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Day 3 @ altitude 3600m-2650m-
Having day number two (the hardest day) out of the way was a great relief, however, a bit of a challenge would still be good and I can vouch that were definitely not left twiddling thumbs or skipping around horizontal switch-backs.
My favourite day of the trail, the sun was out, the hike very varied, steep on-going ups, daunting down tracks, caves to squeeze through with the odd summit to climb up and sneak a breath taking view from. Each stop had great historical views and ruins; they were like nothing we had seen on the trail yet! and if you're lucky you can get a selfie with a llama- who seemed to love the camera, so used to being around people they lapped up the attention.
So, again, I manage to get lost! Missing a left turning I took the porters route down to our camping base for the night, missing a massive ruins sight to walk round. I thought the trail was getting quiet, but not one person who saw me taking the wrong direction decided to let me know, cheers for that! I know I wasn't the only one to do this so I didn't feel too much like a numpty, I found our camp and when Paul finally showed up I decided to punish him for leaving me, there he would walk me back up to the ruins sight, only ten minutes away we caught a double rainbow and a clear view on the mountains and glaciers in the far distance.
Coming back to Happy Hour we are greeted with our usual popcorn and coco tea and...wait for it...a cake!!!! An Inca trail big icing sponge cake. The chef makes all of this waiting for us in their tent. So, needless to say it disappeared pretty quickly, as did our close behind tea.
Its our last night in the tent, we have a 3:30am start tomorrow with the usual coco tea and from there the porters and chefs make an early exit on a train home. Even though the Inca Trail is expensive it is still customary to tip the porters, the chef, the guides and this was the first slightly awkward occasion of the trail.
Many of us not realising and carrying minimal cash we clubbed together what we had and divided it to how we saw fit. That evening after tea we were to say our thanks to our team and hand over our gratitude to them, however, prior to this a guilt trip story doesn't go a miss from our guide. Around the table of our group we exchange looks of awkwardness and discomfort whilst we listen to them explaining where the money goes and how it helps them (kids to school, clothing, eating, etc).
Unfortunately it wasn't portrayed in the best way and everyone one of us were felt to feel rotten, it was like a plea to dig further into our pockets but all our money was already theirs. We handed over our money and just hoped they weren't disappointed, from here they go around the table shaking everyone's hand and saying their thanks and goodbyes. All nine of us in our group were feeling a little un-easy; we couldn't have given them anymore.
However, with the above said this hadn't dampened our spirits, we passed around the whiskey shots (porters included) and sat around the tent breifly before bed.
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