Arriving in Cusco was such an exciting moment. I was finally going to hike Machu Picchu! Ever since my mom did it years before, it has been something I have only dreamed about. And now here I was, in Peru, in the city of Cusco about to embark on this wonderful journey!!! Not only was I about to do one of the most amazing treks in the world, but I was finally going to do a trek with friends!
Now the tough part. Trying to get all 6 of us in the same tour group, for as cheap as possible!!! Arriving with no reservations during peak season for the machu picchu trek proved to make this task rather difficult! Knowing that the Inca Trail wouldn't be an option, seeing as they are booked 6 months in advance, we opted to do the Salkantay trek. Very similar in that we hike through the Cordillera Vilcabamba mountain range, but instead of continuing on the inca transport path, we hike up over the Salkantay mountain, to about 5000m above sea level, and down into the jungle. We spent an entire day running from one agency to another. Pushing our bartering skills to the MAX! It was exhausting, but we managed to get such an amazing deal! Feels almost as if we have cheated somehow? Oh well, no time to think, or even celebrate, we were leaving early the next morning on the Salkantay 5 day/4 night trek!
Day 1:
We were definitely the least prepared for this trek. Everyone else seemed to get the memo that we were to pack a small day pack as well as a night pack? And there was a weight restriction? Goodness! Already off to a rough start haha. Thankfully with a lot of readjusting and moving things around we managed to split all our things into the right weighted bags. And off our "night pack" went with the porters to camp while we continued on the trek for the day. Not to fret. We were here, we had each other, we had water, we would be fine! :)
Well, just as luck would have it, a few hours into the trek it started to rain. And not just that nice warm rain, but that COLD to the BONE wet rain! I couldn't have been happier to finally get to our first camp site and see that we didn't have to pitch our tent OR cook the food! WHAT SERVICE! (I guess that is what you pay for right!?!) Now arriving at camp was such a relief, but what I had not realized was that climbing to a height of 5000m above sea level would mean…cold weather…but not just cold…SNOWY! And here I was with my little rain jacket and sweater, one pair of pants (which were now soaked from the rain) and little mesh "hiking" shoes. Going to sleep at the base of the snowcapped mountains knowing that tomorrow awaited a dreadfully cold and miserable 4 hour hike to the top of those mountains. GREAT! Not what I was expecting!!!
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| And so it begins... |
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| Our first nights camp at the bottom of the snowcapped mountains |
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| About to embark on Day 2! |
Day 2:
This was by far the hardest day of the trek for me. Not because of the altitude (I don't seem to struggle much with this thankfully) BUT because of the cold. My feet were now trudging through ankle deep snow, and the feeling in my toes had now disappeared. All I kept thinking was "I've made it this far on my travels keeping all body limbs in tact…can't be losing any now!." I was dreading this would be the end of my little toes! Just looking down, one foot in front of the next talking to those little piggy toes…trying to wiggle them! I don't think I spoke to anyone the whole 4 hours (except my own little toes). Every now and then I would look up, take a deep breath and admire the magnificent view. Then it was right back to looking down, one foot in front of the next. There was a moment or two I thought "I can't do this, I won't make it, I don't want to do this, maybe I should turn around? give up!?" But as with everything in life, you must push through the hard times and good will come out the other side! Once at the top we spent a few minutes giving thanks to mother earth with a coca leaf ritual for safe travels and passage. This has become quite familiar with me actually. Both on my jungle trek in Bolivia and my Colca trek in Arequipa I took part in this ritual and really like the idea of giving thanks to mother earth! Now completely frozen from head to toe I couldn't wait to start our climb down the other side of the mountain! It was a 20 minute descend from the top of the snowy mountain into the jungle! I couldn't believe it! 4 hours UP and just a mere 20 minutes down! I couldn't be more happy. I sprinted down that mountain!! Sliding down the snowy slopes like I was surfing a wave and jumping over the puddles as the snow began to disappear! Jumping with glee as I was slowly surrounded by more and more green! I'm sure the real reason I was so full of energy was due to the altitude slowly reaching more manageable levels, but it could just as easily be the fact I could now feel my little toes again! :) Regardless, we had now reached our second camp and this time there were no snowy mountains in site!!!! Just breathtakingly beautiful rolling hills and mountains! So spectacular. And mind boggling at the same time. We were just at the top of a snowy mountain, and now we were in the jungle! Wow.
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| Made it to the top! |
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| Goodbye snowy mountains! :) |
Day 3:
The easiest of our trek days. We hiked a mere 16km or so, through the rest of the mountains and into a nearby village. There we had the opportunity to go visit some near by hot springs! FINALLY we could "bathe" in water. Not exactly the ideal image of a clean shower, since the water you clean yourself with is the same water hundreds of people have just been sitting in, but it was all we needed to feel fresh and revitalized again! Back at camp we joined with another group for "disco night." All this really entailed was a TINY little stall with some form of alcohol available for purchase, a fire and some music! WOOHOO! haha let the party begin!!! Tired from the past days, and still another day to get to Aguas Calientes, the party didn't last too long. But was nice to have a little break along the way! :)
Day 4:
The (almost) final stretch! For the morning we were to hike to the town Hydroelectric, which is the last accessible town by car before reaching Aguas Calientes (which was only accessible by train or foot). So off we went, on the not so scenic trek, with our guide leading us in a haste (for who knows what reason) Either way, Clara (one of my friends I've been traveling with) and I fell behind…when we finally caught up to our leaders, we caught them CHEATING! The rest of the group had carried on ahead, unbeknown to them our guides were catching a BUS to the town! Even more furious…oh wait, I forgot to mention why we were mad in the first place! No one from our tour company seemed to inform anyone of the 18 group members that for the second half of the trip we were no longer to have a porter carry our things, and we were now to carry the rest of our stuff ourselves. I wasn't too fussed, since I literally only had my small bag with the clothes on my back haha but for the rest of the people they had a rough time! And regardless, it was the principle that they should have warned us about it! ANYWAYS, now we find out our guides are cheating…Great…and now Clara and I are so far behind the group!! All of a sudden a van pulls up and asks us if we want a ride! POR QUE NO!?! (why not!?!) We gladly joined this group of 4 boys who seemed to have paid a lot more for their tour, having a luxury tour bus take them to Hydroelectric as well as informative guides (which we now sneakily joined) What we hadn't realized was that now we were 3 hours early at the meeting point! But the rest of the way was pretty self explanatory…you just follow the railway tracks to Aguas Calientes! So we could either sit and wait for our group at the beginning of the tracks (which was NOTHING but that) or get to Aguas Calientes and meet them there…where at least there would be a town to explore! :) So that's what we did!
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| Our sneaky upgraded tour group... |
Day 5:
After a good nights sleep (in a bed!!!) and a hot shower we were up EARLY so we could be the first through the gates entrance. Then it was a straight upward climb to the top of Machu Picchu! Normally the trek up is about an hour. Being the competitive group we were, we decided to race! Getting to the top in only about 40 minutes!!! EXHAUSTED, but we were FIRST! Entering the gates as the sun was rising was just spectacular. Here it was, the moment I had been anticipating for so long! And it was just as surreal and magical as I had expected. Words cannot describe how amazing it was to finally reach Machu Picchu! :)
For most this is where the trek ended. But not for us! In order to save money on our tour we decided we would hike back down the mountain and back to the town of Hydroelectric to catch a 7 hour bus ride back to Cusco. Definitely worth every penny! Returning back to Cusco with this accomplishment and fulfilment that left us exhausted and comatose for the next few days! Granted we were also all sick from our lack of preparedness and inadequate clothing options for snowy mountains and extreme climate change as well as exerting so much physical activity after our stint in Bolivia in which we nearly drank ourselves to death! But still, I wouldn't change a minute of it! It was such an amazing experience, and being able to spend it with a great group of friends made it just that much more enjoyable! Not just the 5 friends I had originally but almost our entire group! Solid "Super hiker family" (That was what we called ourselves!) These memories will last forever! :)
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"The most dangerous risk of all- the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later" - Randy Komisar
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