My heart raced as we unloaded our gear in preparation for the trek. We were finally going to start our hike! I knew that it would be difficult, the elevation really did have us a little out of breath and I knew we were going to be ascending rapidly. Our trek would start at about 10,000 ft. We would make an evaluation gain of 5,000 feet over the next three days. The guide brought over some poles that many of the trekkers had reserved for the hike, mine were pretty beat up and the handle was coming off but so there were no replacements so I would have to make due. The beginning of the trek took us strait up a steep trail that followed a river valley. I could tell that most people were already feeling it on our first stop. Our guide reassured us that we would be stopping often. Around 3:00 p.m. we stopped for lunch (yes a late lunch again!) But the food was awesome! Our cook and crew had set up a tent and fixed a two course meal including garlic bread, cream of asparagus soup, breaded chicken with vegetables and we finished up with tea at the end. The tea was made of coca leaves (what cocaine is made out of.) One of the trekkers jokingly asked if we would have traces of cocaine in our system when we went home because of all the tea we were drinking. Our guide told us no and went into a rather lengthy description of how cocaine is made, exactly what ingredients are used, how many kilos of coca leaves that are used and about how long the process took... a little more information than we needed to know.
After digesting our food we set off on the trail again to our final stop, camp for the night. I noticed that after lunch Wes was beginning to lag behind, he didn't look like he was feeling all that great. He soon fell farther behind the group and I hung back with him and a guide. Wes was running pretty low on water.. because he drinks as much as a camel does, but luckily we found a woman selling water and Gatorade, she was sitting on a hill in what looked to be the middle of nowhere. We were lucky! We finally reached camp at dusk tired from the trek but again our crew had beat us to the camp spot... and had been there for quite a while apparently, they had set up all our tents and were already preparing dinner. We were told to relax before dinner. Wes seemed to be looking a bit better. Our guide thought that the elevation was getting to him. Apparently that was not the problem.
Wes got sick to his stomach. I don't ever think I have seen Wes with an upset stomach but he was SICK. The only thing we can guess was that he had eaten something that was not agreeing with him. The two of us were up till after midnight. I was afraid I was going to have to pick Wes up and drag him down the mountain to get help, the guides were not convinced as I was that Wes was in any real danger. But he could not even keep water down. He kept babbling deliriously and around 11:00 he started to run a fever. I had to give him a Stern talking to in order to get him to take an Advil to break his fever he would not take it for fear that it would make him nauseous, but after 15 minutes of coercing him into taking the pill his fever broke and he finally fell asleep.
The next morning I knew we would not continue on with the group. Wes was still a little sick and really weak from the night before. One of the guides agreed to make the trek back down the mountain with us and two other trekkers decided that the altitude was too much and would come with us. The hike was much more pleasant descending. The weather was nice in the morning but warming up fast as noon approached. Wes could still not eat anything so we mixed some powdered pedialyte in his drink (to replace the electrolytes he had lost.) The end of the hike was tiring but we made it down the mountain and found a bus to take us back to Calca. In Calca we would spend the night and then meet back up with our group the next day after they finished the hike.
Back in Calca we had one other snag. There was no place deemed "safe" for foreigners to eat. This was a big problem because we didn't want to make Wes any sicker than he already was. Our host at the guest house we were staying at told us she could cook us dinner. And charge us 10 soles (about $3 dollars!) We ate dinner in her residence in the dinning room. She turned on the stereo which was playing all 80s love songs, most of which we sung along to...
That night Wes was feeling much better, but I was not. I knew that I was in for the same trouble as Wes. By the next morning I could not get out of bed which was a problem because we had to head to our meeting spot to join with the rest of the group and go to our next stop. I filled up on Imodium and hoped for the best. We took a taxi about an hour to meet the group. Wes and the other two trekkers sat in the back, it was deemed that if I was going to get sick, the best place for me was the front... so I could throw up in the taxi driver that was overcharging us... just kidding. Our guide sat in the trunk with the luggage pushed to the side.
We met our group of joyous trekkers at a small restaurant/ home for the victory dinner. It would have been a lot of fun had I not been sick, our guide showed us how they made a locally brewed alcoholic beverage, I think it was corn beer but I was not paying enough attention. There was also a fenced off room containing about 50 guinea pigs. Now these were not meant as pets but rather as food. I had thought about trying this delicacy once we got back to Cusco but after seeing the little fur balls running around I knew guinea pig was off my menu.
Luckily I did not get sick in front of any of the group, except Wes... my stomach trouble lasted about a day. Back in Cusco Wes and I slept quite a bit to get our strength back and by the end of the trip we were back to normal.
I must say that this was one of the strangest trips we had been on, usually we are super excited about the location and try to pack in as many activities as possible but the mudslides had kept us from Machu Pichu and our stomachs had kept us from completing our trek. I also must admit I have never slept so much while on vacation. I know one day we will go back to Peru and see Machu Picchu but it is not high on our priority list. The trip taught us that indeed, antibiotics are imperative for stomach illnesses. Which is why in preparation for our Asia trip we made sure we have enough for multiple illnesses.
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