November 29, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
Today was our first day on the Inca Trail. After waking up this morning and doing some final packing, we had breakfast and said our final goodbyes to Varun. We left by 8:30am and drove to Chinchero, where we visited a textile center and we were given a weaving demonstration. Everything there was beautiful and was made with amazing quality and precision. Everything was a lot more expensive than what we're used to here in the artisan's markets here in Cusco, but you could tell they put a lot more time and effort into their work. While there, they served us coca tea, potatoes, and "duck." After eating the "duck" she informed us that it was not really duck, but cuy (guinea pig). I guess that's one way to get us to eat it. (it was actually good, it helped thinking it was something less rodent-like!) After the demonstration we got back onto the bus and drove to Ollantaytambo,where we picked up our porters for the Inca Trail. Having porters on the trail was helpful with the altitude and all but it was definitely a different style of camping. Today when we reached our campsite, for instance, the porters had already set up our tents and had started preparing us an afternoon snack of popcorn, crackers, and tea. Anyways, after picking up our porters we drove to the start of the trail where we had lunch which was very good-it reminded us of the lunches we had while on the boats on travel days in the rainforest, simple but enough. We took a group picture at the start, checked in and showed our passports, and we were on our way, crossing a bridge over the Urubamba River to mark the beginning of the trail. We didn't hike for that long today, since we started only mid-afternoon, but we were able to see 2 amazing ruins, the sacred snow-capped mountain Veronica, and other amazing views. Not only that, but our campsite was in a beautiful location with great views of the mountains and right next to the river. Overall it was a great first day on the trail, and we were all very excited to see what more there was to come!
