The Inca Jungle Trek

Here´s the gang -- from the left, Jans and Claudia from Germany, Daniel from Switzerland, Miranda the Brit, Melissa the Canadian, Geert and Kornelius from Holland.

The Inca Jungle Trek sounded appealing because it starts with a four-hour mountain bike ride from Alfamayo, somewhere in the mid-3,000 meters elevation range, down about 1,500 meters elevation over 80 kilometers to Santa Maria, a small town in what they call the high jungle.

This trek also appealed because we stayed in hostels three nights and the price was half what others pay to sleep in tents.

Our guide Leo goes ahead to check with men working on the mountain path wheter it´s OK to pass. It was.

The second day was up and down hill and dale, and mountain and higher mountain, on tiny little paths perched on the closest thing to a cliff there is. Long day of walking past fruit trees -- banana, mango, papaya, aloe vera plants and all kinds of birds and lizards.

The jungle in a jungle home converted to tour rest spot was amazing. These folks know how to cook -- but I didn´t want to know what was in it.

El viejo rides the trolley car across a river on the second day of the trek.

We had the option of walking a short distance over a bridge, or taking this manually powered trolley across the river. The kids voted for the latter, of course.

There´s a rope attached from the bank on either side to the cart. Leo went first. We pushed him out as far as we could, then he pulled himself over the rest of the way. He pushed the cart back, and we reeled it in. We did that a few times, and a guy who lives nearby pushed the last cartload, and we reeled em in, and off we went.

The third day, we climbed ladders more than 100 meters long made of tree branches.

The third day was bizarre. Four hours of walking in the morning rain along railroad tracks. Rocks and wood. Four hours in the rain. Yuk.

After lunch, we climbed Mount Putucusi -- a tad higher than Macchu Picchu and directly across from the Incan landmark -- for a sunset view from above. This was no easy task -- check out the enlarged view from above -- you can´t see the top of that damn ladder. There were only four of them, but they were steep and slippery.

And of course, the ladders being slippery, someone had to fall. Luckily, someone else had my camera.

That is, of course, a setup pic. We stood on a rock on top of Putucusi and jumped up -- silly, but it looks cool.

Sunset pics from a mountain also sounds cool -- till you have to descend in the fleeting light.

 

Putucusi from Macchu Picchu. Check out the town, Aquas Calientes, at the bottom right.

I thought I got more than my $225 worth just from the first three days of the trek. Then, the fourth day was Macchu Piccu. More later.