Where's Andrew

SALKANTAY TRAIL & MACHU PICCHU, PERU - OCTOBER 27 TO 31

It's the day of the start of the Salkantay Trail trek and I'm up by 4:15AM and put my big pack with most of my stuff in a storage closet at the hostel. Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I grab our small packs and we walk down to the Plaza de San Francisco to meet our tour van. There is a couple of vans waiting with about 25 people and within a few minutes, we are on our way west from Cuzco 3 hours to the town of Mollepata where our trek will begin at 2900m altitude. My sinus cold seems to be about the same or maybe a bit better but I will soon see how it is once we start our trek.

Rachel & Itamar

We get to Mollepata around 8:00AM and have breakfast. It turns out that there is 2 different tour groups here at the restaurant, our group consists of 10 people and the other group is almost 20 people. Our guide is Edwin and he introduces us to the cook, the cook's helper and the porter who looks after the mules. Joining us for the trek are 2 brother's from South Africa named Maneer and Omar and there are 2 medical student's from the US named Stewart and Michael. After a quick introduction to everyone, we are soon on our way.

We head north along a gravel road that slowly winds its way uphill through farmland. It's a very gentle incline and I hardly notice my cold but my

energy level seems a little low and we have to travel 19kms today. The only time the incline gets steeper are when we get off the road and hike up trails which are shortcuts between some switchbacks on the road. As we climb in elevation, we get a look at the valley and river below. It's nice but it would be better if we were to leave the road for a trail more like the Santa Cruz trek.

We continue on for about 4 hours and I feel pretty good. The drugs you can by over the counter in South America are much stronger than what we can get in Canada and the decongestant I bought seems

to be working really well. Around 12:30PM we stop for an hour for lunch which is a hot soup, pasta, rice and some vegetables. Within an hour of walking in the afternoon, we see some snow capped mountains and a little valley called Soraypampa in the distance. Edwin tells us this is where the road ends and is also where our 1st night's camp is set up.

We continue along the gravel road for another 2 or 3 hours before finally reaching the valley. We see a huge house or hotel ahead of us, Edwin tells us this is a lodge for the wealthy who do the Salkantay trail at a cost of over $5000US for the 5 day trek. It looks very nice but staying in a place like this seems to defeat the purpose of doing a trek through the mountains.

Lodge in the Soraypampa Valley

Our camp is setup about another 30 minutes walk past the lodge. It is nestled at the top end of the Soraypampa valley between some mountains at an elevation of 3600m. The camp is much more permanent than I was expecting with a large covered enclosed structure where all the tents for both groups are located. There are a number of permanent building as well including bathrooms, cook house and accommodations for the guides. I ask Edwin why the tents are in an enclosed structure and he tells me that this valley between the mountains is prone to some really heavy rainfall, though hopefully we won't see any rain.

I can't believe it, once again we seem to be 1 tent

short. When we booked the trek, we specifically requested a separate tent for John and another tent for me and of course there is only one for both of us. John's not keen to share a tent with some one who is sick with a cold and I don't blame him. Edwin apologizes and asks us to wait because between the 2 groups, maybe there is a spare tent. Half an hour later, he comes to us and says there is an extra tent, these are 3-man tents and there are 3 Australian women travelling together who want to share a tent and somehow he convinces 3 guys to share a tent as well. Way to go Edwin, your tip just went up.

Shane, Seleka, Itamar, Rachel, John & Edwin

By the time we get the tents sorted out, it is about 5:00PM and getting cold. Since I was able to bring a little more stuff with the mules, I have a nice alpaca sweater to put on and  I put some jeans on over my light weight MEC pants. Our group sits down for some tea, coffee and popcorn which is our pre-dinner snack except Michael and Stewart. They decided to hike to a nearby lake which surprises us since we already hiked 19kms and it will be dark in an hour. Oh well, more popcorn for us. Dinner is served around 6:30PM but Michael and Stewart are not back yet. I can tell Edwin is a bit worried and he hangs around outside watching for them and about half an hour later he sees some flashlights up in the hills above the camp. At about 7:30PM, they finally get back, by then we have all finished dinner which was soup, beef, rice, potatoes, fries and vegetables but we have save some for them. Once again they are loading us up on the carbs.

Leaving the Soraypampa Valley

After dinner, Edwin gives tells us our schedule for tomorrow. We will be up at 5:00AM and hiking by 6:00AM. It will be our longest day distance wise at 21kms, the first 4 hours will be uphill for 8km with an elevation change of over 1000m to the Salkantay Pass summit at 4650m. We will then descend for 13kms to our next camp called Challway at an altitude of 2950 which is 1700m below the pass. If my cold is going to cause me problems during this trek, it will be tomorrow.

The night it is cold but not as cold as nights on the Santa Cruz trek but I am so glad that Shane and I arranged for larger sleeping bags because I actually fit and it does not feel like being in a straight jacket. The next morning I feel pretty good when I get up and during breakfast, maybe my cold is

getting better. Right from the start of the hike, the incline is a little steeper than yesterday but I would describe it as moderate. I am able to keep up a nice steady pace without having to stop to catch my breath and let my heart rate slow down but I know that kind of incline is coming. Although I feel good, I don't have the kind of energy that I normally have. I feel that I am already in my top gear and I don't have a spare gear to kick in when the altitude and the trail starts getting tough like I did on the Santa Cruz trek and I know I will not be in the front group of trekkers that reach the pass.

Looking Back at Soraypampa

Now that we have left the road, the terrain is a lot more interesting. The trail climbs along side a river valley. There are mountains that seem to tower on both sides but it is pretty misty and we can only see up for 500m or so. It kind of looks like it could rain but I have my fingers crossed. The trail is starting to get steeper and I start to drop a bit behind most of the group. Rachel and I seem to be going at the same pace and we have some nice conversation as we slowly climb.

We get to the top of the first ridge, the trail flattens out for a while but we can see a steep incline that traverses back of forth along a towering ridge. So far, we have only climbed a little over 300m so

I'm pretty sure this is not the summit as the top of the ridge is probably no more than 400m above us. The weather seems to be breaking though and we are starting to see glimpses of the glacier capped peak of the Salkantay mountain and within 20 minutes, the clouds almost disappear completely and the view is fantastic.

When I'm half way up this next climb and I really start to slow down. Between the altitude and my cold, this climb is kicking my butt. There is 4 or 5 other tour groups with 70 people or so doing the climb with us, most have passed me but there are

Rachel & Andrew

still 15 or so people behind me so at least I'm not last. I little farther up the trail, I find Shane, John, Maneer and Omar waiting for me. They know I'm not feeling great and they have decided a little moral support might help which is really nice and I think it actually helped speed me up a bit.

We finally get to the top of the ridge and find a small lake nestled against the start of the next climb. We rest for about 10 minutes here and have a snack. There is one 40 minute climb left of about 300m altitude before reaching the pass and this last climb is not as steep as the section we just finished. So we start up the last climb and soon reach the top. I'm so glad the climb is done, with

Last Stop Before the Summit

my cold it was so much harder than the other climbs I've done before. We reach the summit in about 3.5 hours which is 30 minutes faster than Edwin has estimated so I guess I was not as slow as I thought.

Just after we take some group photos at the summit, clouds move in and our view disappears. It's cold up here and the descent will be cold as well so I add some layers to stay warm. As we start down the descent, a misty rain begins. It hardly seems to be raining but after an hour of walking, I'm starting to get pretty wet. So for the first time since I left Vancouver 7 months ago, I get my Gortex jacket out of my pack and put it on. I

Itamar, Rachel, Andrew, John, Omar, Seleka, Shane & Maneer

think the views of the mountains around the valley we are descending into are supposed to be spectacular but with the clouds and mist, we don't see much of it.

The descent seems to last forever and the trail has lots of loose rock on it and is slippery. My knee is starting to act up a bit as it never seems to like these long descents. We arrive at a nice covered eating area for lunch at about noon after 2.5 hours of walking in the rain. We are all cold and hungry so a nice hot soup with chicken, rice and potatoes is just what we needed. After about and hour, we are on our way again. The trail is still down hill but the valley has narrowed into more of a river canyon.

We continue to descend for a couple of more hours. The rain has steadily slackened until it stopped completely and we start to get a nice look of the mountains around us. Finally, we come to a small village called Callway, this is our camp site for the night. Our tents have been setup in the backyard of one of the local families. They have a large covered deck where we will eat our meals but the best thing is that they sell beer. We have some beer and are served tea and popcorn. Despite my cold, I feel pretty good, a little sore maybe but not too bad.

At Callway Camp Site

The other tour group is once again staying with us at the camp. In general, this group is quite a bit younger than us and they like to party. They end up playing drinking games for several hours. One of the 3 Australian girls in this group has what might be the most annoying laugh I have ever heard and unfortunately she laughs at everything whether it is funny or not. After a while, it just starts to drive you crazy but we are amused when all the Peruvian guys working for the 2 tour companies started mimicking her.

After the worst veggie spaghetti dinner that I have ever had, Edwin reviews tomorrow's schedule with us. We will be up again at 5:00AM and we have another 18km to trek to the valley of Sahuayaco with most of it being downhill. Sahuayaco is at 1930m so we will be descending more than 1000m. We will then be meeting a car and will drive 40 minutes to the town of Lucmabamba where we will have lunch and then we will drive a little further to another town called Santa Teresa where our next camp is located. Santa Teresa also has a nice hot spring which we are all looking forward to.

We are up again at 5:00AM and are awaken with some Coca tea as usual which is always a nice way to wake up. We're on our way and once again we are on a road but after a couple kilometers, we cross a river on a small bridge and are back on a trail. My cold seems to be a bit better and my knee seems pretty good today as well. We hike along the river, the trail goes steadily down but there are many sections that are up or flat. After a couple of hours, we come across a couple of houses and there are some covered rest areas where we stop for snacks.

Edwin has been challenged to a soccer game by one of the other guides so we play a game 6 on 6 on what is basically a field for cows and sheep. Edwin, Maneer, Omar, Itamar, Stewart and I take on a team of 6 English guys. These guys all seem to be close fiends in their mid twenties and it looks like they have played some soccer together. We play for about 30 minutes and we lose 2 to 1. It's a good thing that we stop playing when we did as things were getting a bit heated as one of the bigger guys on their team took out both Stewart and Maneer on hard but dirty tackles and they did not seem to like it when I upped the physical play as well.

When we resume the hike, my knee is sore again. I probably should have skipped the soccer game. We steadily continue descending for almost 2 hours before finally coming to the valley below and the start of the road. A van is waiting to take us to lunch in Lucmabamba, we pile in and are on our way. While we are waiting for lunch, there is a bit of a line up to use the bano. Itamar decides he can't wait and walks through some fields to a remote spot near a river. As he is about to do what bears do in the woods, a large bore pig comes running at him squealing. Itamar starts running with his pants down and ends up jumping off the embankment he is on down to the sandy area along the river below, luckily the pig does not follow. Later he brings me down to see the pig and it's pretty big, around 150kgs, and it seems pretty agitated just to see us. I'm not sure what the pig would have done but I would have ran too.

After lunch we get back into the van and drive to Santa Teresa. Our camp site is once again in a local families backyard but the yard is huge with nice gardens and a great covered eating area. We are all keen to head to the hot springs and we head there at little after 3:00PM. The hot springs look really nice, there are 3 large rectangular outdoor pools that are feed by the hot springs. One is for young kids and then there is a hot pool and a very warm pool for everyone. After 3 days of hiking over 58kms, it is so nice to get in these pools where we spend the next 1.5 hours. We then enjoy some beers on a patio, too bad we couldn't have beers in the pools, before we catch a ride back to our camp as it is almost time for dinner.

Dinner is a little better today but we are all tired and in bed before 9:00PM. Edwin explains a few options today regarding tomorrows trek. One option was to walk 4 hours along the road next to the river to the Hidro Electrica (a dam) where we would then start to walk another 4 hours along a beautiful valley along a pathway next to some railway tracks. The other option is to skip the walk on the road as that 4 hours is not supposed to be very scenic of a walk, so we opt to skip this road part and drive to the start of the railway tracks. This will allow us to sleep in until 7:00AM and get to the town of Aguacaliente earlier. Aguacaliente is at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located.

The next morning we are up at 7:00AM and on our way just after 8:00AM. It is a spectacular day with barely a cloud in the sky. Within about 30 minutes driving, we arrive at the start of the tracks. The tracks run along a very narrow valley with towering mountains on either side. There is a nice river on one side of the tracks and a narrow jungle on the other. The views of the river, jungle flora and the mountains above are fabulous. After about 2 hours, Edwin points to the mountain across the river on our right, this is the mountain that Machu Picchu is on and we can actually see Huayna Picchu, some Inca Terraces and a few stone building. The walk is basically flat which is a nice change from the previous 3 days.

Machu Picchu Above Us

After about 14km and 3.5 hours, we reach Aguacaliente. Augacaliente means hot water and there are more hot springs here but they aren't supposed to be as nice as the ones we were at yesterday. We are staying in hostels which were included in the cost of the trek. Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I are in a really nice hostel owned by the tour company we booked the trek with called Puma Peru Tours. It is the nicest place I have slept in since being in Playa de Carmen. Maneer, Omar, Michael and Stewart are in a different hostel just down the street that is not so nice.

Huayna Picchu

We explore the small town and it is bursting with tourists. The river winds right through the town which is built on a hill along the narrow valley. There is no decent road to Aguacaliente and all tourists either walk to the valley like we did or catch a train. We all meet a 6:30PM and head to a nice local restaurant for dinner which again is included in the cost of the trek. Dinner definitely better than the food we had on the trek. We all head to bed shortly after dinner as we will be up very early to go to Machu Picchu.

The next morning, I am up shortly after 4:00AM and I meet up with everyone at 4:20AM. It's about a 30 minute walk to the entrance to Machu

First View of Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu

Picchu and after a 10 minute wait, they start to admit visitor's into the park. We are at 1900m and are walking up over 1700 steps to Machu Picchu above at 2500m. It is already warm and humid when we start and the steps are very steep and irregularly spaced. I'm feeling a bit better but decide to pace myself with Rachel. We want to be up to the top by 6:00AM when the upper gates open and for sunrise but we don't get through the main gates until almost 5:15AM.

These steps remind me of climbing the huge rock in El Penol Colombia but they are over twice as many steps. Rachel and I are trying to keep up a steady pace so we are at the top by 6:00PM.

Within 5 minutes, I'm sweating buckets. These steps are the hardest climb I've done yet, they just never seem to end. Because of the thick bush around us, we can't see the top so it is hard to know how far we still have to go. After about 50 minutes of climbing steps, we are finally at the top, I wish I had taken the bus and I look like I just got out of a swimming pool. I'm glad Edwin warned us and I have my last clean shirt in my pack to change into.

As we enter Machu Picchu, we are walking along a terraced hillside. Much of the city is below and in front of us with Huayna Picchu in the background

quite similar to the many famous photographs I have seen. But photographs just don't bring justice to the view we see. Over the next 2 hours, Edwin gives us a walking tour through the ruins. The condition of the site is simply amazing. The Spanish never found the city which was great because they normally would destroy what they found while looking for buried tombs and treasure and it remained undiscovered until 1911. I can't help but snap off lots of pictures especially with the mountain of Huayna Picchu in the background because the view is just so entrancing.

Finally at about 8:00AM we say good-bye to Edwin and we now have 4 to 5 hours to explore more of the ruins before we catch our train back to Cuzco. We decide to head to the Sun Gate. The Sun Gate is at the other end of the city from Huayna Picchu and is where trekkers doing the Inca Trail first catch a glimpse of Machu Picchu. Along the way, we stop at a large stone structure called the Guard House on the hill above the city. This is the location

where the most famous photos of Machu Picchu were taken and we can't resist taking a bunch of photos too. One photo I really like is of Stewart doing a hand stand with the city and Huayna Picchu in the background.

We continue up to the Sun Gate which is about 350m above the city and takes about an hour to walk to. The views of the city and the surrounding mountains are fantastic. After spending a few minutes there, we need to head back as Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I have tickets to hike Huayna Picchu that are valid for 10:00AM.

We get back with about 5 minutes to spare and are soon climbing more steps. This time more than 1100 and they are even steeper than the steps we did earlier.

Once again Rachel and I find a nice steady pace while the others leave us behind. Some sections are so steep, they are almost ladders carved into the rocks with ropes to hold on to. I am exhausted by the time we get to the top and join everyone else after almost an hour of climbing, all these steps are taking their toll. At the top, there are more ruins to go along with the awesome views. I snap a bunch of

View From the Sun Gate

pictures and it is time to head down if we want to have time to eat before catching our train.

Going down is almost worse than coming up as my knee is really sore. Rachel and Itamar stayed for a while at the top and will meet us at the train station but I find Seleka and Shane waiting for me at the bottom. We then walk to the upper entrance where John is and we decide to take a bus down instead of the stairs which I don't think my knee would have liked too much. We grab lunch in a Aguacaliente and then head back to the hostel to grab some baggage that we left in storage and then it was time to head to the train station.

View From Huayna Picchu

Our train leaves at 3:00PM and will take us to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. We should arrive around 4:40PM where a van should be waiting for us to drive us another 2 hours to Cuzco. The view along the train ride are great but I can believe how much the train bumps and rocks as we go. When we get to Ollantaytambo, we are expecting a driver to meet us with a sign saying Puma Peru Tours. We walk around for 15 minutes and can't find anyone. Just when we are about to call the tour company we find the driver. He had been walking around asking people for Andres (my name in Spanish) but none of us noticed him and he decided to pick up some other passengers that needed a ride when he couldn't find us so

The Gate House & Machu Picchu Mountain

now there is only room for 4 of us in the van. He wants 2 of us to stay behind and he would come back and get those 2 in a few hours. We say forget it and no one is staying behind waiting for hours. After some heated discussion, he finally hires another van to drive us.

So we are on our way back to Cuzco. We are all exhausted but it has been a fantastic 5 days. the trek itself was not as visually stunning as the Santa Cruz Trail but the ending in Machu Picchu was incredible. I've been looking forward to seeing Machu Picchu ever since I started planning this trip and it did not disappoint and Cuzco has been awesome as well. It is Halloween tonight which is

supposed a big party in Cuzco. We specifically paid extra to catch an earlier train to get us in Cuzco at a decent time to join in the festivities but I'm not sure if we have the energy left or not to go out. I'm sure we walked another 15kms today so we are getting close to 90km over the last 4 days.

See my next blog on the return to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Ciao.