Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu.

After our relaxing time in Ollaytaytambo is was time to get out into the mountains and do some trekking.  We were unable to book onto the Inca trail, as it needs to be booked months in advance but we found another trek that took our fancy, the High Inca Trail or the Salkantay Trek.
We were picked up at 4am from Cuzco, and after a long drive, we arrived at the trail head at Mollepata, only starting at 3400M asl !.  We were lucky again to have great people on our group, Dave and Lee from London , and Robin and Emy a couple of journalists from the UK working in Brazil.

Our Trekking group and Apu Salkantay.

The first day was a toughie.  Peruvian Treks don't seem to bother with acclimatization, they just give you a bag of Coca leaves and off you g1.  We headed up the valley to the pass Abra Salkantay at 4600M,  between 2 huge snow capped mountains Humantay (5810M) and Salkantay (6264M).  It was really tough going - we could only walk a few steps before needing to stop for breath.  Plenty of Coca leaves helped up through it though ;-).

At the Abra Salkantay.

As we descended towards our first camp we got out first sightings of Chinchillas, scampering around the rocks.  Looked a bit like rabbits but couldn’t get close enough for a photo!  Our first camp was at a remote farmstead at the base of of mountain.  It wasn’t too cold in the tent, but we were awoken by a few avalanches from the mountain above.  A bit scary !!!

Alpacas

Humantay.

Our First Camp.

On the second day we descended from the highlands down into the high jungle.  It was nice to be losing altitude and feeling a bit better.  It was also much warmer and lots of different plant life and flowers.

High Jungle region.

We camped the second night at a small village.  Luckily it also had a wee bar so we went up there for a few beers.  We ended up playing cards with the owners daughter who turned out to be a bit of a card shark !!!

Local Card shark !!!!

The third day was quite a short one and involved trekking further down the valley.  There were a few farms on the route so we were able to buy fresh fruit and Inca Kola to replenish our supplies.  We saw lots of different birds and hundreds of butterflies.  A big change from the highlands a few days before.

Andean Shopping Center.

Trekking.

At the end of the day 3 we camped in a small town.  The Bonus here was they had some hot springs which was a great way to end the day.  We had an interesting evening after we returned from the Springs, when we found our guide had decided to get completely plastered and could hardly stand or walk.  Bearing in might we had a 4am start tomorrow morning things were not looking too good!

In the morning we managed to drag a very hungover guide from his tent and march him up the road to start the days trekking.  He was struggling big time, but we managed to keep him going and up the big climb into the next valley.  From here we got our first view of Machu Picchu across the valley.
Cuzco156 – Machu Pichu in the distance.
We then had a massive down hill descent to a hydroelectric power station then a few miles along the railway to the town of Aguas Calientes, which is the town of the base of Machu Pichu.

Start of day 4.

Toward the Hydro Elecrica.

Along the tracks to Aguas Calientes.

In Aguas Calientes we stayed in a hostel, so we could get a good sleep before the 4am hike up to our goal, Machu Picchu !!!!.  We woke very early the next day to rain !!!!!, we couldn't believe it !!!!.  So it was on with the water proofs and head torches and we started the uphill slog to Machu Picchu.  We arrived at the top just as the sun rose and luckily the rain eased off.  It was actually quite good as it made Machu Picchu look very mysterious in the low cloud.

Dean and Gillian at Machu Picchu.

We also climbed the mountain behind Machu Picchu, called Huayna Picchu.  It was about another hours climb.  It turned out to be very technical scramble, especially as it was wet rock.  It was pretty steep also.  Unfortunately the views were not great, but it was a good achievement climbing it.

View from Huayna Picchu.

Don't fall !!!