31/07/2019 - Day 3 Choquequirao trek, Peru

Because we had managed to trek a bit further than planned yesterday, we were treated to a lay in, and our alarms woke us up as late as 06:30. When we unzipped the tent we were greeted to a misty morning mountain view. We got ourselves sorted and then into the small marque like tent for breakfast. Today we had omelette, bread, butter, jam, coffee and hot chocolate. Josh and I were glad we had brought a couple of coffee tea bag things with us (given to us by some guests on our Galapagos cruise) as I don’t think Thomas had realised he had only brought decaf coffee! I was cold in that tent in my coat/hat/scarf eating breakfast, so I really can’t comprehend how cold their nights sleep must have been in there overnight! At 07:30 we walked up to the Choquequirao archealogical site. There were a handful of people already there, but it was very peaceful. We saw the Incas main plaza and walked up to the sacrifice grounds, which gave a nice overview of the whole site.

We had drinks and snacks on the grounds and then clambered down a face of the mountain to see some different terraces to yesterday. We walked down to a viewing platform where we could see face on to the terraces, that had white stone llamas paved into the stone walls, like symbols or hieroglyphics, the purpose of which remain unknown!

After enjoying the view, we trekked back up the stairs to the main plaza and then up to the highest point of the ruins where we saw the Incas water system and some remains of their rectangular houses.

After a few hours of exploring the site we walked back down to our campsite for some lunch. We had soup, pearl barley, chicken, vegetables, potatoes with cheese, and chicha morada (the Ribena like corn drink.) After lunch we had a 20-minute rest in the sun. Josh walked in on Thomas sat on the toilet!

We started our walk down, back to Marampata, where we had eaten lunch yesterday, and where we planned on camping tonight. The donkeys, Diamon and Thomas overtook us halfway along, and we managed to keep up with them for the rest of the way. We watched as Thomas basically ran down, and copied his bent knee stance, which really did help us move faster! We saw a baby condor circling afar for a few seconds too!

The trekking wasn’t challenging, so we could really enjoy it and soak in the views. When we arrived at Marampata, we bought a round of soft drinks from the little shop for everyone. Josh and I paid 5 sole (£1.25) each for a hot shower in a little hut, I washed my hair and it was very refreshing! As we showered the lady who owned the hut stood at the gas cannisters, I heard it clunking but not really sure what she was up to apart from making sure we didn’t take too long! When I left the door open of the shower hut a chicken went inside and started drinking the water off the floor!

It was warm in the sun but was quite windy. We laid on the grass, there was a little 3 year old local girl running around, so we made friends with her. I showed her my camera and she was fascinated, she kept asking for more photos and we took videos, she was laughing and asking for more, more! We got called for tea, popcorn and some pastries as a little snack and the girl joined us. She scoffed the whole tray of popcorn into her mouth, with her filthy muddy fingers. It was so funny and she was very sweet. There was a nice sunset over the mountains which we watched as dinner was cooked. We had soup, chicken stuffed with sausage and cheese, vegetables and chips, it really was so nice! Diamon had told Alex he had a fever and wasn’t feeling so good, so we dished some paracetamol out to him, which he said had helped. Josh and I tucked up into our tent and we played some Monopoly Deal before falling asleep to a podcast.