The Inca Trail - It's a Long Way Down
 

Okay that is a bit of a weird title but here’s the background. While considering doing the Inca Trail I searched and searched for opinions as to whether the trail was dangerous. Or worse … scary for those of us with a mild aversion to heights. While I found a few good descriptions, I must say now having done the trail that I think many writers do not understand what a fear of heights can mean to scardy cats like me. What is a nothing little drop for many people is paralysing to some of us.

When I was a kid I could not walk down the stairs of sports stadiums. I had to wait until all the people had left and then I would climb down over the seats, one row at a time. That was the only way I could get down. Over the years I have overcome most of the fear. But still, last year in Turkey we took a balloon ride. At low levels I was fine. When the pilot turned on the burners, I studied the clouds. I don’t like looking straight down.

So the purpose of this report is to offer an accurate (i.e. my) appraisal of whether the trek is enjoyable for the vertically challenged.

Some background. We are a family of five. I am a 50 something. DW is 51. DD is 19. DS1 is 16 and DS2 is 12. We were also joined on this trip by two couple friends of ours. So that is 5 plus 2x2 = 9 people. We are not foodies. We are not historians. We don’t take pictures. We are just normal folk driving through life, glancing out the window hoping to see interesting things to pass the time.

The specific motivation for the trip was twofold. 1) DS2 mentioned a couple of years ago that he would like to visit all the continents before he passes on. We thought that was an admirable objective. With this trip to South America he has now seen five. 2) Focussing the trip around the Inca Trail is the continuation of a strategy we have adopted of having a trip anchor. We went to Japan, South Korea and China as part of seeing the Beijing Olympics. We went to Germany to see the World Cup. We went to Egypt to launch last year’s social uprising. Okay that wasn’t us.

If the anchor was to be the Inca Trail we were going to have to do some serious training. At least the older people would. I have always exercised a lot, usually after eating a lot. My wife has never exercised much but is very trim. The kids have all been good athletes, the little buggers. The 12 year old is a cross country runner. And it showed on the trail. He could have completed the 26 miles in a day and a half. The other two did little training but had the advantage of youth and little body fat.

Two of our friends could be considered to be in good shape (a few marathons between them) while the other two are in average condition for late fifties types. My wife and I did a lot of hill climbing in the months before the trip. Our city of Ottawa, Canada saw little snow before Christmas (our departure date) so we were able to hike almost up to starting the trek.

To be continued as I remember some of the trip details.

I like!

I am vertically challenged as well!

Looking forward to reading more, colduphere. :)

STW - one good trip report deserves another.

Although we live in Ottawa, we decided to fly Montreal-Houston-Lima. This appeared to be a straighter line than flying some of the other routes to Peru. And it meant travelling through only one bad weather airport (Montreal) - a key consideration for Northerners in winter.

We flew out of Montreal on Christmas morning. Since our parents are gone, being at home for Xmas seems somewhat less urgent than it once was. Having now returned from the trip I am uncertain if this was a good decision. Being home with growing children at Xmas is a very special time. Being in a motel on Christmas Eve, even if on the way to Peru, was a bit of a downer. Oh well, people have bigger problems …

The woman sitting beside me on the Houston-Lima flight was a Peruvian now living in Vancouver. She, like many others, talked about the dangers of Lima taxis. She was so concerned she insisted on going with us to the Green taxi stand at the Lima airport to ensure we found our previously reserved taxi. Some diplomatic friends of ours had emphasised the need to reserve a taxi in advance at the airport. I will talk more about Lima taxis later.

Taxi found, we were on our way to the Peru Star hotel in San Isidro. This hotel gets good reviews on Trip Advisor. It was now after 1am and the taxi driver had trouble finding the hotel. One problem was that there was no hotel sign. Only a number on a wall. At this point the thought of the driver leaving us in the dark was a bit unnerving. I have to admit we had read an awful lot about the dangers of Lima. But he stayed with us until we found a buzzer to press, after which we were let in through the locked door.

I asked one of the hotel owners about the lack of a sign. He said it was for both security reasons and a zoning issue. It was a great little place to stay, sign or no sign. The people there answered all of our questions patiently. The room was large. The neighbourhood was okay.

The highlight of our one day in Lima was a visit to the Church of San Francisco in Lima’s Centro Historico. Our guide was explaining the 17th century painting on the ceiling of one room. The painting contained a map of South America. The 12 year old asked whether anyone knew the shape of South America in the 1600s. The guide replied that that part of the painting was completed a month ago. We’re still wondering about that one.

The morning of the 27th we headed back to Lima airport for the plane trip to Cuzco. The TACA plane looked very new. An hour and a bit later we landed on what appeared to be a downtown street. Welcome to Cuzco, and its 11000 feet of elevation.

We had started taking 125 mg of Diamox the day before arriving in Cuzco. Overall none of us had serious altitude issues until we hit Puno (by which time we had thought we would have been fully acclimatized).

Enjoying your report. Looking forward to future installments.

Hi, Cold - great start. Your description about being afraid to go down stadium stairs when you were a kid made me think of my daughter. She cried at Ollanta because she was terrified to go back down the long staircase...

Keep it coming!

Thanks for reading Jackie and Althom.

I hope I mentioned that this trip was focussed on completing the Inca Trail. As that is the only way we can justify not spending any time in the Sacred Valley. Well maybe we did, I am still not sure if Pisac is considered part of the SV. It didn't look like a valley to me.

We had four days to acclimatize and have some fun in Cuzco. Four days pass quickly. The day of arrival you are not supposed to do much. So that is what we did. The big challenge the first day was getting money from a bank machine - a Canadian bank machine no less. The bank of Nova Scotia seems to be everywhere in Peru. But it didn't like our bank cards issued by a competing Canadian bank. So it refused to give us money. That is taking domestic competition to new heights. Oh and the other challenge was climbing the steps to our hotel.

While we were in Cuzco Sasark was posting her trip report here about being in Cuzco and staying in the same hotel we were staying in - la Piccola Locanda. While most people like the place, everyone talks about the climb up the steps to get to the hotel/hostel. Sasark noted that the steps influenced her activity - did she really want to climb those steps one more time?

I must say that I was initially dubious that steps to a hotel could be that daunting, particularly for folks planning on doing the Inca Trail. I mean if you can't climb a few steps, how can you climb 4500 feet in a day? Well we learned not to be dubious. From the main square there was a narrow road of perhaps 300 meters that was uphill but nothing too difficult. Then a right turn up 8-10 steep steps. And then a left with about 100 very steep steps to the hotel. Walk 20 steps. Rest. 20 more steps. More rest. This was not an encouraging process for a group about to do 45 kilometres of hilly hiking.

The highlight of the four days in Cuzco was a rafting trip on the Upper Urubamba river. Six of the nine of us went with a company called Amazonas Explorer. Their reviews were good and they emphasized safety. It was a lengthy drive south out of Cuzco along the same route that the Andean Explorer train and the Inca Express bus take to Puno. And from the road the river looked to be pretty tame.

Once we got in the river it wasn't tame. On a five point rating system we probably didn't get past 3.5 class rapids. But the turbulence was constant. At times we were paddling through air as the raft got tossed out of the water. The guide suggested we switch positions after awhile so the 12 and 16 year olds took up new positions at the front of the raft. I think in Canada having a 12 year old in the front of the raft would be a rare event. But both boys had an absolute blast. The water never stopped roaring up and over the middle of the raft. At times we couldn't see a thing.

There was one little event right at the end of the trip that was a touch scary. We have been on trips in Canada where the guide invites the rafters to jump into the river and float downstream. Usually you float to shore and that's that. In this case the three kids and I jumped into the river and were happily floating along. Then the guide starting yelling at us to climb back into the raft. That was a surprise. Was there another set of rapids coming up? A dam? Peruvian piranhas? It turns out there was nothing except that the water was getting a bit shallow and we were passing our lunch spot. But there was definitely a moment of concern. I mentioned to the guide afterwards that next time he might want to tell people that he would be asking them to jump out of the boat and then back into it.

I shouldn't suggest that the 12 year old was concerned. The kayaker told DS2 to hold the front of the kayak as he rolled the kayak. So the 12 year old rolled with the kayak. I am glad my wife wasn't there to see that.

Really enjoying this -- especially because it will enable me to pass on the Inca Trail due to my own, well known fear of heights (I slid down the steps of El Castillo on my tail) rather than my shameful hatred of exertion.

Really enjoying your report cold - we came down on our bums for part of the Pisac ruins so know how you feel!

A very adventurous family. I was there in late Sept. Having read ncountry's trip report, I really wanted to go rafting, but it was too cold to even think about. What was the weather like for rafting?

I've read that Peruvian piranhas really crave Canadians. :)

I can't wait to read more...I know that I'm not made for a trip like this so I will have to live vicariously through this report.

I did chuckle when I read about your son. I have one of those types, my oldest -- he grew up playing it safe and now is making up for lost time. The youngest however...I'll never forget the time he decided to climb the rail-less stairs of some church ruin in Portugal. He made it to the top and stood proud but then he needed to climb down. He made it two steps and then proceeded to sit on his bum for the rest of the descent...yup, he's his mother's son, lol.

There were a few ass slides on this trip. I only performed them when I was certain no one was taking my picture. Jackie the weather was about 70 degrees and overcast. The water was cold but tolerable.

One of the ways we like to travel is to not reserve too many things in advance. This drove one of our friends around the bend. He wanted to reserve everything five months ago. But that is just not our style. And we had five of nine votes.

We woke up the morning of December 29 and decided that we had better take a tour to Pisac. But how? As it has worked almost everywhere we have been, we asked the front desk if they knew of anyone who could drive us to Pisac and a few other places. Sure enough they did. Good driver and about $8 a person for the day.

I now agree with those who suggest seeing other ruins before Machu Picchu. They might seem less than spectacular after seeing MP. Having said this, Pisac was impressive. Not just the ruins themselves but the views. What a pretty area. We also went to the Pisac market. I found it hard to negotiate as the prices seem so low to start with. We prefer to negotiate at Chinese markets. You know they’re ripping you off. How can you tell a sweet Peruvian girl that you won’t pay $5 for that beautiful Cuzco ski hat?

Speaking of hats, although we were there in rainy season, we probably experienced only about 8 hours of rain over 15 days. There was usually the threat of rain, but not much fell. The risk of sunburn was greater than the risk of getting wet.

After one day of rest, one day of rafting and one day of touring, it was December 30th - the day of our pre-hike meeting at Llama Path, our trekking company. Llama Path is very highly rated on Trip Advisor. People rave about the guides, the food, the treatment of the porters. When we first reserved our spots back in July, Llama Path told us that with nine hikers, we could have our own private tour. But that was never really an option for us. We wanted other hikers to be with us. We wanted to meet new people and exchange stories around the dinner table. And have someone to walk with if we were really tired.

So when we showed up for our pre-hike meeting, we were happy to see that five people were joining us. All late 20s/early 30s males. Two from Belgium, two from Ireland and one from the US. We really hit the jackpot with these guys. All turned out to be nice, interesting and fun to be with. It would have been nice to have even more people join us although there is a limit of 16 people per group.

We also met our lead guide – Raul. I think Raul is a bit of a legend on the trail. He has completed about 640 trips. He has a great ability to be the leader while accepting that the hikers are paying the bill. He was in charge but he did his best to ensure that we were happy. And that is not easy when you have such a variety of hiking abilities, interests and dispositions. We also had an assistant guide named Marcelito (I am not sure of the spelling). Marcelito was soft spoken and gentle. He turned out to be a godsend to my wife as I will explain later.

Raul explained to us that the trail authorities had assigned us camping spots 1B and 2B. That meant we would hike further in the first two days that we had thought, whereas the last two days would be pretty simple. Instead of just day 2 being really difficult, both days 1 and 2 would be difficult. He gave us our sacks to fill with about ten pounds of our personal belongings for the porters to carry. We were told to meet in the square outside the office the next morning at 4:30 am. If we weren’t there by 4:35 the bus would leave without us.

After five months of anticipation and training, the Inca Trail was upon us.

Can't wait!

I am loving this. Yay, Peru! I don't have a problem with heights, but I was seriously respecting that the Incan messengers ran along the trail. (I only did the bit of it out of MP to the Sun Temple, I think it was; I'll claim respiratory issues rather than laziness.)

Hi Cold! Welcome back.

I am also not fond of heights. (But am working on it and doing better.)

I admire you for coordinating such an ambitious trip and for setting aside the heights issue.

Will be looking forward to hearing more.

Your family sounds fun.

gruezi

I'm enjoying this report. We were in Peru in October but did not do the trail - I'll admit that besides my husband's fear of heights, we knew we were'nt fit enough to hike the trail. Still we found the train ride lovely and Machu Picchu amazing. I also found the altitude manageable in Cuzco but had trouble in Puno.

BTW we lived in Ottawa for 5 yrs. Great city!

Amy - the porters running along the trail were the most amazing thing to all of us, as I will detail later.

Hi Baladeuse. I am glad to hear it wasn't just us who were fine in Cuzco but not so fine in Puno.

Gruezi - there is still time for you to do the hike as well.

New Year's Eve 2011 - We awoke at 3:45. Belongings were sorted into three piles. Things we would need along the trail like suntan lotion, water, jacket etc. Things the porters would carry for us ... mostly extra clothes. And things we were not bringing on the trail at all and would be left at the hotel, mostly clothes.

We left the hotel at 4:10 am as a group of seven as two of our friends were staying in a different hotel. Seven hikers walking by hundreds of late night partygoers still drinking it up outside Cuzco bars. What a contrast - hikers versus drinkers and lovers. Just for a second I wished I was a part of their group.

We arrived at the square at 4:20 followed shortly thereafter by the Llama Path bus. The Belgiums were there and ready to go. The Irish showed up at 4:30. I don't think they had gone to bed. At 4:35 with the bus about to leave, our American - Charles - came running up to the bus and climbed aboard, out of breath and with no time to spare.

Two hours later we were in Ollantaytambo for a rather overpriced breakfast and a final chance to purchase supplies. I bought a funny looking hat as did my wife. At the store we ran into another Canadian group. One of their members was complaining of a sore knee. Imagine. Months of planning and two tough days ahead and you have a sore knee. We found out later that most of this group turned back after day 1. In fact after we completed the trail and were meeting in a restaurant for a final celebration, the four members of this other group that did complete the trek came in and sat down beside us. We whispered to each other to keep our own celebrations down. They looked pretty bummed out.

After our breakfast and last minute shopping, it was back on the bus for the last short ride to kilometre 82, the starting point of the trail. Except the bus never got there. The road was about as wide as my rear end. We came upon a truck parked on the road with no driver in sight. After much discussion our bus backed up and then drove down a steep embankment into a farmer's field. That is where we made our last minute preparations and then strode off down the road to the start line.

There is a government building at kilometre 82 where everyone must check in. In particular you must show a passport that matches the name of the permit that Llama Path had purchased on your behalf months before. We had been repeatedly warned that any little deviation and the park officials would not allow us on the trail. Well we all passed but unfortunately the registration of Charles our American friend was seemingly lost. Raul our guide took over and negotiated Charles' entrance (I am sure all the guides and the park officials know each other. Perhaps a few soles changed hands.)

With that we crossed the bridge over the Urubamba river and started up the trail, followed closely by three horses and a donkey belonging to the locals. The first 100 feet of the trail was up a steep hill. Raul had told us the first two hours would be flat. I kiddingly asked him about this. He said "My friend, in the Andes, flat means hilly."

The weather was perfect. But as the trail became hillier it was clear my wife was having trouble with the up hills. Many people she had spoken to before the trip had told her that it was essential to go at her own pace, which meant slowly. At first I thought she was taking this to an extreme. But it soon became clear that she was really struggling with the hills. She would fly downhill and on level terrain, but every step up was a struggle. This would go on for four days.

Meanwhile DS1 was vomiting on the side of the trail. This continued all day. The guides recommended that we not wait and give him the Cipro right away. We did and by day 2 he was better. But while time condenses memories, the sad fact is that he hiked eight hours up 2000 feet while vomiting every hour or so. It was a very tough day.

Meanwhile DD was up near the front. From there she could spot DS2 who was leading the entire group. Everyone was talking about what a great hiker he was. But by day 2 he was also sick. In fact it was a reality of our hike that with different people being sick at different times, with my wife struggling up the hills and with cliffs scattered here and there, it was only so often that we could relax, look around and stare in amazement at how beautiful the Inca Trail is.

I can see this is going to be an extremely entertaining report.

I do sympathize with all of you other "ass sliders", being myself.

I was a little concerned when I read about voluntarily jumping into the Urubamba, when I visited I met some folks who had been involuntarily dumped and were as a result on a course of Cipro. I wonder if this was the cause of the illness of some in your party, cold?

Hi Mlgb - yes that is a good thought. In fact with nine people going different places and suffering different illnesses, we performed our own back of the napkin regression analysis one evening. One of the thoughts was that it was the lunch we had during the rafting as some people got sick who went rafting but did not jump in the water (although they still got wet).

I'm really enjoying your trip report, Cold. So sad about your family getting sick. I've experienced similar on much lower elevations (8,000 ft) and it's no fun.

I have a question- generally speaking, are the Peruvians in that area in good physical shape? I'm thinking they must be just by virtue of living in a place that requires of a lot of climbing- stairs, hills, etc.

Oh boy. Sorry to hear there was vomiting and cipro involved. Getting sick while traveling definitely stinks. But you sure sound like a hardy bunch. I'm picturing your son vomiting, drinking a bit of gatorade, and continuing on...

Hmm, perhaps any agency that would suggest you jump in the river may not be too hygiene=conscious with their lunch service?

Mlgb - a lot of rafting companies tell you to jump in the river. It was the "jump back in the raft" that caught us by surprise. It is hard to jump when your rafting suit is filled with 50 pounds of water.

Boots - we talked to the guides a lot about why there were not more world class Peruvian runners, a la Kenya, Ethiopia etc. Some of the porters and guides and many young people were extraordinarily fit.

On the other hand, two observations we made in other parts of Peru - there were very few female drivers (we saw one in 15 days) and much of the population seemed to be overweight. I have since found that the obesity rate in Peru is about half that of the US. It semed much "larger" than that in Lima.

Cold,
Did your wife recover okay?

Fantastic report, Cold! I am enjoying it immensely. Also an ass slider!

I am just finding your trip report after I was alerted to it today, cold. I am loving all the details; this was so adventurous of you considering your fear of heights in particular. The Inca trail just seemed so arduous to me that I didn't do it.

The rafting is a blast, isn't it?!! I am so glad you got to experience it. They told me that it was class 4 and 4+ the day I did it but your description sounds just the same. Better than any roller coaster, imo.

Can't wait to follow along for the rest of your adventures...

Cmc - Maybe we should have an ass slider GTG. We could start at the top of the Eiffel Tower. IBT - She's fine. Until she reads this report.

NCounty I have read a lot of people say that seeing Machu Picchu is more rewarding if you have hiked there. I am not sure. We were so focussed on hiking that after four days I would have gladly hiked right by MP if anyone had suggested it. By then we were explorers, not tourists. That would make a nice t-shirt.

I'm in.

The Inca Trail starts at 8,923 feet above sea level. Day 1 ended at the Ayapata campsite which is at 10,829 feet. Allowing for the downhill sections we probably climbed about 2600 feet that day. That is not that big a climb at sea level but is a challenge at altitude.

When we arrived at camp the porters had everything set up. Tents were ready, popcorn was being served and even beer was available as some entrepreneurial locals had hiked over with a few cold ones. The weather was perfect. Looking back down the mountain was encouraging. We had climbed a long way.

Our guides introduced our porters, who were invited to say a few words in Quechua. Most seemed painfully shy which is understandable. They then handed out the dumbest looking yellow clown hats for us to wear. Apparently this was in celebration of New Years. Looking at the pictures now we really do look like dorks.

I had probably read about 150 Inca Trail trip reports on the web. Many people mentioned that they ate very little during the hike. That had seemed strange to me given the level of exertion. But whatdoyaknow – dinner was served and I didn’t want to eat. Conversely, DS1 felt better and joined the others in the eating tent. For 15 minutes. He then rushed out and vomited again. He and I were both in bed by 7pm.

Our two guides, taking note of my wife’s slow pace, suggested that we start out early the next day, as in about 5:30am. In the trip reports I had read this was standard practice. Send the slower hikers out early in an attempt to keep the entire group within an hour or two of each other. And day 2 was to be the hardest day. It started with a climb of 3000 feet followed by a sharp descent and then another climb of 1500 feet. It did not take any convincing for us to agree to the plan.

One bit of good news was that the temperature that night did not fall below about 40 degrees. Sleeping at freezing or below can be difficult and we had been warned to expect near freezing temperatures. In fact it was a rather nice night for a snooze. And so many stars in arrangements us northerners had never seen.

The other bit of good news was that none of felt the need to use the squat toilets. Over the course of the hike it turned out that any day we did not use a squat toilet was a good day for everyone else in the group as well.

Gosh, this is quite a revelation. You really do write very nice paragraphs. Just the right length. And interesting too. Good to stop at the squat toilet. But not for long.

Wow, cold.... around 40 degrees? You are a hardy soul.

all those years of curling probably prepared you well.

Any chance we will get to see the photos of the gang in their yellow hats?

SM - you know I hate writing anything longer than 4 words. This is torture. Ncounty I hope I don't think of squat toilets the next time I throw a curling rock. That would ruin the ice.

In case it’s not coming across we really were having a good time. For an outdoors person hiking the Inca Trail is like an artist visiting the Louvre or a Catholic visiting the Vatican. It’s just that we were vomiting in the Sistine Chapel and in front of the Mona Lisa. No big deal.

Day 2 was my focal point of the trip. I had watched a hundred YouTube videos of people reaching Dead Woman’s Pass (13,779). It was to be our “summit of Everest” moment. The surprising news in the morning was that DS2 would set out early with Mom and Dad. He wasn’t feeling well. So after a very quick breakfast at 5:15 the three of set out with Marcelito, our assistant guide. There was really no need for Marcelito to come with us as it would be hard to get lost. But there is a calmness and supportiveness about the guides. They have the ability to help people through tough moments. And no one wants to let their guide down.

The first 1500 feet up was through a very pretty forest, much of it following a cascading creek. Very beautiful. On the other hand when you see water rushing down at you you know it is coming from somewhere higher than you. Much higher. The trail was a series of steep switchbacks. We would come to a switchback and turn hoping to see a level path for awhile. Didn’t happen. More steps and more steps and more steps. Some of them with a good 12-18 inch rise.

Twice DS2 told Marcelito that he had to have a bowel movement. Twice Marcelito told him he would find him a good spot. We were not sure what constituted a good spot. It was just nice to be able to stop for a second and rest. And crapping in the woods was not an issue as the trail itself was littered with Llama crap.

Finally after a couple of hours we came to LLulluchapampa, another of the camping spots and a very beautiful area. I am going from memory here but this seemed to mark the trail’s transition from forest to open mountain. I am not sure we were above the tree line but if there were trees I don’t recall them. By now the other members of the group had caught up to us. We all took a few minutes to rest, play with the llamas and gaze up the remaining 1300 feet at our target - Dead Woman’s Pass.

Once again my wife and I left our resting spot a bit earlier than the others. It was only a matter of minutes before the Belgiums passed us and then the Irish. The Belgiums were both smokers but incredible climbers. The Irish had not acclimatized at all, but they were relentless climbers as well. And DS2, after his forest bowel movements, was feeling better. So he took off with the leaders.

I should have mentioned that during day 1 I had taken most of the contents of my wife’s daypack and put them in mine. That included two large plastic bags of medications that must have weighed 8-9 pounds. And the guides both offered to carry her remaining daypack much of day 2. Those guys are heroes. They didn’t ask. They would often just pick up her pack and swing it over their shoulders. It helped her a lot.

The one difference with the remaining climb up to the pass was that aside from the Belgiums/Irish and our two sons, no one rushed by us. This was a steep climb, with hikers from our group and other groups all around us. It probably took another two hours to get to the top. Step, step, step … all with the pass clearly visible the entire time.

So let me emphasize again that while it may not sound like it we were having a good time. It’s just that if there was a disappointing moment to the hike, reaching the pass was it. I had hoped to get a picture of the family at the top. But the weather had turned cold and rainy. Raul had told the faster hikers not to wait at the top for the rest of us as they would freeze. So by the time we got there our three kids were gone (DD was just a few steps ahead of us). It was miserable weather. And I wasn’t sure my wife could complete the trip. So the supposed highlight moment of the trip wasn’t a cheery moment. Having said this, we could still look around and be amazed at what we saw. It may not have been Everest but it sure felt like it.

Here's a 20 second video of what the pass looks like (not us):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iksPPJuHtr4

CMC - they have been destroyed.

In case I forget to mention it later, our guide Raul said at one point "adventure travel isn't for everyone". While it was an obvious point, it really clicked with us. This was adventure travel. It wasn't supposed to be easy. Feeling queasy and tired was part of the plan. The plan was working.

After reading about all of the vomiting I thought, "They are so lucky that no one had the trots!". Oh well!!

With all of the loss of fluids and exertion, how did you manage to stay hydrated?

And cold, is your wife still talking to you? :)

STW - one litre bottles of water in our daypacks replenished every four hours or so by the porters. And the odd gatorade. Having said this on Day 1 DS1 drank his and my water forcing us to go dry for awhile.

I heard my wife telling someone yesterday ... it's not like you're out there thinking this is terrible. You're thinking this is amazing. You just feel shittty when you're thinking it.

Your report makes me feel like I am right there on the trail with you. I came back regretting not doing it; now I realize I made the right decision. I feel for your wife and am in suspense for the rest of the story.

When are you going to get to the cycling accident?

wow!

I am left with my imagination.......