of the hike. I "coo-ee"d and heard a reply, but after about a km i still hadnt reached them, and i was pretty tired. So i had a rest, and asked a porter who was coming past. He said they were 2min away so i set out up the stairs again. I found them, but that same porter i passed had already taken the pack! So i just wandered back with them. They made it before dark.
Today was a 16km hike, over another 4000m pass. The difference was that we started higher, so instead of climbing for 5k we only did 2k. I think it also helped that we didn't realise that it was so high, until Lobo told us at the top.
Then we had a long downhill, with uneven stairs, which was really tough on our toes and knees.
Our journey was broken up by archaeological sites peppering the road. I think I counted 5. One was a refuge and store house, and another one was a temple where they mummified the royal class (in the foetal position) then inserted them back into "mother" earth (put them in a cave).
We then followed the ridge, winding in and out of valleys, through more spectacular terrain. We saw some wild alpacas, which was pretty cool.
From there we had a loooooong downhill of about 1.5hrs. About 30min from then end (after 9hrs hiking), we had the choice of 30min to camp, or 45min past some Inca farming terraces. We chose the latter, and I am glad we did, because from a distance you couldn't appreciate how imposing and enormous they were. There was still a working irrigation system, and a hut that was in tact apart from missing its thatched roof.
Tomorrow, we get to do it in the dark... 2.5hrs in order to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu.
Good to see everyone is doing well. Looks a bit cold though.
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