Lares Trek (Leg 3)

 

South America Day 13

The next morning we woke up to a white surprise. When we went to sleep I'd expected to wake up to more rain. Well the night must have got much colder because there was a couple of inches of snow that wasn't there when we went to bed. The rain had stopped and the winter wonderland that we'd become accustomed to in Canada had followed us into the heart of the Andes mountains.
The contrast from the horrible day previous, was astounding and very welcome.

This is what we saw when we stuck our heads out of the tents. The air was still & crisp, the world had turned white. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the tale.

  

  

 

 

Here's our little mate who had followed us the previous day, Arfa (arf-a-tail). He probably slept in the cooking or dining tent during the night. Sure enough, he was there to greet us the next morning when we crawled out of our tents. He was particularly fond of Vixy for some reason (I'm guessing because she gave him snacks and didn't scald him like the rest of us). He was such a nice dog. It's just a shame he, like most of the dogs in South America are semi-stray at best.

 

 

Here are our two trek guides, José & Julio. Julio was the leader & José, his assistant (also our new favourite friend).

 

Of course there was time for on group photo with our cooks/porters/animal handlers before setting off for the last leg of the hike.

 

We packed our bags and, with sore muscles, started our descent toward the bus. The trail was slippery as hell thanks to the melting snow and mud. Picking our way down was going to be a bit more difficult than we had first thought.

 

As the last leg of our trek continued down the valley, the snow started to dissipate as did the cloud. It turned out to be quite a nice day in the end.

 

The last part of the trek was almost uneventful.

The local children were all out playing on the hillsides (José was once one of these local children). Everyone gave away the toys that they'd bought in the market a couple of days previous.
The only incident of note was me going arse up after losing my footing on the trail around half a km away from the finish! It was very slippery all the way, but the trail started to incline sideways. I put all my weight on my left foot only to find it suddenly under my right side and then the ground was parallel instead of being perpendicular. I had mud all down the left side of my (only just) dry pants and my left shoulder was in a whole lot of hurt! I'd come down on my elbow and compressed my shoulder joint. I was OK, but my pride was severely damaged thanks to being at the head of the line so everyone saw me.
We made it finally despite the hardship over the previous 48hrs. I wouldn't say it was the best hike I've done, but because of the difficulties, we all had a sense of achievement.
The Finishers from left to right. Gemma, Mike, Vixy, Polly, Kerri, Emma, me, Melissa, Richard.
One further note. Thanks to some dodgy advice from a couple of the girls, Emma hiked the last day in her light blue pyjama bottoms because her hiking pants were wet. We laughed about it for some time after. We were so glad it was over....
We didn't get the chance to hike the Inca trail because by the time we'd booked, all the permits were issued. If given the chance take the Inca trail option. At least there's a result at the end and apparently the scenery is much more interesting with the last day of hiking through jungle.

 

 

Before we'd started out on our hike, Peru was about to go into a state of protest and blockade. Roberto had spent lengthy periods on the phone trying to organize alternate routes and accommodation to allow us to stay in Ollyentambo instead of somewhere way up the valley.
The Peruvians were striking and blockading the roads in order to bring the country to a standstill. Our problem was the blockade was going to make it difficult to get out of the little village we'd come to and would also make it hard to get to Ollyentambo to catch the train to Machu Picchu the next day.

 

Roberto managed to get us a night in Ollyentambo, so all we had to do was get back there. It turns out we'd come down a different valley to the normal route so that we could hike out if necessary. Lucky we didn't because it was about 16kms I'm told. The bus had come up early that day (or maybe the night before?) before the blockade, with another group who we passed earlier in the day. By the time we were on the road the blockade was in full swing.Despite the possible retributions, the porters & Jose jumped out of the bus where we came to a road block & cleared a path for the bus. These guys had been lugging gear for the last 3 days & they were still as energetic & happy as the day we set off. Mike chipped in to help as well as did I the first time before I realized that trying to help with a stuffed shoulder was useless & decided instead to stay in the bus with the girls.

 

We finally got our hot shower and a dry warm bed in Ollyentambo (not to mention convenience facilities). I can't tell you how welcome civilization was. We crashed and burned fairly early with an exciting day the next day with the day trip to Machu Picchu.