The Inca Trail - A Tribute to the Porters

For just the two of us, we had 4 porters and a cook, which seemed excessive at first, but man, these guys worked hard to take care of us! They carried not only our clothes, etc., but all of the food for 4 days, for all of us, and our tents and the cooking and eating tents... And, they beat us by at least an hour to every camp and lunch site. They would be waiting with something warm or cold to drink, water to wash with and amazingly delicious meals prepared for our enjoyment alone. At night, we would arrive to a hot meal and our tent already set up and waiting. In the mornings they woke us with a tray of hot drink choices before we even got out of the tent. And they were the kindest, most gentle men. And fun. They taught us how to play a card game that was very similar to rummy. The incredible cook, Eli, made us some of the best food that we had in all of South America, including this fabulous cake that he made for us for breakfast on our last morning.  He made it in the battered pot on that little kerosene stove. I've never had a yummier cake. No lie.