Inca Trail Day 1: Let's Get It Started!

Our hiking group turned out to be very small, just 6 of us in total: 2 Americans (us), 2 Aussies (Pia & Kirsten), 1 Brit (Carole) and 1 Irishman (Tom). I could tell at our pre-trek meeting this might be interesting since none of us with the expection of Jeff has ever hiked for more than few hours and definitely never been up a mountain. So here we are staring 30 miles in the high altitude of the Andes in the face and no one has a clue. My favorite pre-trek comment had to be Carole with, "Has anyone been camping before?" Oh, and our guide, Emilio, speaks some type of English that leaves us guessing. We just nod. So on to the trek....We had a 3 hour car sick inducing bus ride to the trail head (fun!) then checked in with our porters (12 total for just 6 of us!). Then we were off! Adrenaline pumping through our veins we couldn't wait to get going. The trail was relatively flat with the expection of a couple steep climbs. The views were quite stunning! We had wonderful views of the snowcapped Mountain Victoria and sweeping vistas to the valleys below as we creeped along trail following the Urubamba river below. After about 4 hours of walking we made it to camp in a grassy plain known as Wayllabamba. Jeff pulled out a couple of beers he had been carrying and we all partook in a little Chicha (corn beer-it was sweet) and congratulated ourselves on one day down! After a very good dinner (seriously!) we emerged from our dinner tent to find the sky filled with stars. The milky way was as clear as I have ever seen and the Southern Cross sat on the horizon. The night sky here in the middle of the Andes was magical. But alas, tomorrow comes too soon and it off for a cold nights sleep.