Peru - Day 9 & 10

Day 9 was the day we started our four day Inca trail hike!

The day started way early at 4:30 am in order to take a two hour bus ride to the start of the Inca trail. The weather was rainy and cold, but we were all in high spirits.

My group consisted of 11 people, two Americans (including myself), four Canadians, two Australians, two Bulgarians and a Scotsman.


Our group at the base of the trail.


I can't remember what kind of tree this was, but they're fairly common.


Somewhere along the trail.


Ruins at the first major rest point.


The ruins aren't any more interesting with me in the picture, but at least I can prove I was there now.

Unfortunately I had not recovered too well from the throat and lung infection a few days earlier. By lunch time, I was really struggling to hike and keep up with the group. I had two bites of watermelon and a piece of bread and started experiencing breathing problems. I went and laid down for about an hour, just trying to rest up. After resting, I attempted to continue the hike. I hiked for another two hours, and it came to the point where I was lagging a good 20 minutes behind the rest of the group. At one checkpoint we decided to take my temperature to find it had shot up to 102.2F. We immediately decided that I should not continue the hike. I made my way down the mountain a little way to a nurse's station, where I spent the night under observation.

Day 10 was spent backtracking down the mountain (which took me nearly four hours, an unusually long time for a mostly downhill trek). From there I took a bus to the town of Ollantaytambo, where I rented a hotel room for the afternoon to just sleep. I slept about four hours, then took a train to the town of Aguas Calientes, which you will hear about in Day 11.