Inca Trail and Me

Wendy and I just completed our hike of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. She has blogged about our experience and I am going to blog about more personal stuff. I have had a problem with both knees, the left more than the right, since we did the hike to Ciudad Perdida. I have been hobbling around hoping, and then confident,  I could do the hike. I started to take Ibuprofen to ease the pain or whatever it is supposed to do. I felt ready to go - sort of. I/We bought a knee brace/support in Quenca. In fact we bought two which gave me more confidence that I could do the hike.

Then in Chiclayo, Peru after showering in the morning, I walked on the tile floor from the bathroom to the bedroom, likely with wet feet, slipped on the floor crashing down in the entrance to the bathroom. Peru is one of those countries where the floor in the bathroom is elevated about 15 cm from the floor in the rest of the room. I came crashing down bruising quite extensively my left forearm, scraping my back on the right side and deep bruising my left buttock. I broke my watch strap in the process. You are probably saying something like, "Gee that's too bad but what has all that to do about Inca Trail?"

Well it does, as it has to do with the psyche of an older person. So as we toured the archeological sites near Chiclayo I moaned and groaned under my breath and became doubtful as to whether I now could hike the Inca Trail.

As the day of our departure came closer I was prepared to take a chance and go on the hike although I was not totally certain I could make it. So, armed with hiking poles, a knee brace and lots of Ibuprofen we started our hike. For those who have not done the hike it is a marvelous 4 days of hiking on Inca trails to Machu Picchu albeit with more than a little elevation; 3 passes one at 4200 meters, one at 4000 meters and one at 3700 meters or thereabout. Most of the trail is on rock or more accurately, small boulders, some of the trail being what was placed there originally by the Incas.

We started out on the first morning and I was feeling okay. I had some pain but not extreme and controlled it through my crutches of  Ibuprofen, poles and brace. Throughout the whole trip I did not take more than 3ooo mgs. of Ibuprofen in any day, I don't think,  but the pain continued to varying degrees every day. By the end of each day the pain was worse and every down step was more painful than going up. And much of the trail is either going up or going down on the boulder path which is not so bad if one has confidence, which I had lost sometime ago.

I was constantly concerned about falling and made sure I placed my feet properly and used the poles to assist me. I only slipped a few times and nothing serious. I found that I was able to be near the front of our group going up hill and close to last going down. I wondered what the hell I was doing. Am I putting anyone else at risk? Not likely but I was becoming more aware that I cannot do what I used to do. I get tired and probably a little more than some but not extremely so.

Life is changing for me with this realization that I was getting old and there are limits because of that on what I can do.. It was very disturbing to realize that some things I would like to do in the future I likely will not be able to do. And it is not good enough to go and try anyway as I will put me and Wendy at risk.

We are slated to do the West Coast Trail in June but I wonder if it is something I can do without being lifted out by helicopter. Is it worth going if my belief is that I will fall and stumble and crash possibly with tragic consequences? It is a terrible realization that there are things that I cannot do that I wish to do. Throughout life we have these realizations but this seems different. In conjunction with the pain and this realization I became somewhat depressed and realized certain doors are closing and I am upset about that. I am upset that there is nothing I can do about it.

But that is not really accurate. What I have to do when I get home is forthwith see my doctor and find out what is needed to deal with my limitations. I'll do what is needed to continue with an active lifestyle - unless I become lazy.


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