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Inca Trail day 3


The weather was very overcast with light rain as we set out early to knock off the remaining 450 meters of height to Dead Womans Pass (4,215 meters).  The climb took about 80 minutes of steady plodding up stairs and greasy cobblestones with numerous rest breaks until we could stand on the top of the pass.  The weather had closed in even more by this stage and we couldn’t see much but we did hang around for photos with the porters before they raced down the other side to set up in preparation for our arrival to the morning tea spot.




The descent wasn’t much fun. By this stage the showers had turned to persistent rain, and we all got a good soaking.  The climb down wasn’t too cold but it was steep and we had to be careful not to slip as we descended.  This didn’t worry the porters from another expedition who were jogging past us down the path and stairs carrying loads of over 20kgs. Even with my orienteering experience and studded shoes I wasn’t too keen to try and break into a fast walk.

In the valley between two high passes (Pacayamayo) the miracle workers in our support team had set up the mess tent and fed us a mountain of popcorn and hot drinks for morning tea. Eventually the rain slackened a bit and Marco announced it was time to go.  Another short but steep climb followed before we summited the Runkurakay pass which was an interesting little dell in a saddle between mountains. 


We didn’t stop for long at the top but made our way down to Sayacmarca, a small Incan site a short side trip off the main trail. This was a very interesting site where the Incas had a small observatory above the now obligatory farming terraces where they could study the skies.  I (Eric) hung around in the mist (thankfully the rain had finally relented) to take photos and explore for a few minutes after the others left – it was nice and slightly spooky to have the site all to myself if just for a few minutes.



Lunch was late at a campsite about a kilometre on from Sayacmarca (this was a main camp for the four day trekkers), before we headed off for the last 90 minutes of fairly level walking (mercy!) to our camp at Puyupatamarca (Town in the clouds), an amazingly scenic spur with steep drops on several sides.  Sam tried his hand at grass weaving while the rest of us dodged the Llama herd that invaded our camp, happily wandering around our tents marking their territory with smelly you know what.  We were all in bed by 7.15 with instructions to push all belongings well under the tent flaps lest the Llamas wee on them in the night.


  The porters unpacked the inflatable llamas for some gimmick shots...



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