Salkantay to Machu Picchu, 5 days/4 nights to reach one of the 7 wonders of the World

Like we said before, we decided to reach this famous site the hard way: we had to trek for 5 days to get there and what an adventure it was! First we had to choose the right travel agency. After spending hours comparing the different options, We went for Andina Travel.

The day before we left Cusco, we attending a short briefing with Jorge, our guide, and the rest of the group. I had bet with Ciaran that we would be spending 5 days with a bunch of rich and old Americans. Fortunately I lost! Most of the people trekking with us were around the same age as us except an older scottish couple. During the briefing Jorge explained the itinirary and gave us some advise about what to bring with us.

To be honest, the atmosphere was quite tense in the room. He seemed like a nice guy but he was impatient and he replied quite badly to one or two questions people asked. We didn't really know what to think about our 'new team' but anyway it was too late to turn back!

We spent the whole evening getting ready. We were given a duffle bag to pack all our stuff. Contrary to our previous treks, we didn't really have to worry about the weight as donkeys and horses were to carry our bags!

The day after we were up at 5.30am ready to live what we hoped to be a great adventure!

As going through the whole thing might take a while, we'll break our story up into several parts so that you can't digest it better!

Day 1 - Cusco to Soraypampa

We left Cusco very early in the morning. I was upset because we only had one camera left and it was starting to act up! We took a 6 hours ride along a scenic route to a small village called Marcocasa where we met up with the mules, horses, and arrieros (wranglers) that would carry our gear during the trek. This is when our stupid camera decided that it wouldn't be part of our adventure, it wouldn't open anymore! The whole thing got stuck. No need to say that we were not the happiest people in the world at that moment!

So as an introduction to the whole group we started by asking if they could share some of their pictures with us by the end of the trek! They all agreed to do so (I asked very nicely!) and that cheered us up enough to start walking! 

The first day was pretty easy. We only walked 3 km. It was quite steep but the views were already amazing enough to forget about the pain! As we approached our campsite at Soraypampa, the enormous Salkantay peak (6270m) was towering over us impressively. The wranglers set up our campsite very quickly and the cookers prepared us a great first meal. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting in our tent. It was freezing up there and around 5pm we were all sitting in front of a nice campfire, drinking tea and trying to get to know each other. By 8pm everybody was back in their tent... there's nothing much you can do when it's that cold, that high and that dark  Nobody slept well that night, it was far too cold to get comfy. Even with a good sleeping bag, it's hard to stand - 14°.

Last pictures taken before our camera died!

Day 2 - Soraypampa to Chaullay

We had been warned that the second day would be the toughest. At 6 am the wranglers left a bowl of hot water in front of our tent so we could get a quick wash (nice gesture, but no thanks...when it's so cold, wipes do the job!). They also handed us a cup of steaming coca tea and told us that breakfast would be ready in 30 minutes. We packed our gear and met everybody else in the 'living room'... a big tent where we all had a sit around the dinner table! (We were given all thee following pictures.) 

We looked all pretty tired and ate the huge breakfast we were offered silently. At 7am we were finally ready to go. The first part of the trail was very steep indeed and the altitude made the ascent even more difficult. It was hard work but we were rewarded with amazing views of Salkantay mountain and the surrounding valley. After a few hours we come to a summit marked by small piles of stones left by locals and travelers to honor the mountain gods. We posed for the traditional 'we did it' photo but unfortunately nobody has sent it to us yet. We were standing at 4600m above sea level, definitely the highest we've ever been in our life!

From this high pass we made our way towards the valley below to camp for the night. The site was beautiful. It was much warmer than the night before and we spent the evening eating pop corn in front of the campfire. We had a good laugh and went to bed very early again. 

Before telling you about Day 3 let me introduce you to our team:

Jorge, our peruvian guide, nice but very impatient at times. 

A. and E., two sisters in their late 20's from Bermudas.

K., a lawyer, originally from Mauritius but leaving in Bermudas. 

A. and S., a nice greek couple around our age.

J. and C., an older scottish couple who were fluent in french!

Everybody seemed to get on well but we could feel some tension between the sisters and K.

Day 3 - Chaullay to Playa

One of the sisters got up very sick, she already struggled the day before because of altitude sickness and she was not in a good mood! Anyway same story as the previous day, we took our breakfast and got ready. We left the campsite at 7am. K., Ciaran and I were leading. (It was all downhill!) We had been told by Jorge to wait for the rest of the group when we would get to the bridge. It was a very nice day and I spent the whole time gossiping (in french) with K.! :-) He explained to me that he actually went out with one of the sisters for a few months and that they broke up just before their holidays in Peru... The tension was finally making sense! We finally got to the Bridge and started waiting for the others.

After 20 minutes of patience still nobody in sight! What you need to know is that before getting to the bridge the path split into two. I had told the two guys that it would make more sense to wait for Jorge before taking a chance. They didn't agree, the reason being we could see a bridge below... I followed them stupidly! 

Two locals finally passed by us and I asked them (with my broken spanish) where Playa was. They confirmed what we already guessed, we took the wrong path. We then made a U-turn. This is when the whole thing started to be much more unpleasant for me. While going uphill to catch up on the others, I started to realize that something was amiss with my stomach, very amiss. And it didn't take long to develop into a very serious problem. I'll obviously spare you the details. Let's just say that things were not going as expected! Proud, I kept going on until we finally managed to catch up with the rest of the group.

The 'sick sister' was feeling worse and worse and let everyone know that she was not happy. As a consequence she was offered a lift on the 'emergency' horse! While she was carried, I had to keep walking and my day quickly turned into a nightmare. I got sicker and sicker and there was only ONE 'emergency' horse! My luck! We finally arrived at our lunch spot, I sprawled out on the ground and declined lunch, wishing for better times to come. Apparently It was not meant to be soon! I spent the rest of the day struggling to walk and arrived in tears at the campsite one hour after everybody else. I went directly to our tent and spent the next 12 hours trying to sleep and recover... we had another long day to come and I didn't want it to be as bad as this awful one. I have to thank Ciaran for his patience! He took care of me the whole time.

So we basically spent a day hiking into a sub-tropical valley, where the temperature was much warmer and where we could see a variety of orchids, wild flowers, hummingbirds, butterflies, parrots, and lush groves of tropical fruit, cocoa, and coffee. No need to say I do not remember any of that.  My only concern was to make it to the campsite! Arrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!

Day 4 - Playa to Aguas Calientes

We had to wake up at 5am... I was not feeling great but I was much better. Proof? ... I could eat a bit! I was offered to take a bus with the two sisters (both of them had given up on the trek: one because she was sick, the other one because she was hangover!). I decided to keep walking! I really thought I was ok! Well, after 10 mn of walking it turned out that I was not.

The second day was supposed to be the toughest remember? Pfffffff, let me tell you that the 4th one was the worst! It went uphill for 3 hours. I was begging (nearly crying to be honest) for a break! I finally was heard around 1Oam. We arrived on a plateau from where where we enjoyed a stunning view of the backside of Machu Picchu amongst its neighboring peaks. It was amazing! J., the nice scottish woman, looked at me and said: 'Claire you must be feeling better, you're smiling again'!

The weather was very hot and humid, it didn't take long for the mosquitos to enjoy our blood. The next three hours were extremely difficult too. We were going downhill this time but the ground was slippery and sloping. I didn't care though, I was not sick anymore and I was finally enjoying the views! We arrived at the bottom around 1pm and three guys decided to swimm in the freezing cold river. No need to say that only a local, a scottish or an irish person would be crazy enough to do that! Jorge, C. and Ciaran happily froze their asses off in the water for about 15 minutes!

We then reached Hydroelectrica (named after the local hydroelectric plant) where we spent 3 hours waiting for a train to Aguas Calientes. We were all pretty exhausted and we couldn't wait to get to the town as that night we would finally be able to take a shower and sleep in a proper bed! 

While we were waiting for this bloody train I decided to take a look at our camera. I know!! It was BRO-KEN!! But still I was hoping for a miracle. Despite asking it to work, it didn't listen (yes I talked to cameras!). C., the nice scottish man, saw me trying to fix it and said 'what's the problem exactly'? I told him that the lense wouldn't open anymore. This is when he said 'oh really? Let me tried something'. He tapped the camera in his hand and turned on the bloody thing. Believe me or not, a miracle happened: the lense opened straightaway! You should have heard me. I got completely crazy  Ciaran and I would have a chance to immortalize Machu Picchu!!!!! Finally a reward after these four tough days!

The train journey was great, the views amazing. Aguas Calientes is not beautiful though. The town only exists because it's at the base of one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world. The buildings are ugly and it is overrun with tourists. Once in the hotel everybody ran to take a hot shower. We all met at 7pm to go for a meal together. There are hundreds of restaurants in Aguas Calientes but Jorge managed to pick one of the worst! We were all very annoyed by that. We think he chose that very expensive place because:

a: his sister (cousin, neighbourgh...) owns the place

b: he gets a free meal for bringing foreign customers

c: all of the above

It's too bad because we all agreed to pay for his meal anyway. After that we certainly didn't feel like thanking him at all. We all went to bed unhappy! If we'd known we would have eaten cookies in our room Anyway, the best was about to come so we forgot about that crap evening and made sure that the camera was charged!

We had to make up for all the pictures we couldn't take the previous days.

Ok you're probably exhausted as well by know. Too much reading for your liking I suppose?! Don't worry I'm about to give you a break! See you soon for the last (but not the least) part of our adventure !!