Day 12 Paqaymayo to Winaywayna

    This is the day that we walk the greatest distance, 16 km, and drop the most altitude, from 3600 m to 2650 m.  There are three passes today but the verticals were so gentle that we only noticed two of them- the passes are Runkuraqay 3900 m, Sayacmarca 3600 m and Phuyupatamarca 3700 m.  The outstanding feature of this section of the trail is that it is 95% original Inca and just 5% restored.  It is amazing that the trail has stood up so well over the 500 years since its construction even though this is an earthquake zone.  They managed to build a tunnel that is some 10 m long without the use of explosives or hardened steel tools.  Our first stop was at Runkuraqay ruins, where Marcelino told us about the people and how water was delivered to the site.  It is really impressive how they managed to engineer the aquaducts through this terrain, all without the use of use modern tools paper on which to sketch out plans.  Needless to say they didn’t have computer programs to facilitate calculations and store plans.  Today it was possible for the crew to stop and make lunch for us at around noon, which they did.  That meant no siesta after lunch.  It was really lucky for us that lunch came at the same time as our first rainfall of this trek.  That meant that we sat in a tent eating while the rain went through.  The rest of the walk to our third campsite was where we lost about 1000 m of altitude.  The steps were many but in excellent condition.  We also had the opportunity to have our passports stamped at the third checkpoint on the trail.  At Winaywayna, we are only 6 km and less than 2 hours from the Sun Gate entrance to Machu Picchu.  This is a campsite at which the locals have decided to provide many conveniences, for a price of course.  A hot (more or less) shower can be had for 5 Soles, and beer for 10.  Since we have another day of walking, it didn’t seem right for me to celebrate by getting clean and raising a brew.  Nevertheless some of our group did and enjoyed the experience- I’m either too cheap or too old fashioned or both, probably both.