Steep stairs, An Offering and Misty Mountains - Day Three on the Inca Trail

Day 3 started with Percy describing once more the terrain. He said ¨it´s a bit steep to start off with, but the steps are small¨. What we found was that he is a master of understatement and adjustment of the truth.

We trekked up and up and up, over small steps – what Percy had forgotten to mention was the steps were small as in narrow – the height was definitely not small! I found it incredibly hard, struggling for breath due both to the gradient of the stairs and the high altitude. Despite our descent yesterday evening, we were now back up to 3,900 metres above sea level. The small compensation for the hard work of getting up the steps was knowing that these were original Inca stones, unlike the earlier days where they were restored by the government in the 1970's.

Percy had told us that at the top, we would make an offering of Coca Leaves and a stone each. Coca leaves are a special plant for Peru and are recommended in tea or to chew as a prevention of altitude sickness since they contain many different beneficial nutrients. As we gathered round a large rock, Percy explained that this was an offering in honour of the Inca Religion, and that we may have different religions, but ath this moment, we should have respect for the Inca beliefs. This trail, he went on, was created by the Inca´s as a sacred path towards Macchu Picchu, to be in touch with the elements and face the challenge that they brought with them. He said to us ¨you have left your limitations behind¨. I loved that phrase.

We each took three Coca leaves and quietly laid them under our stone, making a wish as Percy had advised. It was a great moment of the trek.

The next part was just bloody hard work. We walked on to our lunch-stop in mist and rain, and the day went on with frustration as we realised we were missing fantastic views due to the banks of cloud. We tried to concentrate on what we could see and after lunch, we walked through a jungle-like stretch, with heavy vegetation and moss surrounding the path, with a merciful respite of rain. But as we reached the 3rd and last major summit, cloudbanks obscuring the view, rain and wind pushed our patience as far as it could go. I remember thinking ¨is this meant to be fun?¨

The afternoon gave us some reward. After along descent, finally the sun shone a little. Nicki and I walked together behind the rest of the group and enjoyed the gradual revelation that there was a view to be seen behind the clouds. Suddenly, we were at an ideal height - clouds were above us and below us in the valley but there was a window of a view inbetween as the stunning Peru countryside opened out again for us. We sat and had a mini-picnic - water and cereal bars - and considered that at least we were lucky to see this.

An incentive to get to the final camp was the holy grail-like promise of a hot shower. The hygiene had been grim since we left Cuzco with the few toilet facilities being almost unusable and no showers at all. We smelt of trek, tent and dry rain, so we hurried down the last descent to get clean again.

That evening, a cake was brought in (where did they get it from?) congratulating us on completing the trek so far. All that was left now was the 3:45 start in the morning and the 2 hour stretch to our destination, Macchu Picchu.