Peru! 🇵🇪
- laurenlcoon
- May 24, 2017
- 13 min read
Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for a very long time! Brandon and I got in the habit of celebrating birthdays with hikes or travel instead of presents and when he asked me last year, "What are we going to do for your 30th?!" I thought lets climb Machu Picchu! I wasn't sure if this was realistic for us or our budgets but we looked into it anyways. I am so thrilled we were able to make it happen and ringing in my 30th couldn't have been more special!
We quickly learned that most of our friends who have gone to MP have taken the train and then a bus to the top. You can 'climb Machu Picchu' when you arrive by getting a ticket to climb the actual mountain the ruins are on.
Quick lesson:
Machu Picchu is the mountain that the ruins are built ON. The very tall peak in the pictures you have seen is actually Huayna Picchu. Looking down on the iconic picture you'd be standing on Machu Picchu looking at Huayna Picchu! I obviously did not know this until I researched more but there you have it!
So when we started asking around about people hiking, they let us know they did the hike THERE but not an actual hike TO Machu Picchu. THAT is what I wanted to do so around the same time we started planning, a friend of mine was doing the trek over July 4th weekend. I immediately stalked all of her pictures and bombarded her with questions. She was incredibly helpful and made me realize that not only could we do this trek, but we should do it!
We opted to use Salkantay Trekking and did the Salkantay trail instead of the Inca Trail. I don't think you can go wrong when deciding between the two, however for us... we wanted fewer crowds and were fine with a 'more challenging' hike. Our guide explained that Salkantay has higher altitudes (15K ft vs 13K ft) and is a bit longer. But Inca has more stone steps and can be more tiresome and treacherous should it rain.
Now that you have a decent back story on how Peru came to be our goal for May 8th, here is our trip!
We flew Delta from ATL to Lima at around 6 pm EST. Unfortunately, we landed around 11:30 pm (1 hour behind) and didn't have our next flight until 5 am! Let's just say sleeping on airport chairs ain't glamorous!
Our next flight was with LATAM air! We heard they were more reliable with seats and accurate take-off times and so we headed from Lima to Cusco! We landed and took a taxi to our hotel! The taxi ride was 15 soles (1 sol is .31 USD) but Brandon heard 50 soles so we are certain our driver was thrilled! We stayed at the JW Marriott as it was recommended to us by friends who both hikes and took the train! It did not disappoint, the grounds are beautiful and the employees are friendly and attentive and even were patient with our terrible Spanglish! Hey, we tried!! :)
They let us check in EARLY! Like 7 hours early and we immediately took a quick nap... yay for a bed! We got up around 10 am and headed down for some food. The hotel menu was great and very accommodating for gluten free!
I wish I had taken more pictures but have you ever put butter, salt, and paprika on bread? OMG! This is a pic of regular bread, they also had some great GF bread that I thoroughly enjoyed. We also brought home enough Sal de Maras to feed an army and put salt on everything! Bye Health!
We were told to acclimate for 2 days before our trek so we planned to be in Cusco Wednesday and Thursday before starting our hike on Friday. Cusco is fairly small and there is not a ton to do, so not only is rest and hydration important... but it is very easy to do as just walking around the town can tire you out!
One thing there is no shortage of are BABY LLAMAS! You will find plenty of women in traditional garb toting around adorable baby llamas or pulling full-size Alpaca on leashes around the city.
You can stop and get a picture with them, most will ask you to do so and then ask for soles.
Most are fine with 1 or 2 soles but some will say it is 20 soles each.
Ask ahead of time how much they want as most local will let you know they just want to see how gullible us tourists are!
That night we went to dinner at a more modern Peruvian place called Cafe Morena! It was delicious, had fun decor and great service!
The next morning we got up and grabbed some brunch before heading to Cristo Blanco! We stopped at a cute little places called Greens that had a healthy menu and relaxing ambiance. We got to sit right near this little window and enjoy a good view, some coffee and healthy fuel for our walk!
The walk from Greens to Cristo Blanco is only about 1.5 km depending on which route you take but it is ALL uphill so we definitely had our work cut out for us. I had on a skirt and boots and was fine but we saw people in full workout and hiking gear getting to the top. You can also opt for a taxi! Thankfully the views are beautiful on the way up and we passed a lot of dogs and cats on our way!
Cristo Blanco is Spanish for White Christ and is a smaller version of Christ the Redeemer, it is on top of the Pukamuqu Mountain that sits around 11,800 feet! The views overlooking the city are stunning and are just as much of a draw as Cristo Blanco is!
After exploring Cristo Blanco and looking at the local artists and their jewelry, we headed back down to the city!
Sun sets very early in Cusco and so we decided to try and find a rooftop place to have some drinks! We found Limbus, a RestoBar, with outdoor couches, city views and a fun drink menu! I got a drink called 'the sexy!' and Brandon got something with Pisco of course!
After our sunset drinks. We went to our informational meeting with Salkantay Trekking, grabbed our duffel bags to pack for the trip. Ate a quick dinner at Cicciolina and then got to bed for an early morning the next day!
May 5th, Day 1:
The next morning came QUICK! We had stayed up until 11:30 or so packing our duffels for the trip. The porters carry 7kg a person in a duffel and you are responsible for carrying everything else. It was hard to determine what was around 15 lbs so we spent more time packing that we would have liked.
The car arrived around 4:30 am and we were on our way! We drove for about 2 hours to Mollepata where we stopped and had a quick breakfast of eggs, fruit, coffee and some bread. Then it was back in the car for 2 more hours to Challacancha, where we started our hike.
We got out of the van, put on sunscreen, pet some horses and then started our hike. I remember feeling like Wow this is going to be long and being at the beginning felt so overwhelming. I was so anxious I would be the one to hold our group of 13 back or that I wouldn't finish or would get hurt or sick. Our group immediately all got along, came up with a fun "One Team One Dream!" chant and made sure to keep a pace everyone was comfortable with.
We stopped along the way several times for pictures and snacks as well as some history and information on the geography.
The beginning of the hike was about 4.5 miles until we would stop to eat lunch and see our campground for the night! The starting elevation was around 12,000 feet and we went up and down several hills and valleys during these 4.5 miles. When you're over about 8,000 feet it can be very hard to catch your breath so speed was not on our side.
After a few hours we arrived at our campsite:
I had seen the igloos on the website but was amazed to see them in person. This little spot sits all by itself and the views are stunning. Our trekking group were the only ones who got to use these and we couldn't wait to sleep in them under the stars. We put our things down and went inside for lunch. Our plan was to eat a bit and then head up to Lake Humantay.
The cooks made the best lunch out of rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and meats! They were very accommodating to anyone with a gluten allergy or vegetarian diet as well. We ate a bit, drank some coca tea, took a power nap and then headed out for the glacier and lake.
Hiking up to the lake was not terribly far but it was very steep and through trails covered in rock. Our elevation increased to about 14,000 feet upon reaching the lake. I have to say this was one of the most beautiful sights we saw. It was amazing to have a lake this high up with such a beautiful glacier in the back and not a soul around!
We didn't dare get in as it was very cold up there but we could not get enough of the view. We were fortunate enough to meet a man named Victor who was Kashwa from Peru. He performed an offering to the land to honor Pachamama (Mother Earth).
Once the sun set we hiked back down with our head lamps and headed back to camp for dinner. We had dinner and some Muña tea and then couldn't wait to get to sleep in our little igloos. We were exhausted from the first day and knew we had an early wakeup time.
Day 2: The next morning our wake-up call was 5am! Our guide woke us up with some Coca tea and let us know breakfast would be in 30 minutes. We ate and were prepped that today would be our most difficult day as we would be going through Salkantay Pass. The pass is over 15,000 feet and is very steep. Our campsite was around 12,000 and we had about 13 miles to cover that day. Between the elevation and distance, I was sore and already anxious about the day.
Thankfully we had acclimated a bit and were going at a decent rate with enough breaks in between to keep going.
The distance is a 4 mile ascent in 3 hours where you pass between the rocky valley bottom and the Salkantay Mountain. When we finally reached the top we saw spectacular views of the mountains and the snowy peaks of the Salkantay, Humantay, Tucarhuay and Pumasillo mountains. The Salkantay Mountain is the second highest mountain in the Cusco region and one of the Inca Gods called “Apu”.
After we summited, we had a 2 hour hike downhill to our lunch. On the way down, it started to pour so we had to bust out our handy ponchos! I'd say this was probably the worst part of the hike. It was downhill after an excruciating uphill, we were exhausted and soaked. I couldn't have been more excited to sit down and eat when we made it to our next stop at Huayracmachay.
Our lunch was great, meat and potatoes and cheese and more coca tea! We were all set to get back on the trek. It was still raining and we had 6.2 miles to go before nightfall. The crazy geographical differences from the beginning of the trek until this point were already crazy but we were about to go through what felt like a rain forrest with thick foliage, clouds of steam and jungle-like plants.
We stumbled upon a tiny village and found this puppy and chickens and I could not contain myself. I missed Liam so much! Sadly this pup wanted nothing to do with me except for my snacks so I fed him everything I had! He was starved!
After this quick stop we had a couple hours of hiking left but not may hours of daylight we high tailed it to our camp site with only about 6 more miles to go. Thankfully a lot of this was flat, downhill or only a slight incline so our quick pace was doable.
We arrived at Chaullay Village where we were staying for the night. Our accommodations for the night were tents and since it had rained so heavily that day, we had them set up on a deck so there were no flooding issues.
We had a fairly early dinner that night and were off to bed!
Day 3: The next morning we were up super early so we could get a head start as other groups would be on the trek at this point with us. We had a quick breakfast and started our trek by 6am. Walking through the village and onto the path were such diverse plants and scenery from thick jungles to steep mountains and waterfalls. We saw pigs and horses and even walked past several fruit stands where we could buy passionfruit and bananas for 1 sol.
Once we arrived in La Playa, we had lunch and there was a small market you could buy things at. I got peanut M&M's because duh! And I met another adorable friend!
After lunch, we took a quick bus ride to Hidroelectrica where some folks in our group opted to take the train to Aguas Calientes. We decided we were probably going to take the bus in the morning at Machu Picchu and decided to walk the rest of the way. This took about 3 more hours and I was so excited to finally arrive at Aguas Calientes!
Once we got to our hostel, we all got to shower off (finally) and head to our final team dinner! Here we got info and tickets for the next day and our cool Salkantay Trekking "I Survived" T-shirts. After dinner, we explored a bit of the city and found some gelato and a bar called Machu Pisco where they had some great drinks!
Day 4: Machu Picchu!
The next morning (my birthday) we were up around 3 am! Yikes! We had to be at the bus station early so we could get in line since the gates open 6 am on the dot and the buses start going up right before. We opted to take the bus up that morning instead of the steps since we were pretty wrecked after our 50 miles on foot!
We got on the second bus and were in line for the gates as they were opening! Our guide was amazing and made sure he took us directly to the best spot in the house for pictures!
Henry said that by the end of the day the ruins would look like they had sprinkles on them with how many people will visit in a day and he was right! We got tickets to climb Huayna Picchu which is that tall mountain the back. Our tickets were for 7-8am so we had a short amount of time with our group before heading to our climb. Henry gave us some history of the ruins and a quick tour of the area before walking us to Huayna Picchu gate!
Huayna Picchu was very challenging. It had rained earlier and the rocks were very slippery and steep and the exposure was extreme. If you took a wrong step you would fall straight down. Several spots were very anxiety inducing and we made sure to take our time and be deliberate with all of our steps. Because of this, we did not have too many pictures except for when we got to the top. There is a landing area near the top, then a staircase up to the very top where you circle around the mountain, crawl through a cave and then descend.
We got back down and I immediately had to use the restroom! We drank a lot of water on our hike up and there are only facilities outside the gates at MP. When you enter they stamp your ticket and passport and you are only allowed 2 re-entries a day so you have to plan your restroom breaks strategically.
We went to the restroom and paid the 1 sol charge and then decided to grab a snack right outside the gates. After fueling up we went back in to do some more searching and meet some alpaca.
After exploring all day we took the bus back to Aguas Calientes to grab our bags from the hostel and get ready to take the train at 6:20 pm to Ollantaytambo. We went back to our favorite little bar to kill some time before heading to the train station.
The train ride was slow and about an hour. Once the train stopped we met our trekking groups driver to take us via bus to Cusco. We got in around 11 pm.
We checked back into the JW Marriott, got our bags and showered and fell asleep! Such a long day!
The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel and headed to the market to grab some last minute gifts and spices before hitting the road.
Our flight from Cusco to Lima was around 1 pm so we checked out around noon and took a 15 soles cab to the airport. The information on our ticket was a little confusing so we went to 3 gates before figuring out which one was ours so I'd arrive earlier if you have plans to do this trip.
Once we landed in Lima, we decided to check our luggage as a local told us that Delta doesn't even open until 9pm since their flights back to the states don't take off until 11 pm or later. We stored our luggage with Left Luggage and took a taxi to the Mira Flores district. Uber is not reliable at this airport as they are not allowed to pull in the front so you have to find your driver in the parking lot and then walk with them to another lot. We discovered this the hard way so just grab one of the 150+ taxis sitting out front.
The driver we opted for was a race car driver in another life and I don't think I had been so terrified in any car yet. He sped in and out of traffic like it was Mario Cart and when we got close to where we had asked to go and told him we missed the stop, he just backed up ON THE interstate to get us there instead of opting for a U-turn. Shockingly people just got out of his way so this must be a cultural difference from the states as I thought we would surely die.
But nevertheless, we made it to this cute little waterfront restaurant for a sunset dinner and drinks.
The food was great and the view was nice to watch the surfers and sunset. After it was dark we walked around the shopping area of Mira Flores before heading back to the Lima airport.
Our flight was a redeye so we made sure to get all settled in on the plane and sleep since we had work the next day. We arrived back in Atlanta at 8am on Wednesday and both went to work... let's just say it was a long day!
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