Micro-Climates Galore

Wednesday, November 27, 2019
TOUR IN PERU - Machu Picchu Tours Peru, Cuzco, Peru
Pacay Mayo Camp (11828 ft) to Phuya Pata Marca (11887)
We did not sleep well even though we had a rushing creek next to us.   Not sure why.  Maybe the elevation.  Maybe the nap the day before.  Sue and Bligh have really puffy eyes? 
Sue got up and tried to find the clean bathroom. Instead of turning off to the left, she followed the Inca Trail quite a while before realizing her mistake. Of course it was all uphill. She gets to add more mileage to her trek!
This morning we had one pancake each. Brennan reminded us of that most of the day (he was starving!). Each pancake had a nickname on it. Oswaldo and Dave were condors, Sue was a coati, Bligh was a colibrí (hummingbird) and Brennan an oso (bear).
Even though camp to camp was about the same elevation, we had the Runkuracay summit to tackle and started our way up pretty much right away.  We had spectacular mountain views in all directions.  Before the pass, we visited an egg-shaped ruin of the same name as the pass that had recently been restored. As we approached the summit, we passed a couple of picturesque lagoons. During this stretch we met a young woman who noticed Sue’s camino buff and said she had done the last portion of the Camino Frances.   We shared a few memories and moved on. Her group had been put together by a tour company and seemed quite compatible. They were all young and started singing near the peak which really annoyed one tired, struggling group!
Since we were in the cloud forest at this point, our views at the top were nonexistent. Still, we celebrated our climb by resting at the top and getting some much needed snacks.  
We donned our rain gear for our descent which was eerily beautiful in the fog. We saw many birds, flowers and unique vegetation throughout the rain forest. We were in a jungle with ferns and plants that reminded us of Costa Rica without the monkeys. Oswaldo pointed out many flowers (lots of orchids) plants and even one that is said to be the oldest plant still in existence. It is a fern-like tree dating back to the dinosaur period.
We visited another ruin, Sayaqmarka, which had a complex aqueduct system.
Somewhere along the way, Brennan found a large feather from a bird of prey.  He carried it to lunch, then left it on a bench for someone else to discover.
Our lunch tent was set up at Chaquiqocha, a campsite with facilities! We took off our rain gear and set it out on some rocks and benches to dry. The sun came out and the tent got really warm, but as usual, our team took great care of us and opened the ventilation as much as possible. We had a large, delicious lunch of fried chicken, lentils, rice and chicha morada pudding.
We left lunch, too full, and followed a path through what used to be a lake before starting an ascent.   The lake path was impressive as the Incas would have needed reinforcement and drainage.
For the rest of the day, our trail included impressive stone walls (now covered with vegetation) and decorative stone work. We maneuvered our way through a tricky tunnel and we were enamored with the super spongy, squishy moss along the stones.
Because of our late lunch, we actually beat some of our duffel bags to Camp Phuyupatamarca!!
Our campsite was on a high plateau which was a magnificent spot; you could see Machu Picchu Town and Machu Picchu Mountain but they were in and out of the clouds. 
Brennan and a Bligh decided to explore a little and found four llamas who made this area their home. 
They decided to try to make their way over to a distant peak that seemed to have ruins of a lookout at the top.  It was not a well traveled path so Dave & Sue kept an eye on them. When they were just about to make their way to the top, they were called back with frantic arm waving by nervous parents/grandparents who thought it looked like they were going to “cliff out”. According to them, it was perfectly safe and they were disappointed they did not reach the ruins. Disappointed UNTIL they were called to HH where we had fried wontons with bananas inside. Yummy!!
There were no public bathrooms at this campground so each group had their own private small tent set up with a portable toilet made up of a plastic stool over a bag in a bucket. It was a little wobbly, but at least clean and much closer to our tents than the others.
We played a little Huckleybuck in the tent before dinner. We had a heavy rain during our last night’s spaghetti dinner.  
We made it back to our tents just before the really terrifying storm began. Laying up on that high plateau with sharp ground lightening and nonstop thunder made us all wonder if we would survive the night. There was a lot of praying going on! And, the torrential rain had us checking our tents for leaks a few times.  Once again, our porters were busy taking care of us. Amidst this horrendous storm, they were out checking our tents and doing whatever it took to keep us safe and dry.  (Their tents leaked like sieves.)
Amazingly, we somehow fell asleep some time during this electric storm.

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