In the morning, everyone was slightly panicked at what they could take as we were only allowed to take 6kg including the air mattress, sleeping bag plus clothes and accessories. After packing, unpacking and repacking, we all managed to get to about 6kg in our duffel bags. We were also told to put all our stuff into plastic bags – so if it did rain, our things wouldn’t get wet (also many blogs that I read said the same thing). We met our trail guides Angel and the trainee guide Clisor – both of who were very awesome lads. We got transferred to kilometer 82 and handed over our duffel bags to the porters. We then made our way to the trail “gate” and lined up with all the other trekkers. Passports ready in hand, the officer was checking if the trail permit matched the passport details. So Angel told us all to check to see if all the details were correct. My eyeballs nearly popped out of my head as my passport number was clearly made up – it was written as 123456789! As I called out to Angel and explained that obviously STA Travel had screwed up – he assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem, and right he was! The officer simply said – look I trust that you are indeed this person – and simply allowed me to cross the bridge and “officially” enter the trail! After a group photo at the km82 sign we began the trek.

The terrain was mostly flat and the scenery was nice. I think we were all excited by the fact that we were actually here! As we continued the hike, Angel explained to us what “Andean flat” was (slight incline) and that it was going to be mostly like this for today. The sun was out – and it was a gorgeous day for hiking! We made it to the “stop” where the porters had already set up a “dining tent” which had tables and chairs – we were all amazed! As we all took our seats, lunch was served. For the starter we had a soup of some sort – which was delicious. For the main we had rice molded in a dome-like shape served with fish! Truly scrumptious! We even had dessert! All the food was very yummy and impressive. After a little rest, we continued on our hike.

We arrived at camp way before Angel had anticipated – which made us all very proud. He had told us that the first day was the training day, so it was good that we all had done so well. After a little break after tea and popcorn for afternoon tea, dinner was served. Again this was a set of yummy meals, leaving us all satiated! NOTE: I had requested vegetarian meals throughout the hike and boy did the chefs deliver – truly awesome! Also, on the first day we had the option for paying for toilets or using the free ones. Angel told us that we should use the paid toilets (only 1 sole) as these were clean. I’m so glad that we opted for these ones as the toilets on the rest of the hike were dreadful drop toilets – very smelly!

The porters had also put up all our tents and showed us how to inflate the air mattress. Mind you they were uber thin but I’m sure they were in part useful… the first night was actually quite warm, so I had a good sleep.