Machu Pichu continued

Inca Trail Continued
  
 
Day 3 and 12,200 feet
I am a little better this morning, but still winded as I am packing after the 6:30am wake up call. Today, our tour diverges from the pack, as we are on a five day tour, rather than a four day tour, which allows us more time to see the ruins along the trail. We head up the next pass, stopping at an Inca trail station (think of it as hotel/pony express/supply post – you find these about every 5 to 6 miles along the trail). We pick up a rock to carry to the next pass, to ask the mountain gods for a good trek. I am still quickly out of breath, but I stay within 15 minutes of the group all day. From this point on we are on the actual original Inca trail the rest of the way, the trail is much improved compared to the modern day one and impressive considering this little rock path is over 500 years old winding its way through high mountain passes. Compare this to our major highways in the mountains that get washed out every five or ten years on Rainier or Verlot.
 
We are learning more about the Inca. Our guide says the Inca used all technologies, but invented none. They can easily be compared to the Romans. Inca also proves to be a misnomer, the Quechua people called their king the Inca, in actuality the civilization should be called the Quechua, which still exist today in Peru and is the language is still spoken. As I catch my breath, I notice something strange. I expected to feel sacred ground, you know the strange feeling you get in some churches or sacred sites. I feel none of this. The guide keeps saying the Inca were administrators, which makes sense as there appears to be little that is sacred along the trail. He said Machu Picchu was built as an administrative center to control the cocoa trade.
 
Day 3 & 12,500 feet
We climbed the second pass and by noon descended down to lunch in a swampy area. The trail is beautiful, lush cloud forest and a trail that changes from clinging to a mountain to tunneling through rich cloud forest (think Olympic Peninsula) to swampy areas. We hit another set of ruins just before lunch. We were introduced to the first Inca temple. It was explained to us that the Inca/Quechua worshiped the underground, ground level and the sky. They have sacred mountains and often built temples into the rocks themselves to connect with mother earth. We witnessed one of these temples this morning. The rock of the mountain protrudes directly into the center of the temple, with an alter before it.  
 
Day 3 and 12,200 feet
We reached the third pass about 3pm. We are camping here for the night. The rain is steady but not strong, although the area is pretty cloudy. We can see a bit of ruins from the ledge we are camping on, but the clouds come in and out, just giving glimpses. You feel like you are on the top of world, even as the fog clings around us. I have two whole hours before 5pm tea, as I was able to keep up today.  This was a great day; the trail was beautiful, the trail was clear of people as most of the other tour groups had an additional three hours of hiking to get to their camp. The cold soon settled in and it was an early night for everyone.
 
Day 4 and 12,200 feet
This is our last day on the trail. The fog still clings to the mountain. It was cold enough a few people could not sleep, although I passed out soon after my head hit the pillow. We headed down to the first Inca site, which we had glimpses of from camp. It is quite a large site compared to others we have seen, with lots of terraces and buildings and looks almost impenetra