Cusco & The Salkantay Trek, Peru 7-16th October

Arriving at an altitude of 3310m above sea level is quite something! A lot higher and colder then we'd been in a while, but what a beautiful and amazing city this was.

Cusco is really picturesque, with a big town square and old buildings surrounding it, many traditionally dressed Peruvian women walking around, loads of curio's and restaurants - this town was geared for tourists!

We felt really safe to wander around in the evenings and besides every second local trying to sell us a massage or some hand woven curio - we found the days spent in Cusco really great.

We arrived in good time to acclimatize before our Salkantay Trek began and in the couple days leading up to it visited a couple local markets, some museums and learnt a bit about Inca traditions and culture.

The Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman

The day before we started our trek we decided to 'test' ourselves by walking up to the well known ruins up on a hill above the city of Cusco - called Sacsayhuaman. Was rather funny as our taxi driver from the airport (who was very proud of the English lesson's he'd been taking) explained to us all that Cusco had to offer, including something about a 'Sexy Woman'. I was a little concerned at this point what he thought we were here to do.. but funnily realised a couple days later that he was in fact talking about the ruins, pronounced similarly!

Familiar building patterns of the Incas in Cusco City

Cusco has a list of pubs and restaurants to choose from. Great bars with balconies overlooking the main square where i enjoyed many a coke cola and Derek many a beer...despite my best efforts to warn Derek about the negative effects of alcohol and smoking have at high altitude, his only response being "i laugh in the face of danger", at which point i gave up and carried on sipping my coke! Derek was a lot more adventurous than me on the food side and tucked into an alpaca (animal that looks like a llama) steak one eve.

The night before our Salkantay trek began, we met our guide and fellow trekkers. A great group of people that we would spend the next 5 days hiking and camping with.

At 4am we woke up, a tad nervous and piled into a bus with the others and started to drive higher and higher into the mountains. We stopped for a quick breakfast and then bundled into the back of a lorry, which then continued upwards and onwards. Getting to know our crew along the way, a couple from America celebrating their 22nd wedding anniversary, two English friends, a Norwegian couple and 2 Canadian friends who became known as The Chica's.

The lorry stopped, unloaded us and our walking poles and we were off... The first bit was along a road, flat and very scenic and i remember thinking, hmmmm... this is going to be fine! Of course our 9kg's of luggage had been loaded up onto horses who went ahead, so in terms of carrying too much stuff, we were fine!

Now the Salkantay Trek is definitely one of the longer treks leading to Machu Picchu...75km's over 5 days and the highest altitude reached being 4600m above sea level. This is honestly one of the hardest, most gruelling things i have ever done and remember cursing most of the way and thinking why didn't anyone tell me it was going to be this tough! Our guide, Javier, who was just amazing gave us 3 rules before we began : 1. Don't complain 2. Don't cry and 3. Don't die.

Well by the 2nd day, i'd done everything but almost die!

The first day started off well. You could feel the effects of the altitude creeping up on you, but terrain was manageable and after eating the most amazing 3 course lunch prepared for us by our cook we were set to continue...but that's when it all started to change...

Our path started climbing, gently at first, then steeper (with incredible views of the surrounding mountains as well as the Salkantay mountain and glacier), until we got to the killer climb part! About 2 hours of solid zig-zagging up the steepest bit of mountain i have ever hiked! To make things interesting, i had a slight moment of panic and together with not feeling that well from altitude - proceeded to faint mid-mountain! Definitely the most scenic location i've fainted at... which sent one of the trekking crew bounding back down the mountain with oxygen for me - all very dramatic! Finally arriving at our first campsite, camping at a high altitude of 4400m and just under the glacier of the Salkantay mountain, we were freezing!! Needless to say i slept with every item of clothing i took on, awaking to falling sleet!



Us under the Salkantay Glacier, end of Day 1.

Our group at the highest point.

                                                



Amazing view from our campsite, Day2

Now after an initial climb on day 2, the rest of our track was more downhill. Except day 4 which involved 3hours of solid uphill climbing.
The 3rd day was by far the best. Terrain was a little more level, with a couple of ups and downs. We walked along this huge, raging river amongst jungle forest and saw amazing waterfalls, butterflies and bird life. Ending off the day with a swim in the freezing river!

All I can say is thanks to Robin and Hilary for raising a saint! Derek motivated and talked me through literally almost every step i took and if he wasn't doing that, he was literally pushing my behind up the mountain, whilst carrying my day pack and about 4litres of water. He listened to the complaining, the crying and after all the tears still made me feel like I was the most amazing person because i had completed this incredible hike!

Honestly did not know how he did it - Derek made the Salkantay Trek seem like a walk in the park. He effortlessly conquered this trek and just loved it!

Hmmm not the most glamourous look...

Swollen eyed, tired, but absolutely amazed with this place!

On the 5th day, after staying the night at a town at the base of Macchu Piccu, we woke up super early and caught a bus up to the ancient ruins of Macchu Piccu. We managed to enjoy the ruins sans thousands of visitors due to it being so early. But as the mist rose, you got to see this incredibly beautiful place! Having our guide Javier was so necessary, he told us loads of history and information about the ruins - what a spectacular place! No wonder this is one of the seven wonders of the world!

 A little later that morning we then climbed up Huayna Picchu which is this mini mountain that lies to the one side of the Machu Picchu ruins. Not a hard climb, but towards the end, extremely small stone stairs and chains keeping you glued to the mountain. Javier's not so tactful words of " if you miss one stair you die" kept repeating themselves in my head as we descended. But wow, the view from the top was unbelievable! A 360degree view of so high up was breathtaking!

Hugging the rocks at the top of Huayna Piccu, very high up (with Macchu Piccu in the background) 

The Mystical Inca City of Macchu Piccu

We then caught a very slow train back to Cusco. It was called the Tourist train, and the reasons being very obvious! Once an initial snack had been served, we had a little on board entertainment - some crazy masked dancer man up and down the aisle, followed by the 2 staff who served us earlier strutting their stuff down the aisle aka Tourist Train Runway, modelling this season{s must have alpaca wool items... jerseys, pashminas and coats where the look that afternoon! We hosed ourselves and all cheered madly as they walked past. Oh my word, floods of what my ex-workmates would have said had they been there!



Strutting his stuff!

We made it back to Cusco and all decided to have one last drink together, before our team split up and went their own ways. A fairly late-ish evening and that night slept like logs!

Our last day in Cusco was a Sunday, which is usually when a town shuts down, so we really did have a quiet lazy day, all before our bus left that evening...

 

A last look The Salkantay Glacier, never been summited