Today – the third day of the 4 day Inca Trail to the lost ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru – was supposed to be an easier day than yesterday. We started out early again this morning. Today we got to see a few more Inca archaeological sites than the last two days. In the morning we saw the Runkurakay site which is just below the Runkurakay pass. It is thought that this site was used as a resting point for the Inca messengers. Puma explained to us how the Inca messengers, called chasquis, would run through the Andes Mountains, forming a type of relay to send messages from one community to another. The chasquis would chew coca leaves to help give them the energy to run up the huge peaks. Puma taught us how to properly chew coca leaves too but most of us couldn’t keep them in our mouths more than a few minutes. As we continued our hike, we were able to pass through a couple Inca tunnels which were really neat to see! After climbing the pass we came to the second main archaeological site, Phuyupatamarca which has a series of intricate ceremonial baths.

Phuyupatamarca, also known as the “Cloud Level Town” was a great place to stop for a group photo. From Phuyupatamarca, we began our long decent down to camp for the night.
This was going to be our last night together before finishing our trek at Machu Picchu the next day. After dinner our cooks surprised us with cake! Really, the food Dos Manos Travel Agency’s cooks and porters provided was truly amazing! After thanking the porters and cooks for all their hard work with a group tip, our guide Puma briefed us on what our final day would be like. As a group we decided that we wouldn’t get up super early to make it to the gates in time to get a ticket to climb Huayna Picchu (the tall mountain you can see in most photos of Machu Picchu). We had all had just about enough climbing and decided we would rather spend the extra time going to the Inca bridge and exploring the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was another early night for most of us as we got ready for our final hike to Machu Picchu!

Photo 1 text: The group at the Phuyupatamarca archaeological site
Photo 2 text: Saying thanks and goodbye to our porters and cooks