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Day 232, 233, 234, 235 - Salkantay trek, Peru- Monday 4th to Thursday 7th June 2012
Come 5am we were showered, packed and already in the car heading to our first destination town of Mollepata - a mere three hours away. Our group consisted of a really nice New Yorker called Mo and five Norwegian lads who all looked very similar in the early light of the day - I was the only female, again! Our guide for the trip was the lovely Henry (not a very Peruvian name!) whose favourite line was "ok, my friends". After a quick breakie we started the first leg of the days walk - it was a four hour walk to the lunch spot! The start wasn't too hard going and the weather was beautiful so we were soon stripped of our jackets and jumpers and were enjoying the heat of the sun. Halfway along we stopped for our first snack stop; chocolate biscuits and an orange which the local stray dogs took a particular interest in. Up again and we continued along some tracks which apparently were "short cuts" - these basically consisted on very steep uphill climbs, it was at this point I questioned what the long route was like! Eventually we arrived in Cruzpata - our lunch stop. The spot was gorgeous with panoramic views of both the grassy hills and beautiful snow-capped mountain Humantay which stands at 4120m/13500ft. Our chef Victoriano was busy preparing lunch, in a full chef's outfit including hat, whilst we rested our feet and took in the view. Lunch was served and was amazing - four courses consisting of a vegetable flan thing to start, soup, then alpaca stew with potatoes and rice and finally a pudding - it was delicious! After letting our hefty lunch go down we started back up again and trekked for another three hours towards Soraypamapa, our first campsite. Come 5pm we arrived to our campsite and the view of the snow-capped Salkantay which stands at 6271m/20575ft. Our campsite sat just under the mountain at 4000m/12750ft meaning that it was absolutely freezing! We got all our stuff into the tent, inspected our blisters (Ad had none whilst I had two massive ones - typical) and put on literally every piece of clothing we had (I'm talking a vest, two jumpers, a pair of leggings, a pair of trousers, a jacket, a hat, a scarf and gloves!) and headed to the hut for tea, hot chocolate and biscuits. We sat and chatted with the group until dinner was served - yet another four piece masterpiece and quite amazing given the tiny two ring stove Victoriano had at his disposal. We chatted and got to know better Mo, who turned out to be a doctor, and the five Norwegian lads, who are fresh out of school and have the highest energy levels around but coupled with the lowest concentration levels - they make me feel old! Full up, slightly warmer and knackered after our 20km walk we headed to our tents to try and sleep through the minus six temperature!
We were woken up at 4.30am with a cup of warm coca tea; great way to start the day! After breakie we started our days walking - today was to be the hardest day with a lot of steep climbing and the highest altitude of the trip. In preparation we started chewing our coca leaves - apparently these help with the altitude sickness as they thin the blood but I just thought they tasted of bad green tea and therefore made me feel even sicker! After a couple of hours we were close to reaching the highest pass on the trek (4650m/15200ft) which was located halfway between two huge mountains; Salkantay on the right and Tucarhuay on the left. I was absolutely done, my blisters were killing me, my heart was beating out of my chest and I couldn't catch my breath; Ad was doing ok but again his heart was pounding. These are the classic signs of your body trying to deal with the high altitude - as there is less oxygen in the air the body and heart has to work and beat much faster to get the oxygen into the blood stream. It was so cold, I was so tired and then as I gazed across at another group coming up I noticed that all of the girls were on horses rather than walking - this did nothing for making me feel any better!! But after some words of encouragement from Ad and Henry I heaved myself on and we eventually reached the top of the pass. Wow, well it was worth the walk; the views of the two snow-capped mountains were incredible! We all took lots photos, had a sit down and had ourselves a littler celebration of achieving the pass with a coca leaf ceremony! Before setting off again I looked at my watch and discovered that it was only 9am and we had a whole day of walking left to come - arghhhhhh! We continued our walk (another four hours but downhill - thank god!) through a dramatic cloud forest towards Huayracpunku, where we had another amazing lunch. Everyone, even the eighteen year old Norwegian lads, looked knackered - after lunch I was so exhausted I fell asleep on Ad's lap! With lunch and a twenty minute power nap done we continued on again in the direction of the start of the jungle. From here the scenery really started to change; it was greener and flowers and wildlife started to appear. After nine long hours of walking, the majority uphill, and 16km covered we finally reached our second campsite, Colcapampa (3000m/9800ft). The relief of taking off our boots and sitting down was out of this world! Again we settled down for a big dinner and then headed to bed early but not before soaking our feet in a bowl of hot water!!
Breakfast was served at 6.30am so we had a well needed lie in! Today was to be a bit more of a chilled day and so we started our walk at 7.30 in high spirits knowing that the hardest day was behind us! Our trek took us through the upper jungle crossing the Lluskamayo River and a variety of little brooks -we passed through valleys and waterfalls, and saw a variety of tropical fruits and plants. The best though was when we passed through the little villages - we often rested at these points and were surrounded by a multitude of different animals. Huge turkeys, hens, little chicks, stray dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs were in abundance -plus the cutest little kids ever! Come lunchtime we filled our tummies and then headed to our camp at La Playa (2500m) - a much warmer climate and the last night of sleeping in a tent! In the afternoon we went to the local hot springs - a real treat after three hard days of trekking with no showers! The pools were amazing - hot and relaxing with amazing views of the mountainous countryside. Henry, our guide also joined us and we were all very amused to see his tattoo on his upper arm - a naked lady complete with a very hairy bush!! When we asked who it was he just said "you know, one of my ladies!" After spending two hours in the pools we emerged very wrinkly and clean (at last) and headed back to our campsite for dinner, drinks and bed.
We woke to the sound of heavy rain; it had been raining all night so the ground was also soggy and the clouds so low that we were almost immersed by them! After breakfast we said our goodbyes to our chef and his assistant, tipped them and thanked them for all the lovely food they had cooked for us. We then jumped in a bus that took us past the hydroelectric station and to the start of our days trekking. Along the way Henry was giving little insights into the local area and started talking about the erosion of the land and subsequent landslides; we were all nodding to show we understand when Ad piped up with "but why are the Russians taking away the Peruvian land?" Everyone burst into laughter!! Now Henry's accent and English was sometimes a little hard to understand and we could kind of understand how Ad could mix up erosion with the Russians but none of us could believe he'd actually said it out loud - it was a very funny moment (just thinking about it I'm laughing again!) We arrived at the start of the railway track and started our 16km walk towards the town of Aguas Calientes town. Along the way we saw some half destroyed Inca ruins and made friends with several stray dogs (of which one followed us all the way to the town). Come lunchtime we arrived in the town and at our hostel; the first thing we did was jump in the shower only to discover, halfway through soaping up, the hot water had run out!! It was freezing!! After our very cold shower we got into bed and chilled (literally) there for a couple of hours. At 5pm we met up with the group again to collect our luggage from the incoming train and then went for some dinner. Back at our hostel we got an early night ready for 4am start the next day for Machu Picchu!
- comments
ann & john webber How amazing! The jungle scenery and the climb sound incredible. Great to hear you are both doing so well. Fiji seems such a long time ago. I went tramping for the weekend in mud through the Waitakere Range (so I can sympathise with your blisters Sophie) and John went sailing. Sunday night - we are having a wine and sharing our weekend stories. Common element - we were both freezing, we each had a great time, and there was no sign of erosion or Russians. Ann & John xx