Salkantay Trek

Day 4: Salkantay Begins!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!! It’s finally here, the biggest highlight of my trip to Peru—The Salkantay Trek! 5 days of hiking, reaching an elevation of about 15,190 feet/4,630 meters, and ending with a journey to Machu Picchu! I am so thrilled to be doing this, although there is a certain level of self-doubt as to how well I’ll do, walking approximately 47 miles……hehe.

I arrive at the pick-up spot and quickly make friends with Julia from the Netherlands. We were one of the first people to arrive, but we ended up in the last row of the van on a bench seat. At first we thought, great! We’ll have extra room, but two more guides joined us, and it was quite “cozy” in the back, hehe. We managed just fine, although at one point, I thought I’d bite my tongue off, it was so bumpy back there, lol. 

We have a nice breakfast along the way, the excitement of the group beginning to materialize. With only one more stop before the trailhead, it was almost time to take our first steps of hundreds of thousands coming the next several days. Our next stop was our last chance to buy water, snacks, and plastic bags to keep our belongings dry, should the weather take a turn for the worse. One more hour to go!

As we continue our drive, the scenery is already fantastic; cotton ball clouds floating effortlessly between the mountain peaks, playing a coy game of hide and seek with the peaks, teasing us with the views they are shielding. The mountains we can see are stark and a lush green that reminds me of Jurassic Park. The road follows a huge, rushing muddy river below in the valley, and the remoteness of where we are sets in. 

The van rolls to a slow stop, and we can see many large white vans and even more horses and donkeys up ahead. This is it! We’re here! Ahhhh! We get out of the van, double-check we have everything we need for the day’s hike, and pack the rest into our duffel bags, which we’ll get once more at our camp site. We help each other apply copious amounts of sunscreen because the sun is HOT. Haha. It’s already burning our skin, and none of us want to carry a daypack on burnt shoulders. The elevation here is 12,834 feet/3,912 meters. Before we begin hiking, we get together as a group and are given a short briefing of what lay ahead of us today. We chose a group name after some suggestions were thrown around by our guide, and we landed on the quirky, “Sexy Donkeys”,” haha. It became our motto and our motivation in our most difficult moments. 

Our first hurdle is pretty much hiking straight up hill until we reach the Humantay Lagoon, an other-worldly turquoise lagoon at the base of a snow capped mountain. The hike was brutal, and the altitude was already prohibiting us from breathing well. This is gonna be a long day, let alone a long 5 days, haha. We encourage each other and finally make it to the lagoon, where it starts to sprinkle rain, and I worry we’re headed for some wet hiking and obstructed views. 

I hiked up to a viewpoint at the lagoon and was not disappointed…it was worth the extra steps and tough breathing. The lagoon looked like a watercolor painting, and not something I was seeing with my own eyes. It was magical! I suddenly forgot how difficult the hike up was, and simmered in the beauty of my surroundings, tickled by the fact that I was actually there. I have never seen a glacier until now, and it’s unreal! Its as if the glacier itself is a sculptor and is slowly carving out the lines and angles of the mountain it calls home. 

I know we have so much more to see, but I’d be happy to spend all day here, hehe. But soon enough, our fearless guide, Ronaldo, gathers us together to continue our journey to camp. The next section is all downhill, which we all wrongly think is a god-send. The trail was rocky, and the small boulders were difficult to get around and quite slippery. We enjoyed some great conversations on the way down, and before we knew it, we came to a resting place. With only a few short minutes to eat a snack and apply more sunscreen, we were on our way once more, the final stretch to our campsite. Which, of course, was uphill, lol. Here we go again! 

Although difficult, we now had a spectacular view of the Salkantay Mountain….OH. MY. GOD. It was amazing, and it was just the right motivation to get us the rest of the way. Our campsite sat at 13,122 feet/4,000 meters, and we could definitely feel the elevation here. The “best” part of this campsite was that our communal dining area was even further uphill than our Andean Huts….meaning we’d have to hike up and down for dinner and breakfast the following morning, which would be in the dark, AND with our daypack and duffel bags….Grrrrrrreeat. Lol. 

I suppose it was all expertly designed to acclimate us to the higher elevation, for which I am grateful now, but it was hell in the moment, haha. I did have a slight headache at camp, similar to what I experienced on my first day in Cusco, but nothing worse, which I was extremely grateful for. 

My new friend, Julia and I shared an Andean Hut together, and we’d continue to room together along the hike, and get to know each other quite well. She told me of a really interesting concept hostel that arose in the Netherlands, and their theme is “Seek Discomfort,” following the age old adage of going outside of your comfort zone brings you the most growth. The hostel invited solo travelers from around the world to get together and be social. I absolutely loved this concept, and even more, the motto. I will make an effort to incorporate that into my daily life… Thanks, Julia! 

In the morning, the cooks woke us up at our huts with a hot cup of coca tea, which gives energy and is extremely helpful when dealing with altitude. What a way to wake up! Hehe. We gathered our things, and trekked up the steep hill for breakfast. Today we’d be tackling the highest point on the entire trek; the Salkantay Pass. I was pretty nervous for hiking up there, and our guide offered horses for some of the group to take. I struggled a bit yesterday, but I came here to hike, and deep down, I knew I could do it. About half our group opted for horses, and the other half decided to hike. 

The hike itself wasn’t awful, it started off with some “Inca Flat,” or rolling hills, lol. This encouraged me greatly, as it wouldn’t be all uphill the entire time. We also crossed an even flatter area before the gnarly section began. There were two options, the classic switchback trail, nicknamed the “gringo killer,” lol, and the shortcut. Our guide told us to take the shortcut….and perhaps it was shorter, but it wasn’t any less steep, hahaha. 

I struggled quite a bit here, as well, and the more I progressed, the harder it was to breathe. But I found my pace and kept my motivation high, and continued on, even at a snails pace. By now, the rest of the hiking group was well ahead of me, but I persevered on my own and found peace in the solitude.

Before I knew it, I reached the summit and found my group, and when they saw me, they cheered for me and gave me high fives, hehe. The BEST! And, although it was pretty cloudy, we had an excellent view of the Salkantay peak…absolutely unreal! Hehe. I’ve never hiked so high, and it was exhilarating, to say the least. 

We enjoyed the views up top for a while, trying our best to shield ourselves from the cold wind. At this point, I had all my warm layers on and was still quite cold. I’m sure being wet from sweating so much was no help, but it was manageable. 

Soon again, we were on our way down; another 2 hours or so of downhill….brutal! Haha. The loose rocks were slippery, and our knees and ankles were in danger of being twisted or tweaked, so we walked mainly with our heads down, lol. The second we’d look up to enjoy the view, a “whoop” would escape, as your boot rolled sideways on a loose rock. Lol. But the views were amazing, as we descended the high alpine towards the cloud forest. There were colors of green and yellow, and meadows began appearing with horses grazing leisurely in the fields. 

We had a wonderful lunch, always so much food! I suppose we need it all for this amazing feat we’re undertaking, lol. Once everyone had their fill, we once again began hiking, more downhill. Haha. This part of the trail took us through the cloud forest, and we began to see more bugs, and it got steadily warmer and more humid. I spent some time talking with another guide, William, and he explained to me how hard it is to maintain a relationship with this job. He goes out once a week for 5 days, and his ex-wife couldn’t handle that much absence, so they split up. I am so grateful for the guides who make these treks possible, and learning about some of the difficulties made me appreciate them even more. I can’t imagine doing that once a week… I figured they did this every other week or so. 

FInally at our next campsite, we have hot showers and WiFi! Wooohoo! Hehe. I was honestly looking forward to a cold shower, since it was quite warm towards the end of our hike, but, the lines were so long, and by the time I had a chance to shower I was cooled off and opted for the hot shower, costing 10 soles, or around $2-$3. Worth it! 

Our Sexy Donkey group played a fun couple rounds of Uno, paired up, because we were so many. What a classic game to bring traveling, hehe. Thanks, Julia! We had a ton of laughs, and it felt like we were really starting to bond at this point. We knew each other’s quirks and personalities, and were making jokes with one another. 

After dinner, we all crashed hard in our Andean Huts, to complete day 2 of hiking. Tomorrow would be quite chill, and we have a fun activity planned!