Peru Trip Part 3: More Inca Trail

The tour company labeled day two as "challenging" and day three as "unforgettable." They were right. Dan thought day three was the best, but that could be because his stomach bug subsided, too. After a not-very-good night's rest (it rained a lot throughout the night and snowed at higher elevations), we ate and got ready for the day. How many times have you brushed your teeth with a waterfall behind you?

We hiked past some ruins early in the day and our guide, Juan, told us some stuff. Then apparently they took a group picture. I was off taking pictures of my own.

More ruins.

 And more ruins.

Not too far into the day, the reality set in that this was our last full day on the trail. We tried to soak it up as much as we could. We were always the slowest in the group, but we enjoyed stopping, taking pictures, and reveling in the fact that we got to do something so awesome.

Can you imagine cutting that hole in the rock with only another rock? That would take FOREVER!

I loved the rock behind me here. It was black and white. Really cool. So I made Dan take a picture.

The Inca trail had a few caves. Here's us heading through one.

 And here's the second summit of the trail. I wish it hadn't been cloudy. I wanted to see the tops of the mountains.

We stopped for a break at a different campground. Dan climbed a hill and took some pics.

Then we continued on. We saw lots of ruins this day.

 Our guide told us that if we hurried, we could make it to one last really cool site before dark. So we hustled and got to see this site. It had 43 terraced levels. Really amazing.

 This is called a "flying staircase." The Incas used them to get from one level to the next.

We did the last bit of hiking in the dark w/ headlamps. That was really fun. Then we had dinner and got ready for bed. I really wanted a picture of the stars, but unfortunately, it was really cloudy and rained again. But I did manage to try a different long exposure shot.

Stay tuned for part 4: MACHU PICCHU!