Breathless on the Salkantay trek and blown away by Machu Picchu

After leaving the Galapagos Islands, and spending one night in Guayaquil, we took back to back bus rides of 22 and 26 hours respectively (bus breakdown included) to arrive in Arequipa, Peru. The ¨White City¨proved to be beautiful, with cobblestone streets, ornate cathedrals, and colonial buildings constructed of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock that sparkles in the sun. We paid a visit to Juanita, the Ice Princess, a mummified girl of 15 who was sacrificed to the volcano by the Incans on the summit of Mount Ampato about 500 years ago, who now ¨lives¨on display in a kind of transparent mini-fridge for all to visit. She is incredibly well preserved, and her clothing and other artifacts that were found with her appear almost as if they were new.

Another overnight bus put us into Cusco early in the morning on Wednesday the 11th. We took in a city tour which included a visit to several Incan sites. According to legend, by drinking three times from one of the springs at the ruins, we should expect triplets! We were also lucky enough to see a parade for a children´s festival, with about one hundred children in all types of costumes dancing in the streets.


On Friday we began our 5-day trek to Machu Picchu, via the Salkantay region. We had decided not to do the ¨real¨Inca trail, as we had heard that although less historic, the Salkantay promised spectacular views, and much fewer trekkers (about 30 hikers start the Salkantay per day versus up to 500 daily on the Inca trail). There were 15 trekkers in our group, from all around the world, great people who along with the guides, cooks and support team made the trip very special.

The trek began in a little town called Mollepata, and our first day involved walking 21kms, and a 1000m ascent to the base of Salkantay mountain where we had a very cold night camping at 3900m. The view along the way was beautiful as the Humantay glacier (5917m) and then Peru´s second highest mountain, the Salkantay (6270m) came into view. The second day was the longest, walking 25kms, and an ascent over the Salkantay pass at 4600m, and down to our second camp at 2900m. Knees were knocking, and most of us were quite breathless trekking at this altitude, but the views on this second day were absolutely beautiful. Days 3 and 4 involved long walking days through what is called ¨high jungle¨, a visit to some hot springs at Santa Teresa, zipping across a river in a scary flimsy cable car, to end in the touristy little town of Agua Calientes, aka Machu Picchu town.

On the fifth morning, we woke up at 4:00am to join our group for some bread and coffee before doing our final one hour 1000m slog up the mountain to Machu Picchu. We arrived for the site´s opening at 6:00am hoping to witness the sunrise, but lots of clouds beat us to the top, and our first views were of Machu Picchu cloaked in mist. Still, we were blown away by the remoteness and beauty of the ¨Lost City¨, surrounded by 600m deep valleys on either side, which provided the Incans a natural defence from potential attackers. After a guided tour of the site´s temples, courtyards, and terraces, the sun broke through the clouds, and Edwin and I were joined by Nicole (Germany) and Corinne (Switzerland) to climb Wayna Picchu for views from the opposite side. After 8 hours of exploring, we took the bus down to Agua Calientes, and joined our fellow trekkers for the train ride and bus ride back to Cusco.

The trek and Machu Picchu has truly been one of the highlights of our travels so far. In total, we walked 78kms in 4 days, we enjoyed beautiful scenery, excellent meals and guiding, and great company along the way.

Location: La Paz, Bolivia