Day 1 - Start point at Km 88 to Huaylabamba
Up at 5 in Cusco, leave at 6 for Ollantytambo, where we picked up our 6 porters and all the tents/ food and cooking equipment around 7.30. Then a further drive on an unmade rutted track alongside the railway to Km. 82 at around 9. Through the control post at one of the only bridges around 9. The first stage of the trail to the Inca site at Huillca Raccay follows the river, and is a very gentle ascent of 150m, and passes through a number of villages where you can buy water, soft drinks and other basics. Then the route turns away from the river, and rises a bit more teeply to the campsite at Huaylabamba which is 500 m above, and 8 km. from your start point. This is the last point for buying bottled water, though it is expensive (we preferred to top up with boiled water which was perfectly good). (Note: you can start at Km. 77, though very few people do, and you can also start at Km 104, in which case you get two part days of walking and one night and miss the best bits of the trail described here. Some parties spend the night at different campsites from the ones described here, so the division into days will be different)
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NB: Many of the flowers are identified on the flowers page. Your help in identifying the others would be appreciated
