The second day started out with the guide painting all of our faces using the mashed seeds of a plant. This is the spider he painted on mine:
We then started our hike and very soon got to walk on a piece of original Inca trail. Apparently, the Inca built around 40.000 km of trails throughout their empire. They also classified the paths according to their widths: the widest ones were used for trade, while the smaller ones were reserved for religious purposes and messengers. See the path built into the mountainside in the left part of the picture? That's where we came down.
This specific part of Inca trail has only been rediscovered 14 years ago. In 1998, there was a massive landslide/avalanche/flood disaster, destroying houses, roads, bridges and the railway in the river valley. As a consequence, the people moved up the mountainside to protect themselves from future events of this sort. When they started building new paths to connect the different communities along the valley, they discovered the Inca path that was already in place there. Only then did the Inca jungle trek become popular, providing the people with tourism-based income.
The vegetation continued to be nice and colorful, and there were butterflies around us all day.
As the guide explained, there are minor landslides in the area every year, so that the path always changes, and sometimes necessitates a fair bit of improvisation. This makeshift bridge, for example, had to replace the proper one that had recently been washed down:
Another funny bridge we encountered later in the day was this cable-car type one. The ride across definitely was a lot of fun!
The perfect, relaxing end to the day were once again thermal baths. Nothing better to loosen your muscles and wash the hiking grime off your body :-)
We then started our hike and very soon got to walk on a piece of original Inca trail. Apparently, the Inca built around 40.000 km of trails throughout their empire. They also classified the paths according to their widths: the widest ones were used for trade, while the smaller ones were reserved for religious purposes and messengers. See the path built into the mountainside in the left part of the picture? That's where we came down.
This specific part of Inca trail has only been rediscovered 14 years ago. In 1998, there was a massive landslide/avalanche/flood disaster, destroying houses, roads, bridges and the railway in the river valley. As a consequence, the people moved up the mountainside to protect themselves from future events of this sort. When they started building new paths to connect the different communities along the valley, they discovered the Inca path that was already in place there. Only then did the Inca jungle trek become popular, providing the people with tourism-based income.
The vegetation continued to be nice and colorful, and there were butterflies around us all day.
As the guide explained, there are minor landslides in the area every year, so that the path always changes, and sometimes necessitates a fair bit of improvisation. This makeshift bridge, for example, had to replace the proper one that had recently been washed down:
Another funny bridge we encountered later in the day was this cable-car type one. The ride across definitely was a lot of fun!
The perfect, relaxing end to the day were once again thermal baths. Nothing better to loosen your muscles and wash the hiking grime off your body :-)
