Inca Trail Day 2, Dead Woman’s Pass, Peru

Day two was here.  After a precarious night’s sleep we were up by 5 AM.  We were awakened each morning with a choice of coca tea or coffee (Nescafe instant) delivered to our tent and hot water to wash our hands.  It was then time to pack up, fairly quickly.  In a matter of about thirty minutes we were dressed, packed, sleeping bags rolled up, and tents were starting to be dissembled.  We then met in the dining tent for breakfast.  While we had heard infectious laughter from our Australian friends trying to locate their boots earlier there seemed to be a bit of a hushed silence around the table now.  We all seemed to be waking up or thinking about what the day had in store for us.  In the back of my mind I was terrified.  What if I couldn’t do it?  But in my sensible mind I recognized that attitude is what would help me succeed.  This would be hard but I would get it done.  After all “impossible is nothing!”

Before dinner our first night in camp we had a formal introduction to our team.  Our porters and chef  lined up and David translated for them as they each told us their name, where they were from, and their age.  We then went through our line and did the same thing.  It was my first time to say I was fifty since turning that age a few weeks prior to our trip.  It caught in my throat a few seconds but then I thought hey, I’m more than twice the age of some of my fellow hikers and some of our porters are older than me, maybe I can be an inspiration to someone when I finish this.  Our friends opted not to share their ages but did proudly claim six grandchildren.  Our porters and chef really made this hike possible for us in so many ways.  And being introduced helped us to appreciate even more that on this trip we were a family.  After the introductions we went around in a circle shaking hands and exclaiming to each other “mucho gustos.”  It was a good moment.

We hit the trail about thirty minutes later than originally intended, around 6:30AM.  Our porters lined up and cheered and applauded as we started hiking.  It was a little intimidating but at the same time I appreciated their encouragement.  They were letting us know we could do this.  And so off we went – up, up, and up.

It was evident very early in the day that this was going to be the majority of this day – up.  On day one a challenge of this hike presented itself.  My body wanted oxygen and the easiest way seemed to be to breathe faster and harder.  It also became clear very fast that I would soon be hyperventilating if I didn’t get that under control.  This day would require a lot of breath control and reminders to breathe in and then breathe out – slowly.  The most frustrating part was that no matter how deep a breath you took, your lungs never felt full.  And no matter how much I wanted to follow Jaime’s advice I had to stop.  If I didn’t stop I believe my body would have stopped for me.

I had read accounts of how crowded the Inca Trail is.  I never really felt that.  I looked forward to a porter coming up behind me.  I would use that as an excuse to stop and let him get past me.  I always hoped for several porters so I would have an excuse to stop for a little longer.

Along the way I met people from other groups that we saw each day on the trail.  We could bond over our suffering and celebrate our achievements together just as we did with the people in our group.  There were only a limited number of people allowed on the trail each day so in reality we were the same large group just split into smaller groups for camps, etc.  When I returned home I found myself in a very crowded grocery store with many angry people.  Before we left for Peru I had a negative attitude about people.  As I listened to the anger in people around me at the store I realized that while we were on the trail humanity was great.  We all had a common goal of survival and an endpoint.  We encouraged each other, we empathized with each other, we celebrated together.  I didn’t want to lose that feeling of camaraderie with humanity.

So for two hours we trudged uphill.  Progress was slow for me but forward motion continued.  Finally we made it to our half way point.  Our porters were waiting to cheer us.  At this point we were able to get a group photo with our whole team.

                                                        This was the last opportunity to buy drinks and snacks.  Several enterprising women had passed us on the trail to set up shop here.  David had told us the best treatment for altitude sickness was Gatorade.  He had strongly suggested that we purchase a Gatorade at this stop.  He told us a story of a man on one of his trips who was seriously suffering from the altitude but after drinking the Gatorade he was able to keep going.  David felt the Gatorade helps blood sugar and that can play a role in altitude problems.  We bought one to share just in case.

Jill had overheard another guide say that the part of the trail we had just completed was the hardest part of the day.  I felt the need to ask David because if that was true it would give us some serious encouragement.  One thing about David, he is honest.  He looked at me seriously and said, no, actually he felt the hardest part of the trail would be after lunch.  Wait, what?  There’s more after Dead Woman’s Pass?  But that should be downhill, right?  I think I felt a little deflated after that.  Oh well, I would just keep doing what I had been doing.  Put one foot in front of the other I told myself.

Again this was a day of weather extremes.  We started the morning cold and bundled up.  Clothes were shed along the way.  At the half way mark to the first pass I had shed my warm layers.  At the half way mark it was time to put the coat back on.  And so this would continue until the end of our trip.

David told us to pick a leader at the half way point and sent us off.  John led the way and set a nice steady pace.  We tried to stay together as we started back up.  One rule that is painfully true when you are at the end of a hiking train is that you need rest the most and you get the least.  When those at the front of the line stopped for a rest they had usually had a nice break by the time those of us at the back caught up.  As a result our breaks were always abbreviated compared to theirs.  I really wanted to be one of the cool kids at the front of the line but I just had to do what I could do.  At our breaks we would marvel at the scenery surrounding us and then gaze in shock at the path that awaited us. Dead Woman’s Pass seemed to still be so far away.

Maybe an hour into the climb David and Toro suddenly appeared again.  They ran from the halfway point and weren’t even out of breath. I just wanted to slow my heart rate and feel my lungs fill.  Jeff was starting to fall behind.  I was worried about him.  The altitude was definitely giving him problems and he had several symptoms of altitude sickness starting.  He was using coca leaves and taking things at a pace that would allow him to succeed.  I had to go on.  If I tried to wait I wouldn’t have made it.  I had to go when I could.  I sucked on coca candy, counted my steps, willed my body forward.

It felt so good to make it to the top!  Every accomplishment was met with a high five from Toro.  Coca tea was waiting for us and a sandwich from our chef.  And then as I looked out the realization of what I had just done hit me.  What an accomplishment!  On the way I had told Jeff that if my heart exploded I wanted him to sue my cardiologists.  After all I had just had a heart procedure done five weeks before the trip and two cardiologists told me I was fine to do this.  I wasn’t convinced they should have cleared me.  At times I may have cursed them a little for clearing me.  But look at what I just did.  I’m so glad they cleared me!  Next time we are taking the train though!

After a rest and photos it was time to start heading downhill.  It seemed a shame to give up all that elevation we had just gained.  At least going down I could breathe and my heart could beat at a normal rate. I can fall walking on flat ground so unfortunately going downhill did not greatly increase my pace, especially as this was a very steep downhill with loose rocks as well.

My knees were killing me but in two hours I would be at our lunch spot.  Jeff was rejuvenated and I hated that he slowed down to stay with me.  A young man from another group was as slow going as I was.  He was quite concerned about his knees.  That made me feel a little better.  I was quite concerned with falling down.  Finally I made it to the lunch stop.  My stomach was pretty upset.  When we arrived at the lunch spot we saw our other group members laying down on sleeping mats.  That seemed like a great idea to me.  Unfortunately once again being at the back of the line meant the rest break was over and it was time for lunch.  I picked at my food, hoping it wouldn’t come back up but knowing I needed to eat.

My body was definitely starting to fight back.  Six hours of strenuous hiking and an upset stomach was starting to wear me down.  Lunch was over and it was time to once again hit the trail.  Once again we were headed up, a steep up.  We stopped at an archaeological site for a rest and explanation of the site.

That was a nice little break on the two hour steep uphill stretch after lunch.  David was right.  This was harder.  I don’t know if the hiking itself was harder or just the fact that we had already been at it for so many hours before we started this part of the trek.

Oddly it was the next two hours that broke me.  It felt like we were going straight down for two hours.  All day had been up, up, up followed by down, down, down.  This time it seemed the down would never end.  I thought it would be nice to just walk off the mountain now but I promised my daughters that I would not do that. I had prayed a lot this day.  I asked God to give me strength to make it to the top.  I thanked him for letting me do this.  I again asked for help to finish this trek.  On the way down the Lord’s prayer became my mantra. I finally broke and cried for quite a bit on this portion of the trail.  I was crying so hard I couldn’t see at times which of course made everything harder.  And I was so upset that I was so upset.  As we got closer to camp I decided to take a break and admire the beauty that I had just noticed.  This stop turned into one of my favorite photos of the trip. 

With a final push uphill we made it into camp around 6 PM.  We were advised to have all of our belongings inside our tents as foxes were a problem at this campsite and were known to steal shoes, etc. After happy hour and dinner it was time for bed.  After the day I had just experienced I was a little nervous for day 3 even though we had been assured that it would be ‘easy peezy limon squeezy.”  One thing is for sure though – we did experience some “mucho wow wow” on this day.