The Inca Trail: Ruins etc...

I've just realised that in all of our Inca Trail blogs there is very little mention of the actual ruins we went to see, or any of the ruins we saw along the way. True - they are just "old rocks" - but I feel this blog should be a cultural and informative experience as well as a form of entertainment. With this in mind, I am adding this post, hidden away after Liz's most recent one, for all our die hard blog fans ... or those desperately trying to find a diversion from uni work ...


DAY 1 - Patallacta (and coca leaves).

The first day of walking was meant to be a nice easy warm up before the rigours of day two (read - seven hours of uphill walking). The altitude wasn't excessive compared to what was to come, but there was still a significant risk of altitude sickness. To combat this, our guide "Lobo" suggested chewing coca leaves, which have a mild stimulant effect and are said to reduce the symptoms. So, before we started on the trail, Liz and I bought a packet of leaves each for the combined total of 50p. Now, apparently there's some kind of tecnique to chewing these leaves. A technique that "everybody" knows, and that Quechua people are born with or something. Not being Quechua, I assumed you just throw a couple of leaves in your mouth and chew. I did this about 3 hours into the walk. The leaves promptly disintegrated in my mouth and, not wanting them to go to waste, I swallowed the resulting syrupy foul tasting mass. Afterwards, I felt a bit tingly all over, but not much else. I told Lobo all this a few hours later. He stopped dead, looked at me with a sidewards glance and said: "You're not supposed to swallow the leaves. Are you feeling ok?" I nodded. He shrugged, told me not to eat any more that day, and said he'd show me the real way on day two. Oh - and we saw these ruins as well. They used to be an ancient city called Patallacta ....


Day 2 - Dead Woman's Pass (and "The Problems").

The second day was meant to be the hard one, and so it proved. Because of our experiences in Cuzco we were very worried about altitude sickness, so asked Lobo if he could show us how to chew those leaves as soon as possible. He looked at me, decided it was safe, and showed us the technique. Apparently you are meant to roll 10 to 15 leaves up into a little cigar type shape, which you then wedge in the side of your mouth between cheek and molars. You then suck (not chew!) the leaves to release the ... whatever it is that helps with the altitude sickness. We tried this, and to be honest, it was disgusting. The leaves exude some kind of bitter tasting liquid that has the same effect as washing a very cheap tequila around in your mouth for a few minutes. Not as bad as rancid shark meat (an Icelandic delicacy we had the misfortune to try a couple of years ago) but still pretty bad. As we sucked, our mouths slowly started to go numb, our fingers started to tingle, and we started to feel a little bit ill. We kept the leaves in for thirty minutes, then unceremoniously spat them out, vowing never to go near them again. We did however finish the most difficult and steep part of the walk (Dead Woman's Pass - 4215m) with no ill effects, and tentatively praised the coca leaves for the part they played. This was short lived.

It could have been the water. It could have been the altitude. It could even have been the food (though we all ate exaclty the same thing). Personally I blame the coca.

After a hearty lunch, we began our ascent of the second pass (altitude 3950m). After about half and hour the troubles started. Crimpling stomach cramps, and a burning desire to use the toilet at the earliest possible opportunity. I asked Lobo what to do. We had two options - retrace our steps to the toilets at our lunchtime camp (adding another hour onto an already incredibly long day) or bite the bullet and try to last out for the two hours until the next camp. We chose the second option, and so began one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life. The scenery was incredible (apparently) and we saw some impressive ruins (apparently), but both were lost on us. Finally we made it, fortunately without disaster (though we needed to run the last half mile or so), and I threw the remaining coca leaves forcefully into the bin.

Somehow I had the presence of mind to take this picture of the ruins we saw on the way. As you can see it is of significantly lower quality than the other pictures appearing on this blog, indicative of the inner torment I was feeling at the time ...


Day 3 - Inti Pati (and sealions).

The third day was much easier than Day 2. The walk was downhill, slow, short (we'd finished the majority of the trekking by lunchtime) and devoid of any violent stomach trouble. It gave us time to talk to our guide Lobo in comfort. Apparently "Lobo" wasn't our guide's real name, it was rather a cool nickname his friends had given him, meaning "Wolf". At this point Liz exclaimed "Wait a minute, doesn't Lobo mean sealion? Yes it does! You're called Sealion!". You see, throughout Patagonia we'd seen dozens of signs depicting the outline of a sealion, with the word "lobos" underneath it. That did seem to indicate that "lobo" meant sealion ...

And what was our guide's defence? Well, apparently (again) in Spanish, sealions aren't called sealions at all, they're called "wolves of the sea", and on the signs they don't have space to add on the "of the sea" bit, so they just call them "lobos". So our guide really did have a cool nickname, and he really was called "Wolf", not "Sealion". Hmmmmmm.

Here's a picture of him at Inti Pati ruins after we'd just called him a sealion:

Day 4 - Machu Picchu (and deja vu).

The final day was all about the majesty of Machu Picchu. The views of the ruins were incredible. The sight was completely unique - and yet somehow familiar. Had I been there before, maybe in another life? Perhaps these pictures will shed some light on the subject ...