Day 1 - Start of the Classic Inca Trail

Day 1: As agreed on the previous night, we meet at 5:45 AM at the Plaza Regocilo. Everyone looks fresh and the excitement shows in the face of all. The bus comes and we all board along with our backpacks which are dumped at the back of the bus. An exciting bus journey awaits as we are stopped midway for a police inspection. I don't know what happened as the saying is ... "welcome to Peru" ... we are held up on the side of the road for a very considerable period of time jeopardizing our start time. Breakfast is served on the bus and we finally are on the move to Kilometer 82. As we reach Kilometer 82, we find that Vicky's sleeping bag is missing .. must have been misplaced or lost somewhere. We all line up to take our first group picture in front of the famous Inca Trail sign along the Urubamba river. We also get a pack of snacks for the trail and we head for the Control office. We slowly get our passports stamped and take the swinging bridge to cross the river and wait for the rest of the team. It was not a bad day of hiking as Virgilio said .. it is mostly a flat terrain .. (mind you ... it's peruvian flat ;) ). Its a wonderful day with bright sunlight. Lunch is served around 2 PM. I can't beleive we are having restaurant quality 3 course meal high up in the Andes. Some of us take a power nap and we start on our way to the first night's camp. We pass the archaeological site of Llactapata. We are not staying in the usual camp site of Wayllabamba. We climb a bonus of extra 2 Kms to our exquisite campsite in the high jungles. We have the first sight of the tents ... our home for 3 nights. Dinner is served early and we retire to our tents with tired legs. What a spectacular starry night. As the night progresses, so does the thunder and lighting with hail. It rained and rained almost all night long with thunder, lightning and hail. Glad it was at night and not during the day. (some people got water in their tents).