Learning to walk: the Gonzales way

It is wonderful to get away and to be able to do something completely different for a while. It is also lovely to be back home. Yesterday was our first full day back from our trip to Peru. The jet lag was making its presence felt, so we decided upon a fun day out in Blackpool. Yes, some readers will know we live just outside of Blackpool itself, so what did we do that we haven’t already done. Well, we went up the Blackpool Tower for a start. After living here for over four years, this was the first time we had done so. 

It was a fabulous experience, and I loved the glass floor, with its view straight down 400+ feet to the Comedy Carpet below. We took a trip on the top deck of one of our beautiful heritage trams to Fleetwood, had the obligatory cone of chips and cup of tea, before returning to sit in our (slightly overgrown) garden for a refreshing glass of beer in the sun. It was the perfect antidote to jet lag.

Possibly it was because I was drinking a pint of Wainwright’s Golden Beer as I sat there, that I began to wonder exactly when it was that I had walked Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast walk. Was I 50 or 60? I knew it was around a landmark birthday. J supplied the answer by looking through my old blog posts and found this one, which clearly indicates it was in celebration of my 50th birthday. That was 18 years ago! 

Reflecting upon this, I’m amazed at the passage of time and all that has occurred since then. Don’t worry dear reader, I’m not going to reminisce, (I’m saving that for my 70th birthday) but back then I was able to walk at 4 mph, uphill and down dale. It took me 12 days to complete the walk, on average 15-20 miles a day. These days, I’m fortunate to be able to walk at 3 mph, but I do walk every day.

However, last week, even this mileage pace was challenged. J and I had gone to Peru to fulfil one of her dreams of walking the Inca Trail and seeing Machu Picchu. We set up a punishing training schedule and for months we had trained extensively. In J’s case this, of course, consisted of buying new walking clothes, and in my case, scouring the supermarket shelves for Peruvian wine. To say we were unprepared for walking at altitude would be an understatement. Flying in to Lima (a 12.5 hour nonstop flight) we were seduced into thinking all was well. A few days later we flew to Cusco, which is 3,400m above sea level. That is when we first encountered high altitude and all that that entails.

High altitude starts to have an effect on our bodies from 1,500m. To put that into context, Ben Nevis, and Snowden, Britain’s top two highest mountains, are just 1,345m and 1,085m respectively. Undoubtedly, walking up either is tough going, even for fit folk. In Cusco, J and I struggled to walk up the high street to the city’s main square. The air was so thin that we literally struggled to put one foot in front of the other and as we did so, our headaches grew worse, our breathing more laboured, we felt dizzy and at times confused and progress was miniscule. After Day 2, things eased a little, but walking anywhere was hard. Stupidly, after making a massive effort to walk up to see the White Christ, (a one third high replica of the art deco statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro) that overlooks Cusco, and adding another 100m to our altitude challenge, we celebrated with a Pisco Sour.

This is a famous drink in Peru. It is very drinkable cocktail. Apart from the Pisco spirit, it is made with crushed ice and egg whites. Unthinkingly and emboldened by our uphill walk, we had another and several more besides, before calling it a day. The following morning, I felt a deep rumbling in my bowels, the consequence of which was a rather explosive first visit to the toilet, a situation that stayed with me for 6 days. J, was unaffected and continued to drink Pisco Sours whenever we stopped for a break.

We had a few days exploring the villages and sites of the Sacred Valley, which wasn’t as high an altitude as Cusco, but at 3,000m was still pretty challenging. The day eventually dawned for us to do the Inca Trail. We chose the Short Inca Trail (I like to sleep under 5 stars, not 5,000 stars) and the starting point of our trek was 2,000m. Over nine miles we would walk up to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu, some 2,700m high. We were told it probably would take us 7-8 hours to do the trek*. Now let me introduce Gonzales. He was our guide. An enviably slim young man, who dressed immaculately, oozed self-confidence and had a black SwissChamp army knife attached to his rucksack (those who know, will know).

Before we set off, he gave us a pep talk, took us through some warm up exercises and reassured us that we would, to start of with, walk 50m before taking a short rest break. A bit over the top I thought, but as I still had raging bowel problems, I thought ‘okay’. We fell into line, and I walked directly behind him. I noticed that he was wearing what looked like a pair of yacht deck shoes rather than walking shoes or boots, and he took incredibly purposeful, slow, shallow strides. Almost like he was putting one foot in front of the other, and repeating this in a fluid continuous movement. I found matching his pace very difficult. However, that first 10 minute pause when it came was so welcome!

And that is how we continued, for hour after hour, getting higher and higher. It wasn’t all up hill either. Sometimes we plunged down, knowing that we would have to recover the height eventually. J, who despite her extensive training programme, had some last minute collywobbles over her ability to complete the trek, did superbly! She became the group’s darling by redoing her makeup and hair before moving on after each break. I felt proud to be walking alongside her as we finally completed her long-held ambition together, and walked through the Sun Gate to get our first glimpse of Machu Picchu.

The Gonzales Pace. It worked for us in Machu Picchu, and I have kept it going here on our return. I feel privileged to have reached a point where a slowed down approach to life feels acceptable and preferable. Not sure how this might continue to manifest itself, but Gonzales Pace is here to stay.   

 

*we did it in 6 hours!