Day 3 16 kilometres on the top of the World
Roger had done the trek 700 times before and treated it as a sacred journey. He is a post Inca with only disregard for the Catholic influence of the Spanish. The Inca ways and beliefs all make sense to him and he delights in passing them on and I have to say all of us agreed with many ideas, of strong family ties and support, small farms to keep people in food and work, respect for the elements, the sun, water and a sense of the importance of looking after the environment instead of abusing it by overfarming etc. He showed us many things, how plants are used for building and in medicine, to name just two.
649 and 650 now you see him, now you don't. We kept to the mountainside so the porters could pass us and set up camp ahead, and we were in no danger of being pushed over the edge. The cry "Porters" and occasionally "Youngsters" would warn those ahead to
keep over so the porters had a clear run. Many Inca workers perished building these sometimes precipitous rock Inca routes. |