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| October 25 |
 It is time. Time to stop talking and whining and get up to high camp at 18,300 feet (5576 meters). My altitude sickness has diminished; I’m ready to climb, again, for the third and final time up to the summit of Pichu Pichu.Our team has winnowed. Yesterday, the Bell Sygma group, Carlos, Juan Carlos, and Marcos all returned to Arequipa. The cumbersome unit of 19 is now a mobile cadre of 10. Only Zoilo the cook remains at base camp. Johan, Jim Underwood, and I climbed for four hours to the summit, all loaded with packs. Arcadio and Ignacio bounded up the rocks like deer. I no longer pretend to think our speeds equivalent. |
 At midafternoon, we arrive at high camp, on the whole, acclimatized and fit. Finally, after days of seeming procrastination, we are ready to join José and the others at the dig site—which to date has yielded nothing. I am told to expect long hours of mud, rock, and cold. For some reason, Johan and José do not seem as energized by the second platform on the summit. The reason? Part of the wall had given way long ago. They suspect many of the burial objects, including any sacrifices, may have tumbled down the precipice and into oblivion. Yet a massive stone wall still remains intact. With good weather, we have a few days left to catch a few fish. |
 I can see the narrow band of red dirt Johan mentioned, lining the inside wall of the burial platform. It appears like a parti-colored strata ring to a wall of the Grand Canyon. The key to high altitude archaeology, according to Johan, is finding items just as the Inca left them in their ceremonial context. A human sacrifice offers up the most information, such as the type of clothing worn, the plants ingested, etc. The body can literally be a window into the past, showing the health of the person as well as their DNA. |
 The air is significantly colder at high camp. Standing water crusts into ice. We have again wired the batteries, solar panels, wind generator, and computers, yet again. I huddle inside a tent where Genaro, our cook at high camp, offers up chicken, rice, and soup. I am shoulder to shoulder with the others carrying on—the usual camp antics. We slurp our meal down with gusto. Tomorrow we hit the first platform and hopefully finish the excavation. Until then, salud. |
Yancey Hall
nationalgeographic.com