It's almost lunch time on day 2 of our hike. Enrique, our cook, is surely churning out another masterpiece. Yesterday we had asparagus soup and lomo saltado for lunch. Dinner was chicken noodle soup from scratch (probably the best chicken noodle I've ever had) and rice + chicken. Dessert was Mazamorra... simple but delicious. Immediately after dinner we went to bed, with a strong rain outside that lasted most of the night. I had a hard time getting to sleep because my heart was racing... I thought it was because of all the coca tea, but maybe it was altitude. At roughly 5am this morning we woke up. The rain at camp was snow higher up, so we saw the surrounding peaks in a different way, which was neat. Getting to our campsight on day 1 is also quite the story...
We woke up yesterday before 5 and were picked up by a van to leave Cuzco. I wish there had been time to take pictures along the way. Heading north out of town, the city is built onto the sides of cliffs nobody would try to build homes on in the States. Out of town, we began to descend and saw locals running, working, even playing volleyball... at 5:30 on a Saturday morning! Winding our way down the valley it began to become apparent the scale of the terrain was like nothing I've ever seen. Rivers have carved out relief here the likes of which simply don't exist in the lower 48. Hillsides so steep they wouldn't be farmed in the US were bursting with produce. When creeks joined and turned into a river, we turned onto a dirt road and ascended to Mollepata, where we had breakfast and I had the pleasure of using a seatless toilet (also lacking TP or paper towel, which seems to be the norm). After breakfast we hopped in a truck for 30 minutes to the start of our trek. The driver and I saw a gato salvaje run across the road... 25 pounds, looked like a leopard. We basically hiked the road to Salkantaypampa, but I enjoyed the experience. (After today's hike, I'm glad we started easy; we're all sore.) The day's hike was basically following a drainage to its source, stopping halfway for lunch. The magnitude of relief from river to surrounding peaks is unmatched outside of Alaska in the US. Literally thousands of feet above the river was the road, and the peaks higher still. We got to camp a few minutes after passing the Mountain Lodge House, which was waaaay out of place in its surroundings.... the Vail of the Salkantay trek. With hot showers even. Anyways, we got to camp with a stunning backdrop. A peak whose name I now forget was dominated by a massive glacier on its south face. I've never seen anything like it. Saulo, our guide, said he's seen it shrink dramatically even in 5 years... sad.
This morning Enrique served me coca tea in bed as I woke up, then we had a pancake breakfast before starting the hike. It was nearly 7 miles to our lunch site, which involved about 700 meters of climbing. Shelly, Tony and I all hiked well, and even ended up passing (nearly or ) all groups who started before us. Many people needed to actually ride horses to get to our highest point, over 15,000' - a new altitude record for us. Once again, it's difficult to find words for how big these mountains are. Unfortunately, Salkantay (and us) was shrouded in clouds, so we only caught glimpses of the glaciers on its side, but based on the enormous alluvial fans, house-sized boulders in the glacier's channels, and the booming avalanches around us, it was clear there was a "wild mountain" 5000' above us even from the high pass.
After stopping only briefly for photos and an Inka coca leaf ceremony to thank Salkantay or safe passage (we each buried 3 leaves under a rock; 1 for the world of gods above, 1 for the human world, and 1 for the underworld where humans passed to), we descended. It was still very cold and drizzly until we stopped for lunch. Clouds rose up valley (from where we were headed and are now), but when they broke, you could see massive glaciers above us.
It seems I need to get used to immediate and dramatic changes on this trip, because right after lunch we found ourselves in a dense jungle. In a single day we passed through fresh snow, cloudy grassy highland reminding me of Scotland or New Zealand, and finally to jungle with orchids and bamboo lining the trail. It is currently the dry season but water is everywhere, cascading enormous and incredibly steep mountains.
I almost don't want to try to write about my current location, because words will fall short. We're on the precipice above the convergence of 3 rivers which apparently form one. The gorge below is almost like an inverted pyramid, which steep peaks on all sides rising from the water. The first 2 rivers form a Y, then another branch comes in before flowing on as a continuous stretch of rapids for miles. Upon our arrival at camp, close to sunset, the cutest little girl (Marina) walked up to me and started playing with my camera. I taught her how to turn it on and how to shoot. She had seen a camera before but didn't know how to work mine. Then she wanted to know how all the buckles and straps worked on my pack. When that got old (i.e. she discovered the candy we brought for this exact event in my pack), she put on a somersault / spin / jump show for me. Adorable. I'm glad my Spanish has improved because I'm sure she doesn't speak English. I doubt anybody in this village does.
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