Salkantay Pass

To Chaullay, Peru

Today really was a very long day. The dwarf-sized doors to our glass igloos were knocked on at 4:30. Our guides kindly offered up piping hot cups of coca tea -- not particularly tasty, but I appreciated the thought.

Our group turns out to be pretty on the ball. We were already to go and on the trail by 6:00. Like yesterday, we rarely saw the sun through the clouds; however, on the "bright" side, we actually got glimpses of Mt. Salkantay today and have avoided the rain … so far.

Racing the clouds towards Mt. Salkantay

Kylie was not in a good mood, and, unfortunately, there was a lot of up. It may have been the altitude getting to her. Both she and I tried a few coca leaves that Simon, a hiker we met from Switzerland, offered us. Coca tea has been very common both here and in Bolivia. Apparently the stimulant effect is supposed to be good for altitude sickness, though I have yet to notice any sensation whatsoever. In this case, we put a few leaves inside our cheek and sucked on them while we climbed.

The high point of the trek was 4600 m (15,088 ft) which we reached after about three hours. By this time Kylie was very cold, so I gave her my hat and a woman from a different hiking group gave her some small pocket warmers (small baggies with some sort of exothermic chemical mixture inside).

Top of the pass

Feeling happier

Unfortunately, Kylie was even more disillusioned when KJ announced we would take a little detour from the pass to view a small aqua-blue lake. It really was quite pretty though the clouds were never far away. Since so much time was spent looking at our feet on the way up, Dex, in particular, noticed all the snails and little critters with his sharp eyes.

On the way down, I finally convinced Kylie to listen to some music to take her mind off how far off lunch was. Dex seemed to be doing great despite his earlier conviction that an organized hike with this many people would be no fun at all. He has been chatting it up with Michael, Johnny, Manouk, and Lasse, for the last two days, and usually on the steepest uphill bits.

Mt. Salkantay in the background

The views of the sweeping valley were lovely on the way down, though it took hours to get to the lunch spot, and the trail was incredibly rocky and frequently wet. I'm not sure if it was as bad as it seemed or if hiking in my Merrill water shoes just made it seem that way. Right around noon, we straggled into a little grassy field with a few tents set up where we could eat lunch. The cooks have done an absolutely amazing job with what are tiny and rudimentary cooking facilities. Though we were all famished, we somehow ended up with way too much food -- pizza, veggie quinoa soup, potato wedges, rice, and beef strips.

On the way down

Lunch time!

The rest of the day was easier, but it was almost 4:00 when we arrived in camp.  The wet and rocky trail continued down the whole time. Before we knew it we were down at 3400m, and it was suddenly much warmer and tropical. There was an amazing variety of flowers growing along the trail, while landslides and small waterfalls attested to the steepness of the ravine with a raging white water river just visible through the dense trees.

Unlike last night, our new camp has dozens of other hikers. Gone are the cool glass domed igloos; instead we are crowded into rows of thatched "A" frame structures all with two man tents set up inside. Nearby is a wooden building with a basic open air dining area and even a handful of dome tents set up behind the tables. This being the toughest day of the hike, we were all a bit slow getting to “happy hour” (popcorn, crackers and hot drinks). Joset let us know that tomorrow would be an easy day. As such, we would all be allowed to sleep in … until 6:00.