Though we're trading in the tracks for trekking shoes
We're all aboard.
Packed up, geared up and ready.
And though we're physically as ready as we can be
For some of us, anticipation allows perhaps a little window for some doubt to creep in.
-There are, I think, two emergency horses
that can go uphill
and carry someone each
if people get sick, which might happen.
-Do you think you're going to need them?
-I'm hoping I won't.
Especially if there's other people who might need them more
then I'm hoping that I can do it.
But on paper, the first day seems like the least of our worries.
Today we drive from Ollantaytambo to Ñaupa Iglesia
a place of Inca ceremony and worship.
From there, we hike south on foot to visit more Inca ruins.
And then, nearby, our campsite for the night.
It's a short day, with only about 6 hours on the trail
Though a lot of it, a gradual uphill climb.
The trek quickly becomes a journey through time.
One to not only fulfill a craving for adventure
but to understand the history of a great empire.
To walk along the same routes its people did
And to explore their ruin treasures
tucked in and between the Andean mountains.
Ñaupa Iglesia is one of those treasures.
Our trekking guide leads us up several steep steps to a cave and altar.
Or, as the Quechua call it, a huaca.
A sacred place of ritual
where Incas would make offerings to the Pachamama (or mother earth)
and apus (the mountains).
It's a vastly spiritual site
thought to have a gateway connecting this world to the next.
And while that may sound ancient and foreign to some now
There's evidence lying about
showing that some people in the area still practice it today.
Leaving modern day offerings like wine and sweets.
Our guide says that while the Cusco area is mostly Catholic
about 10 per cent of people still practice the Inca religion.
The strength of a great, yet fallen, civilization
more than 400 years later
still showing its resilience today.
We have some reprieve right now
out of the sun.
There is more to see
but the hot sun and our lungs -- shocked by the altitude -- don't make it easy to get there.
And neither do the switchbacks.
-You going to be okay?
-Yeah, I think so.
But the views -- they're worth it.
For every strained inhale, there's a moment of reprieve to make up for it.
And most of the time, it's thanks to the view.
-You cherish every moment you have in the shade
and every downhill that you have.
But yeah, moments in the forest and the shade
surrounded by the falls like this
It makes almost every second in the sun worth it, right?
Other times, moments of reprieve seemed to be scheduled in for us by the Incas themselves.
We come across more ruins -- a former checkpoint used by the Incas.
Where people of nobility, like high priestesses, used to carry offerings.
Or, where messengers could find a resting place.
And maybe we're neither of those things
But when it comes to resting, it serves us well.
In the next video...
-Man, we get closer and closer to Mt. Veronica, and then you think that's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen
And then you see this.
Great heights bring us views like no other -- and
-Raiding a tomb is essentially
all my dreams coming true.
One dream becomes all too real.