Vinny & Dogs Epic Trek Part 12: Lares Valley and Machu Picchu

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Sorry its been a while since my last entry here.....Following my adventures in Bolivia I continued my journey to Cusco, Peru and the gateway to Machu Picchu. Based on the recommendations of a number of travelers I met along my trip, I decided on the Lares Valley trek as opposed to the over trekked and mucho touristy route of the Incan Trail. When I made my plans, the agency told me a couple was supposed to join me, but when I returned for the meeting that evening, I found out is was just me. So the plans were in motion and I was just along for the ride. The Lares valley is more cultural than the Incan trail, where they move you through the path the Incans used long ago to get to Machu Picchu and other sites in the Sacred valley.

The next day the guides met me at my hotel and away we went. The weather was rainy so there was no pack mules to carry our stuff. It was carry what you need or what you thought you needed. I was dressed in the best Columbia shorts and jacket I had. I packed the minimal amount of clothes, a few changes as I thought I would be getting soaked, a raincoat and of course a satellite phone to call in the cavelry if need be (or my mother!). Well we took a bus to Lares to begin the journey. It was my guide, another Peruvian who was to act as our pack mule and myself. I carried my own bag, along with my camera bag and they carried the food, our tent and their clothes (which I later found out was just one additional t-shirt). Once we arrived at Lares, we headed to the Hot Springs. We ended up spending about two hours there as it was drizzling on us. The water felt great and helped relax my muscles before a long few days of walking in the mountains. Following the springs, we walked back to the Bus station and ate lunch before heading out. I didn't realize we were going to dine and dash (not literally, but eat and start walking uphill within 5-10 minutes!). They opted for the fish head helper whereas I had the chicken with fries. Then we packed up and headed off into the wilderness!!! We started up this road which was relatively easy going. It was an easy grade and along the way we picked up some stragglers, a number of children returning from school and random people going from village to village. We treked on and as we made our way, albiet slowly up the hills at 3,000+ meters, we had a number of people going and coming along with us, all of which took a minute to take a look at the gringo and the gaggle of children with him. The slopes were managable as long as it was gradual. When they started cutting up the goat trails and going straight up, and seeing how it was two locals and me, it got tough and I had to slow down. They were used to the altitude, and had no problem, but I had a bit of problems when we gained a lot of altitude quickly. I actually started calling one of them the Goat and the other one the Llama. As we were climbing a number of children would come running out of nowhere and ask for something or to see the trekking gringo. We offered them some bread mostly and they took it and chomped it down hungrily. The first day wasn't too bad, comparatively after the fact. We ended up getting to the first village and after a number of hours we ran into of the Goat's friends, who took us to his house. We ended setting up camp in his kitchen, which is not in the main house. Let me explain. The main house, which we never went into, was a building off to one side and the kitchen was across a small open patch of dirt. We put up the tent inside the kitchen area and proceeded to build a fire to make dinner. The kitchen was an open room with a thatched roof covered in soot and black sticky tar from the years of cooking inside which seemed to drip, so it became quite smokey in there as we were making dinner. Also at this time the sun had set and the temperature started to drop considerably. It was comfortable inside the kitchen, if you could deal with the smoke.....it was pretty rough whether to deal with the cold or the smoke. We had dinner, which was amazing for two dudes cooking up some food they carried for the past 13 hours and 15KM. After dinner we were all pretty beat, so we chatted a few minutes and then hit the sack for an early morning.

The next day we were up bright and early, or at least they were, as they already had breakfast done when I woke up and drug my ass from the tent. We ate some good grub and then packed up and headed out. As we were leaving, the Goat's friend (the guys whose house we stayed at) decided to join us. He grabbed some of the load and off he went. The Goat, the Llama and now this guy, all of which could have run the whole route we trekked in half the time it took us to walk. We journeyed over some rolling hills....(at about 3800+ meters) and drove on to where we were going to hit the peak. Then it started raining and becoming cloudy. I couldn't see anything at numerous point of the day as they were in front of me and I couldn't see past 25 meters on all sides of me. I felt so alone, it was raining, I was soaked and I literally felt like giving up hope. I wanted to just sit down and stop, but then I thought how the hell am I going to get outta here? Its a day and a half either way at least and I haven't seen anyone in a while, so there is no help coming. Well I persevered and kept going Up and Up and Up.........it was rough and easily the most physically demanding three days I think ever. We finally made the peak at a whopping 4,400 meters (about 13200 ft) and it opened up to the most amazing view of a glacier on one side and valley with a lake in it. I sat down to take it in and digest the trek so far and as I sat there it started to clear. The sun began to peak out and before we headed out, it was sunny and almost clear. My mood changed drastically and down we went towards camp and lunch. We continued on for another hour or so and finally came to another valley with a clearing and a small house in it. That was going to be camp for the evening. The owner of the house was a frail old man who spoke no Spanish, only the Incan dialect of Quechua. He allowed us to camp in his field and cook in his house and in turn we shared our dinner and breakfast with him. During the evening, he asked the Goat what month and year it was. He claimed he hasn't left his house in a number of years and it was easy to belive. He also claimed he was 100 years old. Depsite looking the part, it was difficult for us to accept that, but nonetheless he was decent company. He would laugh at himself and stayed close to the fire to warm his frail body and hands. We left him some ponchos and all the food we didn't need. We broke camp the next morning to a warm, sunny day and were about to embark on the final day of the trek.

The last day was pretty easy as it was all downhill......literally every step I took was downhill of the former. We made it to Olaytaytombo, which was where we needed to be for my evening train to Machu Picchu. The Goat and the Llama had parted from me at this point as I was left to wait for the train. It started drizzling, then raining a bit harder, before opening up into a torrential douwnpour as I waited for the train. A Canadian came over and sat by me and we chatted it up through the rain. He was traveling about the same timeframe as I and was heading the same way I was. He didn't have a hotel or any plans but to see Machu Picchu the next day! We got on the train and ended up sharing my room at the hostel, as it was only for a few hours at this point. (we arrived at 10PM and needed to get up to catch the bus to Machu picchu at 5AM). After a long anticipated shower by me I got to bed, it seemed I only slept for a few minutes as it was already time to wake up and head out.

We made it to the corner to catch the bus and head to Machu Picchu. It was pouring and cloudy the whole morning throughout our tour if the site. You could barely see anything throught the clouds. Our tour took an hour or so and then let us head to the food court to dry out. When we got back to the picnic area, the sun started to break through the clouds and clear up. That allowed us all to dry most of our clothes from the morning and those who climbed to MP to dry out. We waited for 1030 when we would climb Wayna Picchu, the peak next to MP. It was an hour climb to the top, but well worth the hike once you get to the top. The amazing thing is the steps are built right on the edge in many areas with no railing to stop you. It can be a bit nerveracking for those who are afraid of heights. After the hour climb we spent about an hour at the top, taking in the view of the valley surrounding MP and enjoying being on top of the world!!! I ended up heading down and met some cool chicks from Utah as we treked down. We joked the whole way down and then parted ways to get back to the tourist village and get ready for our train that evening back to Cusco. It was a long and amazing 4 days with the highlight being Machu Picchu. Seeing it was well worth the suffering and tough climb to get there, but I would recommend it to anyone to do some sort of trek. It definitely makes you appreciate the end if you have to work a little for it.

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