Monday May 20, 2024
Like, holy smokes, I don’t even know where to start.
We got up with Nathan’s regular work alarm at 5 am. This was by design. I had showered last night, but Nathan needed to shower this morning, and I was hoping for enough Wi-Fi (always a challenge) to get yesterday posted to the website. I was successful in attending to the upload, while simultaneously brushing teeth, finishing packing, etc. At 5:45 I had it ready for Nathan to proofread, which was probably not what he had wanted to be doing with his time right then, but I got the thing posted and he got all of is necessary things done, so we’re good.
Franklin from Wayki Trek was down in the lobby by 5:45, so while Nathan was proofreading, I walked our bags down to the lobby and checked out of our room. Nathan came down shortly thereafter, negotiated the luggage storage of our regular bags while we trek, and we were off. Franklin summoned the driver, and we quickly hopped in.
The first stop was the town of Calca, about an hour and a half into the drive. We stopped at the local market to get some coca leaves, a small brick of ash (it enhances the coca, but as I write this we’ve not seen it in action yet), a small fruit, (Chirimoya, a custard apple) and some mixed dried fruits and nuts for snacks, and toys and bread for the kids we meet along the way. We also had fried egg sandwiches and caffe con leche, coffee with milk, but it was more like milk with coffee, because the gal filed the mug completely full with hot milk, and then motioned for us to add the coffee from a small vinegar style jug. Still good! It must have been very concentrated coffee.
Once we were done with our shopping, we hopped back in the car for another hour and a half drive to the busy town of Lares. This is the town where we meet our llama man. We waited around for quite a bit, so there was plenty of people watching for Nathan and I to do. The llama man, his wife and small son showed up, and then we drove up to the Lares Hot Springs. This was not part of the adventure I had planned on, and those wet blankets at Kaiser had warned us about leptospirosis in fresh water bathing, even in hot springs, so originally I had planned to avoid this one. Kaiser gave us an antibiotic to take for later in the trip at Aguas Calientes, which we need to have on board 24 to 48 hours in advance, but since we weren’t going to do this part, I didn’t even think to take it yesterday.
I explained the situation to Nathan, and we decided to quickly gulp down the drugs, and not stay in too long. We do have enough to cover us for the remainder of the trip, but I may need to get us another dose once we are home.
The hot springs were hot. We started in the warm pool, progressed to the hot pool, and then got out, showered off, got back into our hiking clothes, ate our fruit and the remaining hard boiled eggs our hotel gave us, and reapplied sunscreen.
From the hot springs, Franklin, Nathan and I walked up to a little clearing were the llamas and the llama family were. They loaded our duffels onto the surly llamas, and off we went. Franklin is also the name of the llama man, so we have Franklin 1 & 2, his son, Noe, two llamas we’ve nicknamed Rod and Rodolfo after the two waiters during our honeymoon stay 20 years ago, and us.
The first little incline, at 3,250 meters, was tough, but we powered through, and eventually the terrain mellowed out a bit and it wasn’t as tough.
Maybe an hour into the hike, Franklin #1 told us that lunch would be in 15 minutes, and we walked into a little village where a most hospitable local Andean man and woman made us lemonade, and served us a starter of broad beans, carrots and other lightly cooked veggies, along with some corn on the cob (but not the sweet variety we’re used to). If you’ve read our Ecuador blog, you know this is just the beginning. The second course was corn soup with more veggies. The third course was quinoa and veggies, steamed carrots and some other veggie, and a small piece of lamb ribs. Dessert was a spiced squash with a golden berry on it for garnish. Finally, we finished with local herb tea (picked from the garden locally). Nathan had chamomile, and I had some other type of herb.
Stuffed, we hit the banos, tipped our host and hostess, took a few pictures, and set off on the Lares trail. Three and a half hours until ‘our campsite’, but we’re not in tents, so I have no idea really what to expect.
I spent the first little bit of the afternoon fretting about water and sanitation and were we just served something we should have been smarter about having, namely the lemonade and hot tea. Our tour company is a reputable one, and Kaiser gave us drugs, so I told the worry wort in side to shut up and enjoy yourself.
The afternoon became quite cloudy and moody, which was nice for hiking. We walked past rivers, waterfalls, and herds of alpacas and llamas.
By 4 pm, we arrived at our lodging, and wow, this is an experience. Three women in local Andean dress had us take our hats off, put flower petals on our heads, and took photos with us. Our room has electricity (!), its own bathroom, and running water. Up until our briefing yesterday we were expecting tents. It also has twin beds, so we’ll be spending the night before our 20th wedding anniversary in separate beds ala The Lucy and Desi Show.
We are supposed to go down for tea at 5:30 and dinner is at 7. Our tea was served with local cheese, toasted corn and dried alpaca, sort of like beef jerky, but less dry than jerky.
For dinner we were served dried potato soup, alpaca loin, mashed potatoes, and veggies, and a barley dessert similar to sweetened cream of wheat.
The grand finale was being presented with a fleecy hot water bottle to put in the bed. We’ll be toasty tonight!
