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Published: September 10th 2005
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We started our trek off really early in the morning on Monday the 5th. We had a very interesting buss ride to a small town called Cruzpata. The buss went off the paved road and put her into low drive to chug it’s way up a switchbacky hill/mountain. In Cruzpata we collected our backpacks and climbed into the back of a truck that took us farther up the hill. There we had a small breakfast before we started the trek. Plans had changed over night for our trek and our group was now nine people, the three originals, me, Evi and Emmit, along with three ladies from Australia, two French Canadians, and a guy from England. Plans seemed to change a lot along the way.
The first day we walked about 20 or 25 kilometers in total. Along the way we stopped at a little meadow along the road for lunch. Continuing on to our first campsite, Soray Pampa, and arrived around 4pm. This was a large valley that was formed by the convergence of two Glaciers. Looking at the mountains, on the left is Nevado Tucarhunay and on the right is Nevado Salkantay who has a summit of
6264 meters. This trek is named Salkantay after the mountain and it means Mother Mountain in Quatuwa. The porters set up a tent for us to have our tea and dinner in. That night was very cold, more so for the others then me, I had pretty good gear with me. The stars were amazing! You could practically reach out and touch the Milky Way in looked so close.
The next morning we were woke up with hot tea in our tents. That was a nice treat! After breakfast we started up the trail that led to a pass between the two mountains. I kept a nice slow pace and did very well. It only took about four hours to get to the top of the pass witch was at 4800 meters give or take a few. We rested and took a few photos then headed down the other side. On the down side of the pass we walked along another mountain called Nevado Huamantay, with means Head Mountain. It is 5473 meters high and unfortunately it was shrouded in fog and I was unable to get a clear picture of it. After about three more hours of walking
we came to the spot were our porters were preparing our lunch. After the rest we continued on for 4 more hours till we came to our next campsite. This was a very long day, over 40 km in all, with a good portion of it being up hill at altitude. Our groups had split up depending on how fast we were walking. I seemed that Emmit, Evi and I always were together. They are great people and really made the trek even better then one could have imagined. The three of us rolled in to camp at 530, just in time for a quick clean up in the cold river and a warm beer! What was so amazing about this day, besides the massive mountains that I got to see, was how much the climate changed throughout the day. Started in high sierras, passed a glacier, and walked thru an ever changing jungle. Very amazing!
Day three was an easy day, maybe 15 km. The jungle seemed to change around every corner. I saw so many different flowers, most of witch have been domesticated and I seen a variety of them in the Northwest. The little town that
Tucarhuay
morning at our first campsite we camped in was very cute. Defiantly a one horse town, however it did have a Discotheque, so of course curiosity got to us and we had to check it out. Not much, a disco ball two lights and some really old 80’s music that never made it big in the States. I got bit up by Moseys big time at this sight. I’m all swellt up!
Day four was really easy. Freddy, our guide, arranged for a truck to come get us in this little town because it now had a road that was not very old. Our Group and one other loaded up and climbed in. This is the exciting part….. It rained the night before and the road is new, therefore very soft, there was one point that I really did think that the truck was going to roll onto it’s side. I truly believe that the only thing that kept the truck from setting down was the quick reaction of everyone on the down side, most all of us instantly through our body weight the other direction. Continuing on we came to the end of the road for us and a big river. We crossed
Me and Salkantay
morning at our first campsite the river in a fly box, one of those boxes on a cable with a pull rope. It took a long time to get everyone across but we eventually did and then continued on to another small town that was situated at the base of the back side of Machu Picchu. The back side of the mountain in a shear rock wall, rather amazing. In this town we had a long rest, played cards and ate our lunch. Eventually a train came that took up to Agues Callinatas town, the town that all must pass to enter Machu Picchu!
I’ll leave Machu Picchu for the next blog! Machelle
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Gariann
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Well do hurry with that blog!
Hey girl! Can't wait to hear about Machu Pichu! It was a bit unfair to leave us all hanging! Great photos by the way!