Hike to Pumamarca Ruins
After Paul’s recommendation yesterday, I decided this morning to hike up to the Pumamarca ruins. Edith, owner of the lodge where I’m staying, drew me a little map and I was on my way. The directions were not much more than “cross the bridge, always stay to the right.” Except for the part where you make a left at the yellow house, of course.
[Photo above: Handmade map; Turn left at the yellow house, a fact she failed to mention but I figured out with my critical thinking skills]
I’d read about this hike being of moderate difficulty, so I wanted to try it out to see how well I could handle a more difficult hike before I do the Inca Trail next week. Apparently, most people hire a taxi to take them up and back, and I soon found out why. It was about 90% uphill for almost two hours! I had to stop to catch my breath and take photos probably a dozen times, but I just kept a slow and steady pace and I was fine. When I got close there was a woman there to charge an entry fee (10 Peruvian Sols = $2.75). I hiked up the last couple hundred yards and walked around the ruins. Unfortunately, there were no alpacas roaming around as promised. I sat down and ate a granola bar, and suddenly realized that it was starting to get cold. I was drenched in sweat from the hike up, and there was a brisk 15-20mph wind blowing constantly up here (10,999 feet elevation). Plus, the sun had gone behind some dark clouds, and I thought I heard a rumble of thunder. I knew there was a chance of rain this afternoon, so I took this as a sign that it was time to head back down the mountain. On the way, I spoke briefly to a very tiny older woman who worked there. We exchanged “hellos” and she asked if I was from the Estados Unidos. I told her I was, and then remarked that it was very beautiful here. She smiled and agreed, and said she works there picking up trash. That was about as far as we could get with the language barrier, so we parted ways and I made my way down. Now, on the way up I didn’t see anyone at all save one local. On the way down I passed maybe 10 people on their way up who were apparently not watching the weather. Good luck! I made it back down, wishing I had trekking poles because it was a steep trail, and it started to rain lightly when I was about 10 minutes away from the lodge. I could have stopped, but the rain was light so I elected to go another 10 minutes down into town for some lunch because the forecast was calling for rain most of the afternoon.
[Photos above: Pumamarca ruins & a few shots of the mountains and valley from my hike. These photos are pretty, but they do not do justice to how beautiful it was to be able to take it the whole landscape.]
As I made my way into the main square, I ran into Paul, my guide from yesterday! He asked what I did today, and I told him I took his suggestion of going to Pumamarca. He asked if I walked the whole way, which I did, and he said “wow, you will have no problem on the Inca Trail.” That was reassuring to hear! I told him was looking for lunch, and he took me over to his friend’s new restaurant, Andean Organico. This was the perfect spot for a fresh, light lunch. I had an organic salad with apple cider vinaigrette (outstanding, I have to find a recipe for that) with some lightly pan-seared chicken breast on top. Muy delicioso! Time for a nap, or at least a lie down. I hit 20,000 steps before 1:00pm today!
[Photo above: Organic salad]
As it turns out, the rain didn’t really transpire this afternoon, so at around 4:00 I went out to roam the town because I was already getting sore from the morning hike. I ran into a couple of ladies I saw this morning at the ruins, and they invited me out for a beer. I can’t exactly describe how I suspected they were college professors, but I definitely got that vibe from them from the start. Guess what? They are both nursing professors at the University of Arizona! Actually, one just recently retired, and she’s here with her friend scouting out a potential trip for a church group. We went for a beer and talked about travel and such, and then we parted ways. It was fun to visit with someone in English for an hour! I’m going to skip over talking about dinner other than to say I elected to go for a quick Margherita pizza, and it was by far my worst meal since I’ve been here.
I’m undecided on what tomorrow will look like. I still want to do a tour to some of the other towns in the Sacred Valley, but I haven’t arranged it yet. I’m hoping Edith will come through for me and have someone she recommends. Otherwise, I may go back to the Sun Temple in the early morning before the tour buses arrive to take some more/better photos.
A few more random photos:
[Photo above: When the Spaniards arrived and conquered the town, they built on top of the original Incan structures. The stones at the bottom are the original Incan town; for my Iowa friends, and especially James Hampton, check out the size of that corn!; I presume this is the way locals can draw water flowing down. Lift the blue door and water will divert out of that channel.]
Daily step count: A hard-earned 25,936
