Day 6: Camp Pacalacta
We awoke this morning to gray skies and damp everything. Our “clothes pachamanca” sort of worked, but not enough to fully dry anything. So Matt opted for a new pair of socks and different shoes, while Jo switched to a fresh pair of pants that weren’t caked in mud from the knees down. On a positive note, the hot coffee delivered thru the front door of our tent really hit the spot.
We made our way to the breakfast tent where the selection included the usual fruit, granola, and yogurt, plus delicious scrambled eggs. And don’t forget the bran flakes with milk. Even better, yesterday Luis and Brai noticed Matt’s appreciation of the local chocolate confections that appear during Explora’s turn down service (in the tents too!) and are now hooking him up with extras. So bran flakes with milk AND chocolates for breakfast it is!
The plan for the day was an 11km hike — mostly downhill to reach our next (Plan B) campsite. We followed a river/stream most of the way as we descended through the lingering clouds and light rain. We learned this amount of of rain is called “Misty Manchachiq”, aka. the kind of rain that makes city folk freak out, but isn’t really so bad.
As promised, the hike was pretty flat with gradual downhills. Dropping in altitude, we were making pretty good time. We hiked though forest, farms, and fields, eventually finding ourselves below the misty mountain clouds — which meant the rain stopped, and it was even warm enough to tentatively shed some layers.
Roughly halfway on our route, we encountered Paucarcancha, an Incan archeological site that is a part of the larger Machu Picchu Sanctuary area. It is/was situated in a convenient location to grow some crops, observe the Qhapac Ñan, and gaze admiringly at Salkantay (when not cloudy!), but we have not yet reached the the main Inca trail, so foot traffic here is pretty low. We basically had the place to ourselves for a while.
The site lived up to it’s name. Paucar means “colorful” or “flowery” and Cancha means “open space” or “corral.” The weather was starting to cooperate, so we spent the next 30-45 minutes exploring the ruins and sitting/relaxing in the grassy terraces of what was once a bustling administrative outpost of the Incan Empire.
After enjoying Paucarcancha for a while, we walked a few hundred meters below the ruins to a campsite area for lunch. We had cucumber and avocado salad with chia bread, dry potato soup (which is different than regular potato soup — and probably one of the accounting tricks Peru uses to claim so many varieties of potatoes), and a delicious vegetable saltado. Dessert was a chia ball/RX bar-type thing with sesame seeds that no one really ate. Alas.
We got ourselves ready again and set off for the second half of the hike. We eventually merged with the main Inca Trail that goes to Machu Picchu. Because of this, we saw lots of tour groups and porters (and trash). Because the Inca trail passes thru the existing town of Wayllabamba, there are also gift shops, bars, and discos. We were actually now hiking the Inca trail in the OPPOSITE direction used by travelers who are making the four or five day trek to Machu Picchu. One hiker who passed us asked her guide, “Wait, you can go DOWN the Inca Trail???”
As we closed the distance to our campsite, we passed a fun-looking waka (Incan term for “sacred place” or “object of veneration”), right next to another archaeological site complete with terraces. Qi, Brai and Matt ventured up the steps to get a better view of this landmark. Perhaps the location was special because the rock at the top of the climb bears roughly the same outline as the mountain range behind it?
After exploring the waka, we continued on just a bit further to the campsite, named Pacalacta. Turns out the day’s full hike was more like 16km (rather than 11), but we still arrived at about 4:30pm. And to be fair, this is Plan B, so Explora probably didn’t have our route measured perfectly, instead relying on the locals who probably aren’t running around with their Srava GPS turned on at all times.
We had plenty of time for another round of amazing massages, and Happy Hour — featuring terra chips, cheese crackers, and wine. Pro tip: Add a scoop of the diced green rocoto chilis to the cheese chips for an instant jalapeño popper. Dinner was soup, fried chicken and polenta, and poached pears in a wine sauce for dessert. Delicious.
At dinner, Chio, Brai and Luis filled us in on several of Peru’s best-known spirits and legends including Jarjachas (nocturnal beasts punished for crimes of incest) and Condenados (evil spirits, perhaps cursed to perpetually cross rivers) — and shared their own scary stories about potential sightings.
Brai broke out the bluetooth speaker and we discovered his taste in music is incredible. We also learned jukeboxes are called rocolas. Finally, we shared some of our worldly knowledge and taught the guides how to play the game “Booyah!” Now the greatest and easiest card game has gone global — originating from Matt’s parents and renamed by our friend’s 9-year-old Charles. We played until we were too tired and had to sleep.
Tomorrow we’ll continue our hike backwards down the Inca trail, meet up with Nan & Brit, check out Ollantaytambo, and make a triumphant return to the fourth night campsite from Plan A!
Antagonists of the night/early morning: dogs, trains, and roosters