The second to last day started much like the rest of the days, up at 600 and soon after we hit the trail. It was a much shorter day today as we only had to hike about 9 km and all before lunch. On the other hand it was almost all downhill which is worst than the uphill since we probably had to walk down over 2000 stairs. It was pretty hard on the knees but it was nice to only have to hike for 5 or so hours.
We started by walking slightly uphill until the ruins at Phuyupatamarka which was probably used as a checkpoint while housing a few dozen people. The Inca used a rotating system of people who worked in these various locations and by working they were paying taxes. From Phuyupatamarka we could see the next ruins called Intipata. Intipata is a huge complex of terraces. There are very few buildings here so it probably only served as a agricultural facility since it is quite close to Machu Picchu. It is intereting to know that it was only discovered 15 years ago, before that it went unnoticed as it was completely covered by trees and vegetation. After being restored it is now a small detour off the main path. The amount of terraces here are incredible we walked down some extremely steep stairs for a good 15 minutes before getting to the bottom. From there it was a short walk to our campsite and next ruins Winaywayna (forever young). This campsite actually has a hostel, a bar, and lukewarm showers. We finally got to have two hours of free time before heading off to check out the ruins.
Winaywayna was similar to Intipata but had more living quarters. There are a huge amount of terraces and at the top is the temple of the moon. There are seven windows for each day of the week since the Inca used a lunar calendar where each month had 28 days. The architecture of the Inca is very impressive. Most of their locations are built downhill from a natural spring which they funneled down through their cities to a series of fountains that served the entire community. In addition to being able to control their water supply they built structures that have withstood 500 years in an extremely earthquake active area. All of the walls were built at an angle instead of straight up which gives them more stability. They also almost never built the walls with mortar, it makes the walks very weak so instead they built the walls sort of like a puzzle. One block would dissipate the force to the next two and then it would dissipate again this is done by rocks with several points of contact (you can see paulito with a rock that has at least 8 corners on it). All of the structures are very well preserved and show little sign of wear. We also got very lucky and got to see a rare orchid Masdevallia Veitchiana.
We stayed until sunset and before heading back to the campsite for dinner. After dinner we had a little thank you ceremony for the porters who were incredible the entire trek. The porters have it pretty tough on the trail. They become porters usually because the farming they usually do simply isn't enough to support themselves and their family so they work as a porter on the trail to bring money home to their families. Until about 2002 there was no regulations on their wages or the amount of weight they could carry so they would sometimes have to carry over 50 kg while bring paid very little. They walk the trail very quickly sometimes wearing sandals. Often times the porters spend the nights in the kitchen tent and get up even earlier than we do to get everything ready to go. There is still several improvements that can be made in porter conditions but it definitely isn't as bad as it used to be for them.
I grabbed another photo of our Rufous-collared sparrow who were very common on the trail and another unidentified blackbird.
Total distance: ~9 km
Total elevation: ~200m
Total depth: ~1200m
