Day 07: COLLPAPAMPA to LUCMABAMBA

We have now been informed that there is a significant public disturbance in the area into which we will now be hiking. It seems the central government has taken up negotiations with a foreign private company to take over the production of propane from the natural gas which apparently is mined and captured in the general area around Cusco. The local people are very upset that this will likely result in significant increases in a vital fuel that they use for cooking and heating, and in some cases we actually saw what looked like motorbikes powered by propane as well. As a result they have begun to put up road blocks to disturb traffic and have called a general strike as they await high level government meetings next Monday.

This should not directly affect us, however our original plan has been to walk part way to our next lodge and then be picked up by local buses for final transport. In order to accomplish this we must now get started much earlier than expected to meet our transport closer than expected in order to get to our next lodge before the demonstrations begin in mid-afternoon, otherwise we are likely to have to hike the entire way.

The hiking itself is relatively easy, other than the same 400 foot dip down to the river crossing and back up the other side to the main trail. We move along pretty briskly through the cool morning with few breaks to rest. Finally we come to the place where we will meet our bus, only there are a couple of more minor challenges until we are settled in for the next leg of our trip. Kelsey has had to start out this leg of our trip on  one of our "Ambulance" horses as she twisted her ankle yesterday while running ahead in the faster group.

First, we must traverse a bridge that is still under construction with just cross-beam supports and timbers loosely splayed across the top of the structure which is at least 200 feet above the ravine of the river.

Second, once we do all finally manage to eke our way over we find out our bus has a flat tire. This will take about another 30 – 45 minutes to fix so we wonder around among the locals and their mini-market with caravans of donkeys be loaded up for the delivery of necessities up-river of the bridge where still no cars can get to.

Finally, we are loaded and on our way, soon to reach our next lodge. The road we must now travel is barely wide enough for a small car never mind our bus. There are no guardrails protecting the 200 – 300 drop off to the river below and any number of times I would swear that one of our back double tires was not on solid ground! We see some unbelievable waterfalls along the way, one of which flows literally out of a rock cave from what must be an underground river.

We offload off the bus around a mile from the hotel as this is the beginning of the national park where the “official” Sacred Inca Trail begins and no vehicles are permitted. Here our porters 3 miles will have to carry our luggage while we will walk a pretty steep uphill section of the trail, past a multitude of coffee plantations along the way. Here we see all the freshly harvested coffee beans spread out in the sun on mats and concrete slabs for drying before they begin to be processed. We have now entered the “cloud forest” a micro climate area between mountain and jungle where the vegetation is much denser and we are beginning to see huge forest plants.

We arrive at our next and final lodge before making our final trek to Machu Picchu. This is called Lucma  Lodge and is a fabulous open architecture design which like all the other lodges has been completed just two years ago by Mountain Lodges of Peru company. Carlos, our chef, has somehow yet again bypassed us and prepared yet another great meal for lunch.

Later in the afternoon most of our group (not me as I needed to rest) have gone off for a tour of the coffee plantations and then out to do some bird watching, which was not very successful as the best bird watching is done n early morning rather than late afternoon. They had a great time non-the-less as they all came back laughing with stories of what to do while on a non-bird-watching adventure!

Another outstanding meal along with a new cocktail called a Peruvian Libre, which is a mixture of the local Pisco that we used to make Pisco Sours but instead it is mixed with Sprite, quite the kick actually!!

Later after dinner we all gather in the lounge area as we have done each night to share stories of the day and enjoy each other’s company. It is absolutely amazing how close we all have come in the short time we have been together, but I guess hiking all day as a group will certainly help do that.

We have now also being advised that the social disturbances are worsening and our original plans to hike to the hydro-electric station where would catch a train to Aqualles Calientes is not going to work as the train will likely be on strike, if we attempted this and there was no train we would be in for an eleven hour trek, a bit more than I would bargain for! Instead we will take the bus again in the morning roughly half way and begin our ascent to Machu Picchu directly on foot. Time to get to bed early and get some rest!