INCA TRAIL

DAY 3

Percy, looked after us again today, we were both still not feeling great so he arranged for one of the Porters to carry both of our day bags as well as a small pack of his own.  He was only 48! but we were so grateful because the first thing we had to do was climb back up to 3900m.  As we started our day we crossed a creek.  Percy instructed us to each pick up a rock and carry it with us to summit.  The view was like nothing we have ever seen before.  As we came over the summit of Runkuraqay Pass we stopped at the clearing in the picture below.  This is where Percy had us take our rocks out and spend a few minutes reflecting on our journey so far.  He then told us a story of a previous trip where a young man was bringing a rock his Dad had taken years before to place in this specific spot.  His Dad a recently passed away and his dying wish was to have the rock placed back in its original spot.  The Inca trail has changed his life and he was very grateful.  He then told us to place our rock anywhere we wanted and make a wish.  So far my wish is working, my niece Kristie is responding to her cancer treatment and is doing ok.  The Inca's were very spiritual and powerful people so I thought I would tap into healing strength while I had the chance.

  Once we were up at the top the rest of 16km trek was petty cool.

We went through a series of causeways and tunnels which have been there since the 1500's.

These led to some amazing ruins!

The terrain was quite different on this side of the mountain.  It was more like a rain forest with very dense growth.

The rock work was unbelievable as we climbed and descended through many peaks and valleys.

 We stopped for lunch today and Bill was still not feeling up to par, so Percy had the Porters set up a tent complete with a mattress and he lied down to have a rest while the rest of us ate lunch.  The cook created this great cake complete with our team name piped in icing.  "The Crazy Alpaca's"  were a lot of fun.  Bill did manage to come and have a bit of cake before we headed out again.

 We were all in bed early as our wake up call was scheduled for 3am so that we could be the first in line to make it through the check point.  There was only room for about 3 groups under the shelter so if it was raining Percy wanted us to be protected as we were going to have to wait for a couple of hours before the gates opened.  By this time our meds had started to work and we were both feeling much better.