Day One

Posted by Chris Hardiman

I wanted to share a little bit. I'm going to have to add pictures in later, as I'm having a hard time getting the links (the album is in Serina's name). If you want to, you can click any picture in this blog and it'll take you to our Picasa album so you can see them all. First here's a quick breakdown of our trip:

We were picked up at hotel at 5am. Cesar came in and got us. Hilariously, our bus driver was wearing a Michael Vick (7) Falcons jersey. The bus ride, especially a descent near the end is very pretty but nothing compared to the hike itself. We sat in the second seat back on the right side. In front of us were the New Zealanders (last to get picked up) and to the left the two guides, Oscar and Cesar.

There is a short stopover in Ollantaytambo for breakfast and to buy equipment. The guides typically suggest buying some coca leaves (for energy) and walking sticks (if you didn't bring poles).

We started at kilometer 82. This is around 2800m above see level. We hiked the trail down the Urabamba River. Around lunchtime, we passed some ruins and began heading up the river. There was a lunch stop at what looks like a potential campground right before heading up river. At this point we were at the lowest part of the trip until crossing the 3 passes further in. Somewhere between 2650 and 2750m.

The hike up river is where Serina started getting sick. She really was a trooper through the entire trip. Everything being green and next to a fast moving river did a lot to help motivate, but I think this first hard day was mentally the toughest for her. The guides refer to day 1 as the "easy day", and getting sick and falling behind everyone else in the group (by about 15 minutes) made things really tough for her. She was sick on day 2 and 3 as well, but the mental challenge was not nearly as high. It was also raining heavily near the end (rain was intermittent the entire trip).

We arrived in camp shortly after everyone else, and had about 30 minutes before dinner was served. In a testament to fast-drying hiking clothing, all my clothes were completely dry by about halfway through dinner. I had a Marmot rain coat I used most of the trip, but even though the rain was probably the heaviest, I went without it most of day one due to the heat. The fast-drying stuff was a Ogio shirt and REI convertible pants.

We ended the night at Wayllabamba (3000m) the last village on the trail. The surrounding mountains and river were really beautiful. This was probably my second favorite campsite of the three we used.