Advertisement
Published: April 20th 2010
Every good trek starts somewhere
This is where we started the beginning of our five day adventure trekking through the mountains. This view is from the start, just shortly before those clouds caught up to us and it started to rain.Where to begin? I think that this one will be long winded, but so much has happened that even cutting out tons of details it will be a long blog.
I cannot believe the journey we have undertaken over the past five days, the ten of us have trekked almost 60km starting in Mollyampa and ending up in here in Aquas Calientes. Our trek has been a stunning way to discover the beauty of Peru, and also learn more about each other than we probably would have liked. As Morgan says, there is something extremely satisfying to walk where no other motorized mode of transportation could take us.
The jury is out on whether or not the trail was easier or harder than what we were expecting, for me the most challenging part was the last fifteen minutes before we walked up to the high pass of Salkantay, which sits at almost 16,000 feet. At that altitude the air is a little on the thin side, and it the elevation that we are gaining was tough enough without having to struggle for each breath of air. I don't think that I have ever been so full body tired in
Water break!
This was the first of many water breaks. I am so glad that Kikay and Roberto were patient men! my whole life, and it was tougher for me than a whole month spent at a fitness camp. Uncle Cliff seemed to be most affected by the altitude, and after the first day as we gained in elevation, Kikay (one of our guides), put him on the horse to keep him from getting even more sick. I was feeling so short on air that Kikay made me put my pack on the horse so that I could reach the high pass by foot. Once we reached the high pass, we only had about ten minutes for pictures, we couldn't see Salkantay behind us as it was cloaked in clouds, and it was so cold and windy that we couldn't spend much time waiting for the clouds to disappear. I am so proud that we all made it up there, what a grind!
After reaching the high pass around noon we began our decent down into the valley below it, there was new scenery with every turn, but the decent was more physically demanding than the ascent. It seemed that going down was harder on the joins, but easier on the lungs. As we descended we were walking over stones
Happy Campers
Oh we were having fun then... but we were only just at the start. that ranged in size, but for the most part they were loose and we had to be very careful to not slip over the loose stones. The arrangement was that if we fell, we owed Kikay and Roberto, our guides, Cervasas (beer). As such, there was one point in the trail that we will say that I "gracefully sat down," but no worries, I got up as quickly as possible to avoid buying the team a round of beer once we reached Machu Picchu.
We all felt so good for reaching the high pass, that time seemed to pass by fairly quickly, but we moved so slowly that the cooks had to move their tent closer to us so we would have the energy to finish the day. And, because the cooks had to move closer, that meant that our horsemen also had to set up our camp at a location closer to us. Our knees took a beating on the second day, and all of our injuries were quickly and effectively treated by Jody and her Kinesthetic tape. We all swear by in now, and it worked so well that I might have to look into taking a
Holy Cow!
Now this is not the exact cow that we bonded with while peeing, but it was close enough to that one to count. Besides, i figure that it might not be appropriate to post our bare white bums on a travelblog. Just a thought. course myself. We covered 17kms on day two.
Day three was the easiest day for me, but Debbie couldn't hardly walk, I suspect that she has some sort of an IT band injury, and so she joined Cliff and the horsemen on another horse. The horsemen took such good care of them both. Being up on the horse wasn't all it was cracked up to be, Cliff couldn't take as many pictures as I am sure he would have liked to, and both grateful riders had to dismount for the most dangerous parts of the trek. This danger included steep descents on loose stones where the horses (and the hikers) could easily stumble, areas that were too narrow (by narrow I mean almost not enough room to squeeze two feet side by side), and over rivers and bridges. Debbie impressed me with her attack of her fear of heights, especially as we had to walk along a cliff face that had clearly recently slid with the rains. As we were walking this pass there were rocks falling on us from above, and although they were small, Kikay rushed us along in fear that larger one would follow before we
The Smiths
Even though it was raining on the first day, I still think that they were having a great time. It wouldn´t have been the same without them. had gone through. After that we passed over a bridge made of fallen trees covered in mud and branches over a raging river. Once we were safely to the other side the watchmen told us that the damage to our original route was repaired, which meant back tracking over the same area to reach the better trail. We covered 17km on the third day as well.
On our third night we stayed in Santa Theresa, at the Eco Chechwa Lodge that Kikay's village built. It was stunning and had an open air concept. Don and Debbie opted to overnight in one of the rooms that they offered there, and I think they enjoyed their bed. Each family in this village runs the lodge for one month at a time, and it was Kikay's families turn, which meant that we got to meet Kikay's wife and son. We were all grateful for the lodge as it meant a hot shower, and after three days on the trail, and peeing right beside the cows, you couldn't have found a more happy group. And no, I am not kidding, we peed beside a cow...
The next morning we opted to hike
Early Risers
We never once left camp when Kikay said that we should, we left an hour late on day two. Salkantay is the mountain located to the right. This was taken from our first camping spot, and the coldest night we had spent on the trail. up and do a six line zip line adventure, we left Debbie, mom and Cliff down at the bottom to panic for the hours we were away over whether or not we would be alive to bring us home. The hike was gnarly and at least a forty-five minute hike straight up, I couldn't even guess how high we were, but I can tell you that I was not nearly as afraid as I should have been for the altitude we were at. The zip lines were a blast, and the longest of which was over a half a kilometer long. Curtis clocked our speed using his GPS and the fastest we got was almost 50km an hour with a hand braking system. The hand brake was, literally, using a gloved hand on the line to create enough friction to slow us down. My favorite part was half way through we had to do some rock climbing on a cliff face to reach the next line above us, the holds were re-bar drilled into the stone, and while we were harnessed in, the mothers below us had a good time trying to convince each other that we would be okay.
Is that where we are going?
The view of Salkantay in behind us, uncle Cliff was battling with the Altitude at this point and Kikay had put him up on the horse. I don't think that he minded. From Santa Theresa we took a mini Van filled with 17 people to the Hydro Electric dam. Easily the most sketchy van ride of my life (and I have had a few international experiences in sketchy transportation), as the road we were on was hardly wide enough for one vehicle to pass at a time, and at times I was looking directly over the edge of a cliff with no visible road from my vantage point at the window. Again, I wasn't nearly as afraid as I should have been, and this same road was one of the ones that had been washed away in the land slides. We passed a sign in Spanish that warned "frequent land slides," at which point in time Morgan laughed and said "we have passed by dozens of land slides, I wonder how frequent they have to be to deserve a sign!" From there we had to pass by a hand pulled 3 passenger cable car suspended over a huge river and ravine, again, I am so proud of Debbie! But I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Donnie has a bruise in the shape of her hand print on his
We made it!
Oh man, I can't believe that we did this, you can't see Salkantay in behind as it was shrouded in clouds. But the sign at least proves that we were there after two hours of hiking straight up the mountain side. arm. The boys took a look at what was anchoring in the cable and I think that they all went three shades of green before realizing that they were taking their life in their hands by using this car... again, sometimes not knowing is better as you are suspended mid way across a canyon, but that might just be a personal opinion. Everyone arrived safely, but it was the most extreme adventure sport day I have ever had.
We spent the night in a hotel in Aquas Calientes last night and were up at 4:30 to reach the bus up to Matchu Picchu by 5:30. I cannot put into words the wonder of this site. It was much more impressive to us than Anchorwat in Cambodia. We spent the morning discovering the ruins, and Kikay explained some of the different areas of the site, it is amazing that a place of this magnitude was missed during the Spanish invasions of Peru. I am happy that they were not able to conquer this city as its beauty is unlike anything man-made that I have ever seen. We arrived so early in the morning that the whole site was covered in
Macchu Picchu
We all survived this crazy vacation! Macchu Picchu was more than we every imagined it to be. misty clouds, but as Kikay explained to us the area, the clouds descended unveiling, the city in a way that was so enchanting. I hope that the pictures can do it some justice, as I know that I am not doing a very good job.
We head back to Cusco tonight before moving on to Puno. I hope that you enjoyed the update, and we hope to be avoiding all near death experiences on the next lag of our journey. And I swear I am working on getting pictures up, but I don't have what I need just now. Sorry!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.372s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0331s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Cassie
non-member comment
Wow You Guys!
Wow, it sounds like you guys are having an amazing adventure! I can't wait to see pictures! I'll keep your guys' safety in my prayers! And Nik, I'm sure you're doing an amazing job at the pics, and you had better show them to me as soon as you get home! Miss you!