The Trail (two)

The path at the beginning of the Inka Trail is wide and easy. We didn't have to carry all of our clothes with us, just what we were to wear during the day. The weather early in the morning was very cold but as soon as we started walking the sun began to rise. I like to dress with layers because I always get cold faster than regular people (i.e. I wear sweaters at work during summer - in Miami). Since I am so cold all the time, my husband didn't believe me when I said that we had to bring sweaters and a winter jacket, and hiking shoes. The weather was so nice during the first day of hike, I completely forgot about it. At least I convinced him to get a hat.

There are ruins along the whole trail, most of them down the valley or up in the mountains. When we finally reached the campsite at the end of the day I was extremely tired, but with a nice rest I thought that I would be able to enjoy the rest of the trail with such nice paths and weather. Ha!

The second day was very foggy. And rainy. We had to put our heavy and long (at least for me) rain coats most of the day. Inside the rain coat, either it was too hot or too cold. But the scenery was completely worth it. The easy path turned out to be increasingly thin and steep as we went on. Stones were more frequent along the path, too. They had different colors and textures, one was able to identify unfinished marble or granite or other types of stones. A waterfall run beside us most of the time and vegetation was diverse and colorful. We were walking through the cloud forest.

The trail goes up and down, around the mountains. This time, there was no "around the mountain" but "through the top of the mountain". Soon our lungs seemed to not be getting enough air.

At this point - not even halfway to the top of the mountain - my legs were not able to continue. I was very lucky to have my husband with me otherwise I would probably still be there by myself. And it was only the second day.

The temperature began to drop suddenly. We were behind our group and we were in trouble. My husband was getting too cold. I couldn't find the strengh to walk. There was no way out.