Salcantay and Macchu Picchu

This was one of the most incredible side journeys that I have taken since I have been down here. The whole thing started with a couple of my friends writing and telling me that they were going to be down here at the same time we were. My roomate and I had already planned to meet up and hike to Macchu Picchu and it looked there would be two more with us. Amazingly, after a few short e-mails back and forth, we all found each other in Cuzco, had dinner, told stories, and planned our trip to Macchu Picchu.

We wanted to hike to Macchu Picchu, but the Inca Trail was all booked up, and we actually wanted to do the alternative route to avoid the crowds. So I looked up a few things on the internet, got a few recommendations and settled for what turned out to be a great guide. The night after we all met in Cuzco, we met with Miguel, our guide, to discuss the trip and figure everything out. We went over in painful detail every aspect of the trip and every single little charge along the way. In the end, we calculated that we could do the trip with about $200. That was $100 dollars less than what was offered by the agencies and we would have the flexibility to do whatever we wanted to do. We settled on the journey and the price and started to work out the details.

We left the next morning at 4:30am. Well, we actually didn`t leave until 5:30am, but we had to be at the bus station at 4:30. Knowing this, and knowing that my watch alarm wasn`t going to wake us up, we bought a little travel alarm to let us know when that ungodly hour in the morning passed. Unfornately, the little alarm decided not to function correctly, but for some strange reason, I woke up at 4:30 on the nose. I jumped out of bed and checked my watch and the next 20 minutes were a flurry of activity as Katie and I tried to get ready to go. Luckily, we had packed everything the night before. It was a mad dash for the taxi and we booked to the station. We arrived and had to wait another hour for the rest of the people to show up. Typical Latin American country. I did have one moment of satisfaction when I chucked the useless alarm as hard as I could at a stone wall and watched it shatter into about a billion pieces.

The bus ride was uncomfortable and uneventful, except for the view of the giganic mountains that we were heading towards. We came around a corner and this perfectly shaped, glacier-coated mountain rose out of a cloud covered valley. It was like something out of a fairy tale. We suffered through the rest of the ride and arrived at our first destination of Molletapa. This was just a little town that had a small restaurant where we had a typical breakfast and then prepared to go. We were pretty proud of ourselves because we decided not to use the pack horses that had been offered to us and instead carry everything on our backs, true Colorado backpacker style. That would turn out to be a very painful decision.

We started hiking from the village and were accompanied by two local children. They loved Katie`s sunglasses and were very helpful at finding all kinds of things that Miguel was telling us about. The first thing he showed us was this little fungus the grew on the underside of a cactus that turned into a brilliant red paste when you crushed it. We rubbed this paste on our faces to make us look like fierce Inca warriors. Mine was gone within about half an hour.

The first hour or so was pretty easy. We walked along flat ground, I practiced my Spanish with Miguel, and we even descended a little. The next three hours were brutal. We started climbing up this road. I have discovered that Peruvians don`t believe in switchbacks. If it`s possible to take a shortcut and go straight up something, there will be a trail. This was a recurring theme throughout the entire trip. So we started climbing straight up these switchbacks and pretty soon everyone was pretty tired. Luckily, there were sections on flat road where we could bring our heart rates back to normal, but it was still pretty tiring.

Just as we were climbing another switchback, and getting ready to mutiny against Miguel, we arrived at a flat field with a little store and an amazing view of the snow-capped peaks that we were headed towards. The other groups were resting here as well and we threw down our packs and feasted on salami and cheese sandwiches. We bought some overpriced gatorade, gave away a lot of our cookies to the cute little kids that were there, and had to pack up way before we were ready to leave. The next few hours were monotonous as we were just hiking along the road. Distances here are very decieving. We could see exactly where we were going, but hour after hour, we just couldn`t seem to get any closer. After several more hours of cruising along the road, we came to a flat field and the mountain of Salcantay rotated into view. This was our first camp.

We quickly set up our tents before it got dark. As the sun set and the mountains were lit up in Alpenglow, we ate spaghetti and drank the wine the Katie and I had brought. As we were finishing the wine and hot cocoa, Miguel lauched into a story about two German hikers who disappeared. In 2002, a German couple arrived at the same camp that we were at. They camped there the first night and then attempted to ascend the pass that we would go up the next day. Instead of going to the left and over the pass to the north, the Germans took the path to the right and went up a much more difficult and dangerous pass. They camped near a lake up there, and no sign of them was ever found again. A few days later, some local guides went looking for them. The guides found their tent and all their gear, but no sign of them. A rescue helicopter was called in and the search was expanded. Even the German government got involved and sent a special rescue team to the area to look for them. They were never found. Miguel has two theories about what happened to them. The first involves a village that is on the other side of the pass that the Germans were trying to ascend. Apparently, the people from this village are known as theives and unsavory characters, and maybe they somehow knew the Germans were there and came over and robbed them. The question remains as to why they would leave all their camping stuff down at the lake. The second theory is that they were climbing on the mountain and an avalanche buried them. Miguel thought this was the much more likely option. We went to bed and slept well knowing we were close to a village of theives.

The next day, we were awakened by Miguel kicking our tent and the faint light of the sun rising behind the mountains. This was the long day. We had to get an early start in order to be in our next camp before it got dark. We had some breakfast of disgustingly burned chocolate oatmeal, handed some money to Miguel to get us through the checkpoint and packed up our stuff. We waited for Miguel to come back. He got us the student discount with his connections, and we started the long haul up the pass. This was a brutal trip. We started at about 11,000 ft and hiked to more than 15,000ft in about 5 hours. The uphill was absolutely brutal and unending. We did manage to have some lunch before we reached to the top of the pass and the rest was very welcome. The only positive thing about this uphill was that we were constantly hiking closer to the base of beautiful Salcantay. The mountain loomed over us and reflected the sunlight amazingly. It was incredible. When we finally did reach the pass, the view of the mountain was gorgeous. Unfortunately, the wind was howling and that gets kind of cold at 15,000 ft. We took a few hasty photos and then began the long descent into the valley.

If we thought the ascent of the last few hours was brutal, then we were ill prepared for what the descent was like. Miguel had told us that the descent would be even harder than the ascent and from my experience climbing mountains in Colorado, I knew this was true. We began the descent and almost immediately were slowed down as yours truly and others started to feel the pain. Some folks were handling it just fine, so we sent them ahead to make camp and get some stuff done before we arrived. As we struggled down the valley, we passed many small villages with beautiful scenery. I was really wishing for my paraglider so I could`ve just glided down the valley.

After about three hours of mind-numbing descent we started to pass more and more greenery. The valley went from a light green of high altitude sierra grassland to the dark, dense green of mountain jungle. I couldn`t believe my eyes. We had just walked from one ecosystem into another. It was incredible. The jungle got denser and the air heavier as we descended. We eventually met up with the rest of our group that we had sent ahead and all continued together. Our feet, knees, and ankles were all taking a bruising, and to top it off, it started to rain a little. The last three hours of the hike were mostly a blur of pain as we hurried to get to camp before nightfall. It did get dark before we got to camp, but we plunged ahead without light because we were so close and didn`t want to stop to pull out our lights. We hauled our exhausted bodies into camp just after nightfall to the sound of applause. We were traveling the trail with about three other groups and a group of Spaniards applauded us as we came into camp. We were particularly proud of the achievement because we were carrying all our stuff, but it was definitely a painful choice.

The Spaniards helped us set up our tents and toasted us with beer and smiles. We cooked a meal of pasta, salami, and beer, washed off, and took stock of what we had just done. We had hiked over 10 miles, climbed over 3000 ft, descended more than 6000, and I burned over 6000 calories. But the hard day was behind us.

The next morning we woke up in the damp jungle to find almost everyone gone. Apparently, the Spaniards were hiking the entire way to Macchu Picchu and they had a very long way to go that day. We leisurly cooked breakfast and eventually packed up and made it to the trail. Today was a descent of the river to a little town where we would take a bus to our next destination...the hot springs.



The river we descended was beautiful and we crisscrossed it on numerous bridges. Early in the journey, we also encountered this really cute little kid and his dog. This kid obviously knew how to look cute for tourists, but we just couldn´t help ourselves. The day was pretty uneventful. We stopped for lunch, encountered some interesting animals from turkeys to millipedes, and finally made it to the small town, plopped down and had a celebratory beer. We were all pretty tired. But we somehow found the energy to participate in some dancing with the locals. They showed us a few moves none of us had seen before.



Then it was off to the hot springs. We had decided to camp at the springs that night for a well-deserved break. The truck ride to the Springs was pretty fun. We stood in the back and held onto the roll bars while ducking coffee trees and poisonous plants. We made a game out of trying to distract each other so that a tree would come and smack the other person in the face. I was having a particularly good time as every time we passed a coffee tree, I would pluck off some coffee beans and throw them at Dave. They would hit him in the face and he would curse the trees and wonder why they were only falling off and hitting him. Miguel was dying as he tried to contain his laughter.

We got to the hot springs after dark with way too much beer. We cooked our usual fare of pasta and salami, and then settled into the hot springs. They were immensly relaxing. The heat and beer made us pretty tipsy and we went to bed feeling warm and satisfied.


The next day was a return to city we had departed and then a trip to the Hydroelectrica. This is only way to get into the valley that contains Macchu Picchu. You have to drive to this little stop and either take the train to Aguas Calientes or walk along the tracks. We opted to walk and send our backpacks along with Miguel on the train. I`ve never actually hiked along train tracks, and although it was a little jarring, the walk was pleasant. There was a little adventure as I opted to try to cross a bridge the was suspended above the river about 60 feet just on the rail ties. Interesing feeling hopping from railroad tie to railroad tie with nothing but 60 feet of air underneath you. After about 2 hours of hiking, we came around a corner and the town of Aguas Calientes came into view. This is the closest village to Macchu Picchu and it was touristy.


You walk into the main part of town and are greeted by people trying to get you into one of the many restaurants that line the train tracks. We stopped, had some much needed lunch and met up with Miguel to get our backpacks as he got off the train. It felt like way too short of a goodbye for someone that had taken care of us for the last four days. We tipped him well, said our goodbyes with promises to send pictures, and that part of the journey was over. We went to bed early that night so we could get up at the crack of dawn to get to Macchu Picchu.

The next morning, we got up before the sun and started hiking in the dark to Macchu Picchu. For some people, this is the only thing they do when they come to Peru, and we had been advised to get there early to avoid these crowds. So we started hiking early and were soon hiking up a steep slope to Macchu Picchu. Again, there were no switchbacks as the trail ascended straight up the mountainside about a thousand feet. We got to the top and got in line for Macchu Picchu. We gave them our ticket and rounded the corner. Our first view of Macchu Picchu was of a few stone walls obscured by a thick fog. We started wandering aimlessly through the ruins. We found a large tour group and tried to insinuate ourselves into it. We all quickly realized this was a mistake as the guide started to talk about Macchu Picchu`s connection to drugged up Inca spirituality. We quickly made an exit and wandered through the ruins some more.

I had been told that it is best to climb Huayana Picchu, the mountain that overlooks Macchu Picchu, early in the morning so as to avoid the large crowds that go in the afternoon. We meandered our way over to the entrance, signed in, and started to climb yet again. The climb was steep and hard and the only thing that made it endurable was all the songs we made up about "Huayana Picchu all night long" or "I`ll Macchu Pich you." Endlessly entertaining.


We finally made it to the top and were greeted by more clouds. I can`t remember if it was Pat or Breanne, but someone was feeling adventurous and decided to climb up on a part of the ruin. We clambered after them and were soon on top of a precarious ledge perched above the valley floor with an unobstructed view of the river about a 1000 feet below. The height was intoxicating as we sat there and waited for the clouds obscuring Macchu Picchu to clear. The surrounding mountains would peek their summits in and out of the clouds as we floated above the ruins.


Macchu Picchu finally did rear it`s supposedly jaguar-like head out of the clouds and like the tourists we were, we snapped hundreds of photos of the site. We climbed a little higher to the very summit of Huayanna Picchu and were greeted by tons of tourists and mosquitos. There was also one very hot, half-naked brit who took a liking to Pat.




The descent from Huayanna Picchu was interesting. I had it set in my mind that I wanted to go down a different way than we came up to avoid the tourists and visit a seldom seen part of Macchu Picchu called the Moon Temple. The rest of the group was unsure that they wanted to go that way. I finally saw the real value in hiring Miguel. We didn`t have to worry about trying to make decisions six ways. I decided in my typical only-child fashion, that I was heading to the temple and the others could come if they wanted. They opted not to, which was probably better because there were several harrowing descents and the hike back to Macchu Picchu was a bear. The moon temple was cool, the structure was built in the back of a rather deep cave, and you got the feeling that you were just trekking through the forrest and you happened along some undiscovered ruins.

I made it back to Macchu Picchu about 20 minutes behind the rest of the group and found them almost immediately. Well, almost all of them. Katie had wandered off somewhere looking for me and we lost her for the next hour. The complex was stuffed full of tourists. There were lines to get up almost everything and large groups lead by English-speaking, flag-welding, animated guides. Languages swirled around us as we sat on top of the main pyramid and took in the chaos. I kinda wanted to wander around the rest of the ruins and listen to tour guides, but the rest of the group wanted to go back to town for lunch. We hadn`t really eaten anything that day as we hadn`t prepared for the 5 am departure Since I had already defied the will of the group once and lost my girlfriend for my all that, I decided to stick with them as we made a slow exit. We eventually did find Katie at the entrance and we all beat a hasty retreat by bus down the mountain for lunch.



Usually, people take the train back the same day that they visit Macchu Picchu, but we had another night in Aguas Calientes because there were no seats left that day. So we shopped, did some internet stuff, said we were going to go hike to the waterfalls the next day, but ended up sleeping in and being lazy all day. We did have one high point in the rest of the trip and that was the train ride back to Ollantaytambo.

We hopped on the train the next day and there were hardly any people on it. Katie and I surrepticiously stole the good seats from Dave and Breanne, and settled in for the hour and a half train ride to Ollantaytambo. Just as we were falling asleep in the warm cabin, we were awakened by the sound of music playing and bells ringing. I had the brief dream that I was on the Polar Express with a warm cup of steaming hot chocolate....and then I woke up to this.....


A crazy masked man was dancing around the cabin with a board on his head. But the really funny part didn`t come until after the dance was over. A tall, dark, and handsome train attendant emerged from the bathroom and gave us his best "Blue Steele." He pranced down the aisle doing modeling poses and I`m sure trying to forget the fact that he was modeling sweaters on a train. Needless to say, we were very entertained.


Katie and I were stopping in Ollantaytambo for a night and a day of horseback riding while everyone else continued to Cusco. The trip ended with hugs and promises to write and send pictures, and just like that, it was over. We`d been traveling together for five days and it seemed like just 10 minutes. All-in-all a very memorable trip with great friends, great scenery, history, excitement, and lots and lots of spaghetti.