Salkantay Trek - Day 3

---

We were woken up on day three with a knock on the tent and the usual words 'coca tea!' at about 5am. It had been heavily raining during the night so the air was a bit damp and the area around camp was very muddy. We packed up our stuff by torchlight and put our duffel bags together awaiting Alex to load up the horses. Then we had breakfast as a group before setting off from camp. Leo told us that we were going to have to carry our duffels because of the landslide so I was trying to work out the best way once we had to do it, me and Steph figured it was probably best to load up our daypack a with as much as possible to carry on our backs so our duffels were lighter to carry. We planned on doing this at the point we had to start carrying. We had to retrace our steps through the muddy field to get out of camp and at one point it was funny as one of the horses was completely stood in the way and wouldn't move so Leo had to poke it with one of my walking poles to get it to move out of the way! Finally we were out and hiking uphill a bit along a gravel road. The other group had started out a bit before us this morning so we could see them in the distance. Leo then spotted a short cut down a steep and pretty narrow path down the side of the hill and he went ahead to check it was safe. We followed after he confirmed it was and finally got to the bottom after a bit of a scramble. We carried on hiking as a group along the gravel road which was pretty level with the odd bit that was up and down. Leo stopped to give us a talk about some flowers and pointed out one which had pollen which made you high. He told us some people had even died from it after falling asleep under the flowers and the pollen had killed them. The walking today wasn't too bad and it was nice to be walking along with the rest of the group giving us chance to chat to others at various points and to talk about each other's travel plans and our lives back home. The scenery was pretty with waterfalls and high mountains either side. There was a lot of greenery and bushes and we could see some small landslides over the other side of the river.

After a while we saw a huge landslide up ahead on our side of the river and from afar it looked that the horses were making it across one by one. There was a rest stop with a shop, toilet and seating just before this so we stopped as a group and sampled some grenadilla fruit, It's similar to passion fruit but isn't as sour and is larger in size. You had to knock it on wood all around and then peel it and suck out the juicy seeds, It was really nice and refreshing. After the break we carried on walking towards the landslide area and the closer we got the more we could see how big and dangerous it looked. A few of us in the group couldn't believe that we were about to cross this. The other group had reached it first and were stood there with their guides trying to figure out what to do. We were later told their guides held them back saying it was still unstable and they needed to go and check it out first to assess it. As our group carried on towards it Leo led us right past the other group and started taking our backpacks from us all saying the guides were going to carry them across as it was too dangerous for us to carry them. What we had thought was the horses crossing had actually turned out to be the chefs, assistants and horseman from both groups carrying all the duffel bags, gas canisters, food and other equipment from the horses across the landslide. How they did this I still don't know. From our side of the landslide we could see that we would have to climb up and then along the top before then navigating down a very steep part of the landslide before we could get through to the safety of the ground the other end. The part going up looked scary but what looked worse was the view we had of other people going down the other side, they literally looked like they were hanging from guide to guide and hand to hand down the side of the landslide.

Once our backpacks were across it was time for our group to start making our way across. We were told to pack away one walking pole and just use one on the one side and then use our hand on the other side. I was at the back of our group behind Steph which was probably the worst place I could have been. There was no one behind me as the other group were just watching on from further back. We clambered across the landslide across the loose gravel and rocks and each step cause more loose stuff to tumble away down the side of the mountain. The guides from the other group came from behind and somehow managed to clamber past us to assist with our group coming down the other side of the landslide. The worst bit was waiting in the landslide area on the loose rocks as to go down the other side we could only do one by one. Our feet were struggling to keep grip in the loose rocks. Overall it was probably 5-10mins we were stuck in that position until it was our turn to start moving down the steep section. When we were stuck it was really hard, you had time to look around and think about what was happening. I was starting to freak out at the back and all I could think of was that one wrong step and the whole lot could go taking us all with it down the mountainside into the river 300-400ft below. Whilst I was waiting I couldn't see what was going on ahead and heard a few shouts all at once and I seriously thought someone had fallen off the side. It turns out one of the guides threw a walking pole off the side and it almost hit someone the other side. They then did this with all our poles so we only had our hands to use which was probably better. When it was my turn to go down, I edged slowly down shuffling on my bottom but this soon became apparent it wasn't going to work as it was causing more rocks to fall off. I had to edge down side wards, going from hand to hand of the guides and holding on to whatever bit of tree root or branch was sticking out the side of the landslide. There was one rock I went to put my foot on but the guide shouted not to dislodge it. Steph was ahead of me and down safely onto the other side. As I was going down the guides were telling me to be calm and that it was fine and stable as I think they could tell I was freaking out. I finally made it near the bottom to find the chef from the other group who was a women helping me down the last bit. I had the biggest smile on my face at this point and was so relieved to join the rest of our group. Then the realisation hit in as to what had just happened. The rest of my group stood watching the other group clambering their way across but I didn't want to watch any further. The thought of watching someone fall or slide off was terrifying so I walked ahead to where the horseman was with the bags etc and turned my back to it. Apparently at this point a huge boulder rolled down the mountain but I'm glad I didn't see it. I tried to talk to the horseman but he couldn't understand a word of English and I couldn't understand his Spanish so in the end I just waited for the rest of the group to join me.

Once both groups were safely across our group started gathering our duffel bags and redistributing weight between our day packs etc ready to hike with both bags each until we reached the transport. The other group didn't know anything about carrying their own duffel bags. Then a jeep turned up and the guides started loading all the food etc onto it plus the bags of the other group. Our group then started commenting that why were their bags being loaded on but ours weren't. In the end our bags got put on as well and the jeep driver had to do two trips back and forth to the camp with all the equipment. We carried on hiking along the gravel road and Leo pointed out some more flowers and also some berries. He made a paste of the berry juice and told us about how the Shamen used to mark ladies with dots of berry juice n their face to show their fertility and the men had lines to show their virality. He drew these marks on our faces and we walked on further looking like some sort of tribe! At one section we noticed a huge crack along the middle of the road we were walking on so we walked on the mountainside just to be sure! We walked across rivers and streams and in some places had to use rocks as stepping stones to get across the tops of waterfalls. This was a bit dicey in some areas as there was a drop but it turned out OK. We then came across a digger which was clearing another landslide in the road. This was more soil and mud than rocks and the digger was pushing mud off the side of the road. It was all still falling and the digger was only half way through clearing it, so he stopped and we all had to run and get across the big piles of soil and mud as fast as we could to the other side. At this point getting muddy boots was the least of our worries so everyone got across pretty quick.

We then came across some avocados growing on trees and they were huge, far larger than the ones in the supermarket back home! We also saw coffee beans growing on trees in the wild. They look like little green olives and they turn red when they are ready to be harvested. Eventually after walking along further we ended up all getting into a minibus which would take us into camp for the night. This day was supposed to have only been half a days worth of hiking and we started at 6am but it was about 2pm by the time we got into camp. Leo then explained that lunch wouldn't be until 3pm because the equipment and food hadn't arrived until 10mins before us because of the delay due to the landslide. He then said that normally the next morning we would have a coffee demonstration of the end to end process of how coffee beans are roasted and ground but because of the wait for lunch we were going to have it now before lunch. The temperature was a lot warmer than the previous couple of days and everyone one was now wearing t shirts, shorts/trousers and flip flops around camp as opposed to long sleeved tops, coats etc. We headed up to the coffee demonstration where we were shown coffee beans growing on the trees, some were then picked and then put through a grinding machine to remove the outer two layers of husk. What was left were greenish coloured beans which looked similar to peanuts. These were then put into a metal roasting pot and roasted over a fire for 20mins with then constantly being stirred. We all chipped in to help stir to ensure they didn't burn. Once the beans were roasted they were then put through a grinder where the beans were turned into ground coffee. We then sampled the coffee with some local honey. The beans grown here are organic and are amongst the best in the world. The coffee was pretty strong but also very smooth. After the demonstration, lunch was ready where we sat down to lots of food again.

During lunch we discussed about going to the local hot springs which were an hour away by minibus. In the end 6 of us went. The son of one of the chefs who had been trekking along as well also came with us. He was about 12 and was pretty shy around camp, only spoke Spanish but had a huge smile on his face always! The minibus journey to the hot springs turned into a bit of a party bus. The music was turned up and Janine led everyone in dancing around on the bus including the boy who really came into his own when Despicito came on! I think the relief from the days trekking was apparent and we were all slightly delirious and looking forward to the hot springs! The journey there went by a raging river, past numerous small landslides and lots of drop off edges where the bus was very close to the edge. I hardly noticed any of this as we were all having too much of a good time singing and dancing along in the bus! The hot springs were really gorgeous. There were lots of locals there and we had to be careful with mozzie spray. We all pretty much stayed in the hottest pool for the time we were there just relaxing our aching muscles and chatting finding out more about each other. The boy who had come along with us was fascinated by my go pro and the fact it could go under water! He kept trying to get into all of the photos! After about an hour we got out and had some beers by the springs before heading back in the bus just in time for happy hour and dinner. I think day three was probably my most favourite day overall apart from the landslide. We all hiked the trail together chatting and the hot springs at the end were the finishing touch. After dinner Leo spoke to us all about the next day being just as tough as the second day. He explained there was a three hour hike upwards to some Inca Ruins and then hike downwards down a steep path which was very muddy before continuing on the railway line to finish at Aguas Calientes. Kira had been struggling with her knee for the last couple of days. Leo explained that as the morning hike was tough there was an option for anyone to ride with the chefs to Hydroelectrica which was the starting point of the trek along the railway line skipping out the Inca Ruins and the ascent and descent in difficult terrain. He recommended that Kira take this option and then looked directly at me and Steph suggesting we could take it too. Leo then explained that the route down was dangerous and said that if we had any rain overnight it wouldn't be possible to do and we'd all have to get the bus to Hydroelectrica.

Just as we were going to bed in the jungle domes which were the best accommodation of the trek so far, we were told of a firepit taking place with the other group if we wanted to join in, however most of our group decided to go to bed as it was late and we had another early morning and a tough day ahead.

---