Salkantay You Savage Beauty
There are so many treks in this country to choose from that it’s actually a little overwhelming. Luckily half the work was done for me as my sis, Matilda had already done all the research the year prior and highly recommended the company she did the Inca Trail with in 2018 (Alpaca Expeditions). Now it was just to decide which one to do. I landed on the Salkantay 6 Day Trek to Machu Picchu: it seemed to have it all; the incredible landscapes of the Andes, glacier lagoons, jungle sections, camping with a view of Machu Picchu and even hiking a section of the infamous Inca Trail. After an initial panic that our group was only 3 people (what if they are shit??) we get picked up at the crack of dawn and take off towards Soraypampa where we’ll “camp” the first night.
Our drive there takes us through a couple of archaeological sites, Tarawasi and Killarumiyoc where we have a gourmet brekkie prepared by our chef Fortunato, who is famous in these parts… one of the best chefs in the company so we are told… he’s so good and the food is so tasty that my hiking pants that fit me at the start didn’t fit by day 3. Every meal is multiple courses starting with soup and I don’t think we even repeated a dish… its actually magic how they do it.
Turns out my initial panic about the group was all for nothing; we lucked out with an amazing group: Paula (a crazy Colombian who lives in Costa Rica), Joel (Mexican living in the USA), Ricardo (our legendary guide from Alpaca Expeditions), Enrique (our porter from Alpaca Expeditions who woke us up with Coca tea every morning pre-dawn, set up and packed down our tents and carried all our shit, Fortunato (the aforementioned Super Chef) and for the first few days a horseman to lug all our gear over the pass. So we arrive to Soraypampa (3900m) to our luxurious Glass Cabanas (yes no tents tonight), feast ourselves on another insane meal and then head off for our test hike up to Laguna Humantay (4200m).
We set off and I’m wondering why TF I’m still finding it so hard to breathe; I had 4 full days in Cusco to acclimatise and by some cruel twist of fate I ended up on the top bunk in the dorm which I got puffed out climbing up every night (go figure)… I’m thinking I should be fine but at 3900m I’m even getting puffed walking on flat land. Anyway Paula and Joel are flying up the mountain and I’m lagging behind all like “mate I’m dying over here” can’t seem to get air into my lungs. So I struggle up the mountain all the while thinking how TF am I going to last the next 5 days if I can’t even do this 300m altitude climb. We’re rewarded with an amazing view of Humantay Glacier and the picturesque lake at the base of the glacier before we descend back to camp. I’m looking forward to getting my breathing back on the descent but no such luck; it’s just as much of a struggle going down as it was going up.
So I choose to ignore it and write it off as lack of fitness and figure I’ll just need to man up and get my head in the game. Besides I’ve done Kokoda and that is way more challenging. Today Peru are in the final for the America’s Cup against Brasil so we huddle into a local shop on the way back to camp with a bunch of locals to catch the second half of the match; unfortunately they didn’t get up but the experience of squishing into a little store to watch the match with the locals was one I’ll never forget.
When I woke up in the middle of the night I could see the Andean Milky Way and Humantay Glacier through the glass ceiling/walls of the cabana. Having spent the past few days hearing the history of the Andeans and the Incas and their connection to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Apu’s (Mountain Gods) and the solar system I couldn’t help but feel incredibly lucky to be here; it’s literally breath taking…. also I actually still couldn’t breathe and, maybe it was the stars, but I had a moment of clarity that perhaps this was more than just a lack of fitness… this is feeling a whole heap like that time I got that bloody thunderstorm asthma in Melbourne. I’m sifting through my bag trying to find my asthma medication and lo and behold I’ve left it in storage in Cusco… how freakin convenient is that!!!
So after brekkie the next morning and still with only partially functioning lungs we set off to climb Salkantay pass. Luckily in Soraypampa there is an emergency doctor so we wake him up, he examines me and for the bargain price of $27 AUD I am dosed up on steroids and have some Ventolin which I’m told should kick in in the next hour or two. The doc suggests to my guide to get me on the oxygen tank but as we’re walking it’s not possible so we venture on stopping every 2 - 3 mins to try and get some air into my lungs, to no avail.
We arrive to Salkantaypampa (4100m) and our guide forces me to get on the emergency horse to ride up to the pass at 4620m. It feels like a massive failure and between tears and some reassurance from the guide and our amazing team that it doesn’t matter how I get there, but that I actually get to the summit, I reluctantly get on the horse and venture up to our highest point (Salkantay Pass). The drugs are starting to kick in and when we hit about 100m from the pass I get off to climb that last little steep part just to get that rewarding feeling of reaching the peak (it still felt good despite the the fact I rode a horse 80% of the way).
We venture off the beaten path over rocky alpine terrain to reach Laguna Salkantay; we were the only people there. It’s literally a 5 - 10 min walk from the pass where hundreds of people walk every day and yet most don’t venture across as they don’t know it’s there.. no signs, just a special spot that you get to see if a local guide knows there way around some rocks. So we sit on the edge of the turquoise glacier lake, listening to little avalanches on the Salkantay Glacier and hear about the historical and current Andean spiritual beliefs. All of the important mountains have Apu’s (Gods) and because Salkantay’s summit sits below the southern cross when viewed from Machu Picchu’s sundial it is considered one of the most important God’s of the region. Our porter, Enrique makes an offering of Coca Leaves and asks the Apu’s surrounding us to serve as our protector for the coming days; pretty special.
From the summit to camp we’re downhill through the cloud forest; the scenery changes so quickly and before we know it we’ve left the rocky mountain ranges for grassy fields sprinkled with flowers and soon venture into warmer temperatures and a rainforest vegetation. My drugs have kicked in and I’m having the time of my life, not only can I breathe properly but I’ve got so much energy that it almost seems wasted using it downhill. We camp on some pre-incan terraces at a site whose name I can’t remember somewhere between Wayracmachay and Rayanpata; it’s misty and magical… I’m feeling so lucky. Our crew give us hot water bottles so we’re all rugged up in our sleeping bags on two air matresses (LUXE), well fed and able to get the most comfy night’s rest…. this is barely camping; infact this tent is more comfortable than majority of the hostels I’ve slept in.
Day 3 we venture down to lunch at Colpapampa (2770m) before climbing up and down little hills, river crossings, across a bunch of landslides (they seriously just create paths through these little landslides… seems so unstable but the only thing we lost down one was my lens cap). We meander through the forest, picking wild strawberries along the way (tiny but delicious), stopping into these tiny little villages, eating fresh granadilla (YUM) and arrive at camp for the night at Loreta where Alpaca have built little hobbit houses for us to sleep in after a relaxing hot tub to help recover the muscles and ready them for the “gringo killer” tomorrow and, of course, a Pisco Sour nightcap to send us off to sleep.
The next morning we set off downhill again before heading up the Lucmabamba Inka Trail. We stop off at a local organic coffee farm where we learn how to pick the coffee beans, strip and dry them and roast them. After we’ve roasted our own coffee and tasted the “get up you dead bird” liquor (mix of coffee, pisco & honey from memory) we sit down to knock back a cup of the coffee we’ve roasted and ground (I filled mine with sugar so that it tasted like espresso martinis). We’re served fresh avocado picked off the tree accompanied by pico de gallo (I gotta remember this combo because…. DELISH!!!) and then Fortunato outdoes his usual creations and serves us up Lomo Saltado (my new fave), chicken and mango ceviche and a bunch of other delicious dishes to power us up for the 600m altitude climb to get to Llactapata.
They call this climb the “gringo killer” but the views of Santa Teresa Valley the whole way up make this climb thoroughly enjoyable. We end up doing this afternoon without our guide as he was held back to help a Brazillian from another trekking company who had a heart attack on the trail so the three of us ventured up together stopping off for our first distant views of Machu Picchu as the sun begins to set. Our campsite for the night stares straight across to it… pretty magical and one that will go down in the history books.
Day 5 - The sun rises over the mountain ranges, Machu Picchu in plain sight ahead of us, Salkantay is visible to our right; it’s our last day of hiking and it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in just a few short days. We head down the mountain to Hydroelectric for lunch then follow the train line to Aguas Calientes. What I thought would be an easy day (down and flat) was strangely one of the more tiring ones so it was a pretty early dinner and off to bed to rest up for the climb up Waynapicchu tomorrow.
Machu Picchu day… by the way I’ve been saying it wrong my entire life as do most tourists… we’re told that the way us gringo’s pronounce it we’re asking for dick instead of naming a mountain…. oops…. so we learn to say it the RIGHT way, are up at the crack of dawn (what’s new) and are bussing it up to Machu Picchu before the masses to see the sunrise. It’s honestly such a magical place; It’s crazy to think that 7000 tourists trample all over it every single day!! Can’t imagine that will last much longer before they start to reduce the numbers or stop it all together. These structures were so well built with a technique where the stones are cut to fit together without mortar (like male and female) that not even a hair can fit in between the stones; it’s truly incredible to see; the Incas have got to have been some of the best masons in the world; not only that but the way they built the structure they were able to withstand earthquakes (which are common in this region). Interestingly the crappy buildings the Spanish built after they invaded Peru all crumbled at the first sign of an earthquake.
Because the past 5 days of hiking haven’t been enough, Paula and I tackle the steep steps of Waynapicchu for a birds eye view of the site and 360 degree views of the surrounding mountain region. By the time we leave the site at 12:30pm it’s heaving with tourists, the sun is beating down on us and my patience is wearing thin for all the crowds “getting in the way” LOL. We take the PeruRail train back to Cusco which is so incredibly scenic and we part ways in Cusco; what an amazing 6 days we’ve shared in one of the most exceptional places I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. The photos just do not do it any justice.
