Day 38
No riding here! 🙂
Today was the day of the Salkantay Trek. I can’t believe I got on this thing so fast after I arrived at Cusco two days ago. We met up last night to have a briefing on what to expect and we’re told to meet at the office at 4:45AM to take the bus to the beginning of the hike. We were told we have a 5am wake up every single day except for the last day for MP we had to wake up at 3:30AM. Brutal.
All of us met in the office at the center of Cusco and we loaded up the buses. There were three groups of about 12 people each. My group looked pretty fun from what I saw. We took like a 3 hour bus ride and stopped for a light breakfast in the middle of the ride which was pretty much just fruit. Once we got to the beginning of the hike we all loaded up what we needed into our backpacks and had extra duffels that horses would carry with sleeping bags and anything else we had. Max weight was 7KG.
The elevation was quite high. I made two friends from Idaho straight away. These kids were degenerates and we clicked right away. It was pretty much a hike at a 45 degree angle to Laguna Humantay. A few of us decided to go full on and were dying with the altitude. We pushed it a bit too hard. We did a few kilometers that morning to the lake and then stopped for some photos. It was incredible. The guide was telling us how the snow came down 3/4 of the way down at least 6 years ago and it all started to melt recently due to global warming. That made us all quite sad. He said the snow will probably be gone in 6 years or so and the lake will dry up which is terrible for the villages down below because that’s the water they use to survive. Everyone started to open up and chat some more which was nice to see, including myself. The guide Aurelio was awesome and it seems like we got a good guide and group which I was worried about. I didn’t want to be stuck with a boring guide and boring group of people.
After the hike to the lake we made it a few kilometers to our campsite. The first day was a very very short hike but we needed to get used to the altitude. Once we got to the campsite we unloaded a few things and laid out in the sun. We had a light lunch after maybe an hour and then I laid out in the sun on the mountainside. The winds were strong and it was cold but as soon as I found a little spot in the sun hidden from the winds it was so warm and lovely. I laid there for a few hours until the sun started to get low on the horizon. A few people from the group came over to where I was and we all hung out and chatted for maybe 2 hours or so and it was so nice. We got to know each other pretty well and where everyone was from. The group was solid. I liked them a-lot. Once the sun dropped behind the mountains we still hung out and chatted until dinner was ready. It was quite the hike up to the house we ate dinner at from our cabins. I got teamed up with the rednecks from Idaho for the houses we slept in. Small triangular shaped huts with grass roofs. Once dinner was over everyone tried to use the bathrooms, I took some night shots of the stars and we all passed out fairly quickly.
Gearing up for the start
Group photo as we started
Humantay Lake
Julian, Demi, Jubel, Tom
These are our huts in the background with the white straw roofs, the building above it is where we ate lunch and dinner.
The view of Salkantay pass. We will be hiking there tomorrow
Lunch and dinner spot
Soaking in the sun. Was still a tad bit windy there.
Im checking out the view for tomorrows hike
Catching some rays with the rednecks.
Watching our sunset.
