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Published: June 10th 2008
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"The alternative Inka Trail"
The Salkantay trek is one of the alternatives to the "original" inka trail (which is booked up to the end of september!!) It's named after Mt. Salkantay (6271m), in Cordillera Vilcanota.
I booked a tour with one of at least 200 companies in Cusco and headed off last monday at 4 am!
We ended up with a group of 12 people and one guide:
David & Ruth (England), Héléne (France), Alexa (Switzerland), Abraham (Mexico), Chris, Holly and John (USA), Nir (Israel), Astrid & Tim (Holland/Germany), Percy (Peru, our guide) and me.
A nice mix of people as you can see : )
And it turned out to be a really nice group to spend the time with for the 5 days the trip lasted (and a couple of nights out in Cusco last weekend!)
The trek started with a day walking on a dirt road from Mollepata (2900m) to Soraypampa (3700m), the first camp. Not the most interesting part, but we had a nice scenery, and time to chat and get to know eachother.
This first night was the coldest and some had a long night freezing. Especialy David and Ruth was a bit
disappointed when they had hired sleeping bags, where promised good down bags, and got some thin and cold ones!
The second day was the thoughest for many, as we trekked over the pass between Mt. Umantay and Mt. Salkantay. The highest point is at 4600 meter and can cause problems for people who are not acclimatised. This day was aslo the most interesting. We started in a valley covered by mountains, trekked up in more alpine landscape over the pass and down into another valley which was more tropical and lush. A big change in climate during one day!
Arriving in camp I could enjoy a refreshing shower and get off some dust after been walking behind the mules for the last two hours : )
Day three was all on a track as well, down a beautiful valley covered in tropical forest.
After lunch we cheated a bit and drove a car the last part down to Santa Teresa. Here we all went for the hot springs in the evening. This is probably the best swim I ever had ; ) Sitting in the pool watching the mountains around, and after an hour it became dark and
we could watch the stars for a while before they destroyed that experience by turning on the lights around the pools!
The last day we could choose between a local bus halfway, or walk. The most of us walked of course ; )
After lunch we had about three hours left to Aguas Calientes (2050m), walking on the railway. We could also spot the first little view of Machu Picchu, as we walked around the mountainridge it's situated on.
We had four days of nice weather, great views, new friends, an excellent guide (Percy), hot springs, good fun, good food, new experiences, and new knowledge. With other words: Another luxury trip in the mountains ; )
Four days of walking was really paid off the fifth day when we visited Machu Picchu. More about this amazing place in the next entry!
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