Peru Pt. 7
7/23/2008
We got up around 0500 to more coca tea with honey. Slept OK. It wasn't terribly cold once we used our hand warmers and fully bundled up, but the ground was pretty rough, so we woke up a bit sore. We had breakfast (pancakes with the porters names on them in caramel, blatant tip whoring) and started walking around 0630.
We walked about half an hour, once again pretty much straight up steep steps to the ruins of Runkurakay, which the guide said meant oval or egg shaped. I suppose it was. This was one of the smaller ruins we visited and we didn't stay too long. Then we hiked another half hour up to Runkurakay pass. We saw a mostly dry lake on the way up, which was the only body of water we had seen so far in the mountains. The view from the pass at 3950m was great again. I climbed up a little extra again, to one of the nearby peaks. For some reason, every local maximum has stacked stones. I wonder who did it...
After we were done as the pass, it was time for more exciting steep stairs down. After about an hour of that, we arrived at the ruins of Sayaqmarka. Carlos said it meant "Inaccessible on top of the mountain". We stayed at Sayaqmarka for a while and Carlos told us more history and mythology. He told us all about the Chakana or, Inca Cross, which i thought was pretty neat. It is chock full of symbolism... Three steps for the three worlds (heavens, earth, underworld), three steps for the three sacred animals (condor, puma, serpent), three steps for rules to live by (don't steal, don't lie, ??) and three other things i sadly don't remember and can't find on the nets and Cusco as the center.
Once we finished looking around we walked onward to lunch at the Phuyupatamarka camp site. There were more great views and from here we could see the Urubamba river running through the sacred valley and the town of Aguas Caliente where we would end up after we finished at Machu Picchu. It also had the foulest bathroom yet, but i'll spare the details. Except that someone missed. Eww.
We left the lunch site around 1300 and quickly decided the Incas must have been giraffes. Long legs, small feet... Which is to say lots more stairs. We stopped briefly at the ruins of Phuyupatamarka (City in the Clouds) and then went down a zillion more steps. We got to the ruins of Intipata around 1445. These were very impressive. It was huge and there were tons of terraces. We didn't stay long though as a lot of people were in a hurry to get to the hot showers. Had i mentioned that we hadn't showered since we started the trail? Dirt!
So anyways, we arrived at the campsite at Wiñawayna (Forever Young) and jumped pretty quick into line for the showers. It was S/5 to use the shower and S/5 to rent a towel. The shower i used had vaguely adequate water pressure but was just barely luke warm. It was nice anyway. Except for the naked old guy... So then we jumped back into our filthy clothes and went to see the ruins of Wiñawayna, which were also very impressive and kind of similar to Intipata with lots of terraces. This one had more buildings though. It also had a couple of fountains that were still working. Built to last, i suppose.
We had tea at 1730 and then the tip drama. Carlos had said we should tip the porters S/120 to S/150 per person. So we passed the hat around and he counted up all the money and came up with his "suggestion" of how it should be divided. The largest portion going to himself of course and the low level porters getting a tiny amount. He claimed confusion as to how we wanted to distribute the money, which i highly doubt. I assume this was his way of saying, "Oh, by the way, i want a tip too!". So we distributed the money he assigned himself amongst the low level porters and decided to tip him individually. We kept trying to get him to leave so we could discuss it, but he wouldn't. We would ask, he'd smile big and then not leave. Bizarre... All that took us pretty much to dinner, so we didn't even get up. It wasn't nearly so cold at 2650m, so we slept a little easier, going to bed around 2100 in the hope of an early start.. In total today, we walked 16km.
Hold on to your hats, there's a lot of pictures...
Porter pancakes! I ate Ricardo and k ate Hector.
Sun rise over the mountains.
The campsite at Pacaymayo from Runkurakay
The place of Runkurakay. There are too many people there...
The trail to Runkurakay Pass. Oh, yes... There will be stairs!
Climb, climb, climb! Also, the southern moon is wicked different from the one we see here.
A rare lake in the mountains.
Flowers = art, dammit!
Stacked stones on a peak at Runkurakay Pass. Why? Why not!
The place of Sayaqmarka. It is camouflaging against the mountainside.
Inside the ruins of Sayaqmarka.
The trail down to Sayaqmarka.
Irrigation dealy in the wall at Sayaqmarka. It'd still work to if not for those darn kids!
k in the Sayaqmarka ruins.
k in an "Inca Tunnel"
The place of Phuyupatamarka
View from the ruins of Phuyupatamarka. k and i went a different way from the rest of the group.
Ow! My freakin' knees!
Aguas Caliente in the distance. We'll be there tomorrow.
The place of Intipata
Urubamba river in the sacred valley
Stairs between the terraces at Intipata. I'm pleased we didn't go that way...
Terraces at Intipata
Sun setting over Intipata
The place of Wiñawayna
Fountain in the ruins of Wiñawayna
We got up around 0500 to more coca tea with honey. Slept OK. It wasn't terribly cold once we used our hand warmers and fully bundled up, but the ground was pretty rough, so we woke up a bit sore. We had breakfast (pancakes with the porters names on them in caramel, blatant tip whoring) and started walking around 0630.
We walked about half an hour, once again pretty much straight up steep steps to the ruins of Runkurakay, which the guide said meant oval or egg shaped. I suppose it was. This was one of the smaller ruins we visited and we didn't stay too long. Then we hiked another half hour up to Runkurakay pass. We saw a mostly dry lake on the way up, which was the only body of water we had seen so far in the mountains. The view from the pass at 3950m was great again. I climbed up a little extra again, to one of the nearby peaks. For some reason, every local maximum has stacked stones. I wonder who did it...
After we were done as the pass, it was time for more exciting steep stairs down. After about an hour of that, we arrived at the ruins of Sayaqmarka. Carlos said it meant "Inaccessible on top of the mountain". We stayed at Sayaqmarka for a while and Carlos told us more history and mythology. He told us all about the Chakana or, Inca Cross, which i thought was pretty neat. It is chock full of symbolism... Three steps for the three worlds (heavens, earth, underworld), three steps for the three sacred animals (condor, puma, serpent), three steps for rules to live by (don't steal, don't lie, ??) and three other things i sadly don't remember and can't find on the nets and Cusco as the center.
Once we finished looking around we walked onward to lunch at the Phuyupatamarka camp site. There were more great views and from here we could see the Urubamba river running through the sacred valley and the town of Aguas Caliente where we would end up after we finished at Machu Picchu. It also had the foulest bathroom yet, but i'll spare the details. Except that someone missed. Eww.
We left the lunch site around 1300 and quickly decided the Incas must have been giraffes. Long legs, small feet... Which is to say lots more stairs. We stopped briefly at the ruins of Phuyupatamarka (City in the Clouds) and then went down a zillion more steps. We got to the ruins of Intipata around 1445. These were very impressive. It was huge and there were tons of terraces. We didn't stay long though as a lot of people were in a hurry to get to the hot showers. Had i mentioned that we hadn't showered since we started the trail? Dirt!
So anyways, we arrived at the campsite at Wiñawayna (Forever Young) and jumped pretty quick into line for the showers. It was S/5 to use the shower and S/5 to rent a towel. The shower i used had vaguely adequate water pressure but was just barely luke warm. It was nice anyway. Except for the naked old guy... So then we jumped back into our filthy clothes and went to see the ruins of Wiñawayna, which were also very impressive and kind of similar to Intipata with lots of terraces. This one had more buildings though. It also had a couple of fountains that were still working. Built to last, i suppose.
We had tea at 1730 and then the tip drama. Carlos had said we should tip the porters S/120 to S/150 per person. So we passed the hat around and he counted up all the money and came up with his "suggestion" of how it should be divided. The largest portion going to himself of course and the low level porters getting a tiny amount. He claimed confusion as to how we wanted to distribute the money, which i highly doubt. I assume this was his way of saying, "Oh, by the way, i want a tip too!". So we distributed the money he assigned himself amongst the low level porters and decided to tip him individually. We kept trying to get him to leave so we could discuss it, but he wouldn't. We would ask, he'd smile big and then not leave. Bizarre... All that took us pretty much to dinner, so we didn't even get up. It wasn't nearly so cold at 2650m, so we slept a little easier, going to bed around 2100 in the hope of an early start.. In total today, we walked 16km.
Hold on to your hats, there's a lot of pictures...
Porter pancakes! I ate Ricardo and k ate Hector.
Sun rise over the mountains.
The campsite at Pacaymayo from Runkurakay
The place of Runkurakay. There are too many people there...
The trail to Runkurakay Pass. Oh, yes... There will be stairs!
Climb, climb, climb! Also, the southern moon is wicked different from the one we see here.
A rare lake in the mountains.
Flowers = art, dammit!
Stacked stones on a peak at Runkurakay Pass. Why? Why not!
The place of Sayaqmarka. It is camouflaging against the mountainside.
Inside the ruins of Sayaqmarka.
The trail down to Sayaqmarka.
Irrigation dealy in the wall at Sayaqmarka. It'd still work to if not for those darn kids!
k in the Sayaqmarka ruins.
k in an "Inca Tunnel"
The place of Phuyupatamarka
View from the ruins of Phuyupatamarka. k and i went a different way from the rest of the group.
Ow! My freakin' knees!
Aguas Caliente in the distance. We'll be there tomorrow.
The place of Intipata
Urubamba river in the sacred valley
Stairs between the terraces at Intipata. I'm pleased we didn't go that way...
Terraces at Intipata
Sun setting over Intipata
The place of Wiñawayna
Fountain in the ruins of Wiñawayna