We woke up early around 5:30 and I took a shower. The water took a long time to get warm so for awhile I thought I'd be taking an icy shower, but it got hot eventually. We packed our bags and left for the Ollantaytambo ruins again. We went in right when they opened at 7am and there were only 2 other people there. We climbed to the top and explored past where we went the day before. On the other side we could see mountains topped with snow that were beautiful. We took some pictures and headed back down to the hotel. Ryan bought some new batteries for his GPS before the ruins opened, so we were ready to go. We ate breakfast but there wasn't much, just some rolls, butter, and jelly.
We waited for the bus, met our second guide, Fernando, and loaded up for the beginning of the trail. The bus ride was fairly short, so we arrived at the beginning of the trail pretty soon. We showed our passports and had them stamped, and we were on our way. We took a group pictures and then walked about 5 minutes and stopped for Cesar to pray to the mountains with coca leaves and we all learned how to chew them. The trail was mostly flat for awhile, and dirt We passed some homes and eventually the trail started rising.
We crossed a river and slowly made our way up a steep hill. At the top there was a great view and another set of ruins, the Llaqtapata ruins. After a break there we headed downhill along a valley to a spot where our porters had set up lunch for us. There were 2 tents, one for a kitchen and one with a table and stools for us to eat at. It was set with real silverware, napkins (they made the napkins into different shapes at each meal, and tablecloths. The porters greeted us by clapping as we arrived, and had soap and bowls of water for us to wash our hands. They gave us glassses of sugary lemon water and we rested until lunch was ready. It was corn chowder, followed by rice and trout. After lunch we rested again and then continued on the hike.
We passed a small village and traveled uphill to campsite 15 where we stopped at our campsite. The porters had all our duffel bags on a tarp and all the tents set up so we grabbed a tent and set up our stuff while the porters brought around warm dishes of water to wash with. The zipper to our tent sucked, and we broke it trying to get out so we had to use the back door (we got this same tent the next night too, but avoided it on the 3rd night!) The toilet was just a hole in the ground with some sticks to stand on and some tarps draped around it. There was a roll of toilet paper on a string and a plastic bag to throw it in when you were done.
We had tea about 5 with biscuits and honey and popcorn, then stood around talking and trying not to get biten by mosquitos until dinner was ready. FOr dinner there was a noodle soup, chicken, rice and potatoes. Afterwards we stayed up talking for awhile drinking tea. We noticed a light coming from Tom and Sylgie's tent. Tom went to investigate and Kim and Katherine had crawled into the wrong tent and were climbing into their sleeping bags! It was hilarious. Cesar told us a story about him being drunk and kissing another guy which was also pretty funny. Bernie and Stephanie were afraid of the hole for a toilet and made their David's take them.
After dinner we looked at the stars for awhile which were sooo bright, then we went to bed around 8. Ryan woke up around 10 and it was raining, but I slept all night. Apparenty he woke up and thought a critter was trying to break into his pack and eat his CLIF bars, but it was just me snoring...oops!
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