Trekking the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu Day 3: Pacamayo to Wiñay Wayna
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This third day was the "unforgettable" day, passing a number of inka ruins and two mountain passes on the way to the third camp site. This days trek was also the tours longest. We got woken up at 5 with choice of normal tea or coca tea. As yesterday we were off at 6.
After an easy hours walk we reached the first ruins on the route, Runkuracay. From there it was another hours walk to the first pass of the day, Abra de Runkuracay, at about 3970m. This was relatively easy compared with yesterdays challenge. I felt jumpy, and seing we fell few meters short of 4000m I climbed some tops nearby to get another 4000m. Eventually I found one with a GPS reading of 4001m.
We had a realtively long break to get everyone together. Going down after about an hour we arrived at Sayacmarca, an old inka out post. Access is only by a narrow stair case. From there we continued to the lunch spot, less than an hours walk passing by Qonchamarca. We had lunch ast 10, rather early, but then after 4 hours walk it seemed OK, and I had lots of snacks for later.
We then walked down into the cloud forest before ascending to the second pass of the day, 3700m. After passing Phuyupatamarka we had the choice of the fast route directly to the campsite or a 20 minutes longer route passing Yunkapata. Even though most of the group had been separated, we all chose the longer route. Eventually we arrived at the camp where I had a nice hot shower, very hot indeed. Once everyone had arrived we walked to the nearby ruins of Wiñay Wayna.
At Wiñay Wayna our guide explained us the tradition of tipping. Just about everyone felt uncomfortable, we had received a text before leaving with everything about tour, including tipping. You don't have to they write, but if you would like to tip, then you should tip this way and that much. To keep things anonymous, I proposed that we made collection in a big hat and then divided tips for the porters and cook accordingly. Noone would know what others tipped.
Dinner was great, and the cook had even made a special cake for the couple enjoying their honeymoon. After dinner all the porters and the cook came into the tent to receive their well deserved applause and the tips we had collected. Then our guides asked if we wanted to be the first up, everyone agreed and we decided to wake up at 3.45 and ready to leave at 4.15 - 15 minutes before normal.