::: QUEST FOR PAITITI FIELD JOURNAL :::
ENTRY ELEVEN (June 15, 2004) "LOADED"

The team broke camp and headed off to the west and northwest. Even with the two mules, they had more equipment than they could really carry, and so Paulino lashed two full backpacks together and hoisted them onto his back. The loads on the mules had to be frequently rearranged. Caught in bright sunlight meant removing layers to avoid the heat of an Andean mid-day. Finally they found themselves within sight of the highest peak before them, They began to climb, and at a spot just below the peak, they stopped to rest and share coca leaf.
Paulino pointed out a strange shape beside them. With camera in hand, shooting as the layers of moss and plants were peeled away, the production team (Garrett and Erin) captured a rarely seen event- the unveiling of a large Incan platform. It stood three feet high, with well fit together stones enclosing a center of tapped earth. The platform was 42 feet long and 12 feet wide, and had stone steps leading to it on one side, from the ground. It had obviously been of great ceremonial significance, with those steps, the fine fit of the
stones, and its location just before the peak. Greg and his team noted that here, now, was an Incan structure even further north than those platforms and Incan retaining walls that he had documented at the Lago de Angel. They filmed and photographed and measured the site, looking forward with anticipation to what we would find at
the peak, at the "Ultimate Point."

~ Greg Deyermenjian