Sunny Salcantay & Rainy Machu Picchu

---

After arriving in Peru we stayed in the town of Puno for 1 night. Puno is on the side of Lake Titicaca and is where a lot of the violent protests are occurring, causing the border to be closed. We had heard a lot about the trouble and so were a bit dubious about staying in Puno. We were pleasantly surprised however. We witnessed no trouble or protests, we spent an afternoon sitting in a sunny pleasant square watching a wedding.

Close by to Puno on the lake there are a group of floating islands where the Uros people live. The Uros are pre-Incan people and they live on 42 of these man made floating islands. The population is about 2000 people. We spent a morning visiting them and it was incredibly fascinating, although very touristy. We were told that the Uros people began building these islands in order to segregate themselves from the mainland so that they could try and preserve and defend their culture. We were shown a mini version of how the islands are made. They use reeds from the lake, the roots of the reeds are really thick and so form the base of the islands, and then dry reeds are layered on top of this base. They told us that every month they have to layer new reeds on top of the old stuff as it begins to rot. The bases are then anchored with ropes attached to sticks driven into the bottom of the lake. One of the most interesting things we found out was that in the rainy season the islands need to be moved to shallow water, so they are un-pegged and the nose of a boat is used to nudge the whole island to a different spot in the lake!! That must be incredible to see. Each island usually has about 10 houses on it, apart from the 'capital' island which has more as well as the school. Because of the layers of reeds every step you take you sink into the ground it's very surreal. As well as using the reeds as building material they also eat them, we had a try and it was OK. Each island has a president, and when you are dropped off at an island he gives you a welcome speech. As he was talking to us a lot of the residents started to hang around behind us, we were thinking what are they going to do. Then as soon as he stopped talking we were hounded by people wanting to show you the inside of their house, and then afterwards they'd show you their crafts stall obviously in the hope you'd buy something. Their homes were basic, made out of wood and the reeds, inside their was a simple bed however they did have TV's run by solar power. It did feel very touristy which we don't like, but we also understood why it is like that. The Uros peoples main source of income used to be fishing, but the supply has started to run out and so they rely on tourism now.

After our stop in Puno we got an overnight bus up to Cuzco. Cuzco is one of the nicest cities we have seen in South America, as it was the capital of the Inca empire the architecture is amazing. It is a World Heritage site and you can see why. We arrived on the Sunday morning and straight away began going into agencies to try and find a good price on the trek we wanted to do. After a couple of agencies we struck lucky and found a great company. We went into the office of Salkantay Trek and both thought we will not be able to afford this company as the office was so posh. We said straight away what our budget was and that we couldn't go over it, and by some miracle the manager agreed to our price. We paid under half of what other people on the trek paid just because we booked last minute. He was honest with us and told us that he had already covered his costs and made a profit with what others were paying and so could afford us doing it at such a lower rate. We were so happy, there were only 6 of us on the trip (3 couples all similar age to us), the guide could speak excellent English and was very knowledgeable, we got brilliant food and lots of it, the tents and sleeping bags were good quality, and we even got a free upgrade for the train back. We could have got it a little bit cheaper, with another company but that would have been going with a group of 20 people, the tents wouldn't have been waterproof, and with the cheaper companies we heard that the porters have to eat your left over food and do not get paid well. We felt we wanted to go with a good company who we knew paid their porters enough and we saw first hand that they had plenty to eat and it wasn't our leftovers. Anyway our 5 day/4night Salkantay trek left the next day!!! Feeling a bit shell shocked after our stroke of luck we excitedly went back to the hostel and packed the duffel bags we had been given.

So the Salkantay trek is one of the main alternatives to the classic inca trail. We did a lot of research before we came away and although there were still lots of permits available for the classic Inca trail (you have to book the classic trail months in advance as you need a permit, where as you don't with the other routes) we decided against doing it. The Salkantay route is quieter and the landscapes that you see along the way are more varied. On the classic trail you see a lot more Inca ruins on the way, however both treks finish in Machu Picchu which was really the only Inca ruins we were bothered about seeing. It is 5 days/4 nights. 3 of the nights are camping, and the final night is in a hotel in the town of Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu. The first day we walked for about 7 hours along dirt tracks, stopping at lovely grassy spots for lunch and rests, in front of us at a distance was the salcantay mountain which is where we were heading to. We camped up not too far from the base of the mountain. Lunch and dinner were 3 course meals so we were definitely well fed. It was freezing that night and the 2 of us zipped our sleeping bags together to try and keep warm in our tent.

The next day was the hardest. We got up about 5am had breakfast and then set off walking towards the salcantay pass, which is at 4,600m. When we got to the highest point of the pass we were so close to the mountains. In Nepal when we did a trek we had stunning views of the Himalayas but the mountains were in the distance, here the mountains were so close you had to almost strain your neck to look up to the top of them. It was incredible. We did about 10hours of walking that day with only a quick stop for lunch, it was a lot of up and down. By the time we got to our camp for the night we were all shattered and there were lots of sore knees. The next day the walking was through a rainforest, it was such a contrast to the landscape just they day before. On our third day it was similar scenery, and we finished at a local thermal hot spring. Just what our muscles needed. That night our chef cooked us guinea pig which is a delicacy in Peru. Roger I guide licked the bones clean, Tom ate quite a lot too, but Ash only had a tiny bit as she couldn't get over having 2 as pets! Up until the third night we had perfect sunny weather, with clear blue skies. On the third night the heavens opened and it rained all night. Fortunately for us we were in good quality tents so we were dry when we woke up. This was not the case for some other people from different companies near us. We woke up to the sound of a middle aged Australian woman telling her guide 'Julio' that she was furious with him and she was 'swimming in her tent last night', it was quite funny hearing her but probably only because we were dry. We walked alongside a river the next day, passed the hydro-electric dam, and about 7 hours later ended up at the town of Aguas Calientes. Dinner at a restaurant that night was included in our package so we sat and ate with our guide. One of the couples only did a 4 day trek so they left half way through, and so for the last 2 days there were only 4 of us. The other couple were American and we had a real good laugh with them.

Behind the mountain of Machu Picchu sits Wayna Picchu. The Incas built a trail up the side of Wayna Picchu and built temples and terraces at the top. The peak is just under 3000m. We wanted to climb this mountain, however the number of daily visitors is restricted to 400 per day. So in order to get a permit to climb it we had to get up 4am and climb the steep steps up Machu Picchu to get to the ticket office. It was chucking it down with rain, there was already a huge queue of people waiting for the gates to open when we got there. It's difficult to describe but the climb up to the office/entrance is narrow and takes about 45 minutes, as there was a long line of people there was a stampede of people treking up these steps. It was still pitch black so all you could see were torch lights flashing in front of you. There was no room for overtaking so if you wanted to keep your place you had to power on at the pace the person in front was going. If you stopped and had a rest then your place in line was gone!! Everybody was sweating, and soaked through because of the rain, and panting for breath. It was a hard climb, but we were one of the first 400 so managed to get ourselves a permit for Wayna Pichhu.

It didn't really stop raining all day which was a shame. It was dry season as well, so shouldn't have been raining. Roger our guide did his best to keep our spirits up and gave us a guided tour of the lost city of Machu Picchu. Even in the rain it takes your breath away. The fact that it was hidden for over 500 years and nobody knew it was there for so long is amazing. It is the 100th year anniversary of its discovery this year. It sits right on the ridge of a mountain and so the views are normally good, for us though the views were just clouds. We persevered and as we had worked so hard to get our permit we climbed up to the top of Wayna Pichu. Again the views from there are probably stunning but we didn't get much. The inca ruins at the top were still impressive. After a few hours exploring the lost city we got the bus back down and treated ourselves to a big slice of cake and a coffee whilst waiting for our train.

We got back to Cuzco about 9pm and were so tired we went straight back to the hostel and slept. The trek was brilliant and we'd thoroughly recommend it to other people. We spent another 3 days in Cuzco after this, and then got an overnight bus to the city of Arequipa in the south of Peru.

Lots of love T & A xx

---