Inca Trail - Day 2

Wednesday 2nd April
We got to sleep in until 0600 on Day 2 - Whoopee! Then came the 400m climb to 4200m and Dead Women´s Pass. It actually wasm´t too bad - there were just sooooo many steps, and some very steep and deep. We had a bit of a rest at the top and had photos with the ´Red Army´ - our porters, then started the walk down to 360m for lunch in a lovely valley.

After lunch we had to climb up to 4000m again (our last pass), and then down to 3600m to camp at the end of the day. On the way we got to visit a couple of cool Inca sites - one which was used as a fortress and communication link along the valley. As we reached the top of the second pass it started raining - not really heavy, just enough to be a pain in the rear - so out came the wet weather gear (and we pretty much wore it until the end of the trek).

The second Inca site we visited was quite large and had only one access point - up a very steep set of narrow steps, with a BIG drop off the edge! But it was very cool - basically a whole village on top of a rock - living areas, fortress, altar and purification baths (as we get closer to Machu Picchu, the sites become more elaborate and contain more and larger places of worship, as MP was considered the ultimate holy place).

It was really raining by the time we got to camp, and we hadn´t seen much of the view in the afternoon on the way down as it was so foggy. We were all pretty tired at the end of the day, but tomorrow we only have a short walk (about 7km or so), so we will hopefully arrive about lunchtime and be able to have a lazy afternoon. Again dinner was absolutely fabulous - I definitely don´t htink I´ll be losing any weight on this trip.

Photo: Michelle climbing towards Dead Woman´s Pass, visible in the background.