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Aventura de America del Sur
CUSCO - KM 82 - TARAYOC - AYAPATA
We have been picked up from the hostel at 4:30am and drive to KM 82. We quickly realised that our guide, Sabino is a joker. When we all sat in a van he casually asked if we have been exploring Cusco and got warm baby Alpaca clothes. "Baby... maybe.." he added taking the piss out of the locals and turists for selling and buying everything labelled or called as made out of the precious and super soft baby Alpaca wool. Quite often not genuine.
We we reached the KM82 at 2720m a.s.l. this is where we met our porters who will be carrying our tents, cooking equipment, and up to 7kg of our personal items. This is when we also had time to speak to our trekking companions: Americans Holley and Gavin and a Singaporean Tien. There were only 5 of us, Sabino, 8 porters, cook and cook´s assistant! It couldn´t be better as there is nothing worse than an overcrowded tour.
Our porters started preparing breakfast and we could have a look at the valleys and observe the porters packing tents and equipment. Just before the breakfast they had prepared for each one of us green bowls with hot water, numbered hand towels so we don´t confuse them and eucalyptus soap for washing our hands before the meal. The pop out table had been set up and we started to eat.
Straight after the food we set off up. It was a really hot day I applied a few layers of SPF+50 but still felt like a reddening roasted pig. And eventually I had to get the hat out. My forearms started to turn red but I counldn´t force myself to put on a long sleeve T-shirt. We crossed the Inca Trail sign, entered the checkpoint and crossed the river: this is where it will officially start. It was so hot that when we were stopping to take pictures of the view my knees were sweating!
The climb was steep and Sabino told us to pace ourselves. I can´t really remember much apart from sun, sweat, climb (no typical Inca steps on day one!), stops for the toilets, lunch (after 4 hours) and further 2 hour climb to our camp site at Ayapata at 3300m a.s.l. On the way Sabino was stopping us to point out different plants used as medicines or for different purposes. Plants such as San Pedro cactus that can cause, and have been used for instance at Tiahuanaco, hallucinations. Other plants that can make you high as well as help older people to fall asleep. On one of the stops he got for us a pint of chicha (Peruvian pale yellow fermented corn drink with low alcohol content) from the locals.
When we reached the camp site our porters were already there, busy finishing setting up our tents and the cook was in a process of finishing off our dinner. We all introduced each other in a broken Spanish (me), jumped to our plates and quite early headed to bed lighting the way with headtorches, covered in piles of merino wool (me) base layers.
First 14km of famous Inca Trail done!
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