The Emperor's New Groove

So a group of 6 Dukies went on a 5-day hike to Machu Picchu this past Friday through Tuesday. We went on the Salkantay hike, which is a popular alternative to the Inca Trail, since it's easier (but longer). Over the course of 4 days (from our starting point, Mollepata, to the town next to Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes), we hiked around 48 miles, which is a lot. The trip turned out to be more luxurious than I had in mind - we had a cook, a porter, and we even got to stay in a hostal our fourth night. The cook and the porter took care of everything campsite-related, and so all we had to do was hike, eat, and sleep! After a long day of hiking, it is pretty nice to not have to set up tents or cook food. We hiked with 5 other people in our group (and our guide as well), and they were from England, California, Lima, and Japan - a pretty fun group. I'm in the process of uploading some 300 pictures from the trip, but I'll break it down in terms of what we did day by day.

Day 1: (20 km hiked, 1000 m elevation gain to 3800 m above sea level)

So we stayed overnight in Cusco on Thursday night, and were picked up bright and early at 5 am by van. We drive for 3 hours, and arrive at Mollepata, our starting town. After a quick breakfast, we start hiking. The climate here was a mountainous one, which was a cool sight to see. The trail was a dirt jeep trail, and there were steep shortcuts through it that we took. After about 7 hours of hiking, we arrived at Soraypampa, our stop for the day. It was near the base of a glacier, but our tents were inside of a shed, so we didn't get extremely cold during the night. 

classic.

Day 2: (25 km hiked, 800 m up to 4600 m, 1800 m down to 2850 m)

We get woken up at 5 am by our cook with steaming hot cups of mate de coca, which is the perfect thing at that hour of the day. After breakfast, we start hiking to the glacier pass, where we can see the Salkantay glacier. The glacier is massive - much more impressive than Chicon. On the way up to the pass was a really steep trail, so reaching the pass at 4600 m was a joyful moment - until we felt the cold. The winds at the pass were freezing (with us being next to a glacier and all), so we quickly started descending. The coolest part of this hike was seeing the micro-climates along the way. Once we descended into the valley, we started seeing a tropical climate (accompanied by rain). It was really bizarre, but really cool. After 8 hours of hiking, we collapsed at Challway, where we spent the night. 

Salkantay in the clouds

Day 3: (16 km hiked, 650 m down to 2200 m)

We again get woken up with coca tea at 5:30 in the morning, and start our hike shortly after breakfast. Still in the tropical-climate, we hiked along a river for most of the day. We found a house along the way that sold passion-fruit straight from the trees along the trail (delicious!), and we saw some avocados and bananas growing right alongside the trail. After a super-easy 4 hour hike, we got to Sahuayaco (2200m), ate lunch, then were bused down to the town of Santa Teresa (1650m), where we stayed the night. From Santa Teresa, we walked about 40 minutes to natural hot springs, where we were able to soak our aching muscles (yay!). 

Suddenly, forest.

Day 4: (16 km hiked, 400 m up to 2050 m)

We had a later start (6:30 am), and hike for 2 hours to Hidro Electrica, where we take a break. Along the way, we saw a pretty snazzy waterfall, and still hiked along the river from earlier (River Salkantay). From Hidro Electrica, we hiked 2 hours along a train track to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain that Machu Picchu's on. The town is entirely built on tourism, and it was really confusing to have people try to talk to us in English (we can understand your Spanish better!). We had a hostal, and stayed there for the night (hot showers!!). 

When did waterfalls start making milk?

Day 5: (? km hiked, 400+ m climbed)

So we woke up at 7:30 am, and start hiking up the mountain to Machu Picchu at 8:40. The trail up is a series of 1786 steps (more or less), and takes about 1 exhausting hour. We enter Machu Picchu, and get a guided tour of the city, which is pretty cool to hear about. (side note: I saw a group of Whitefish Bay kids at Machu Picchu!) After 2 hours, we get turned loose, and a group of us (5 dukies and the british kid) decide to hike the Machu Picchu mountain. After another exhausting, sweat-dripping (it was really humid) 50 minutes up a trail of steps, we reach the top. From our view, we were higher up than Waynapicchu mountain, and we could see just about everything - Machu Picchu, Waynapicchu, Hidro Electrica, and Aguas Calientes. The view from the top was spectacular, and being on level with the clouds makes you want to be able to just jump off and fly. After all of that, we came back down to Aguas Calientes, and hitched a train to Ollantaytambo, then a bus back to Urubamba. 

The view from Machu Picchu Mountain

I'd like to start making postcards now.

Edit: new photos can be found here.

#wemissedurubamba #youshoulddothis #machupicchuisprettyamazing

G(astronomical) Tour of Cusco!

So our Spanish teacher, Reyner, took us out on a food tour of Cusco instead of Spanish lessons (win!). We first went to a Cebicheria, and we ordered a giant 50 sole platter (for three people) that had ceviche (best I've ever had), Paella, seafood curry-like thing (with mussels), and fried fish/squid.

Spectacular

So after that (my stomach was stuffed to the brim), we walked for a ways until we reached a pasteleria. It looked pretty amazing all around, and it was one of the nicest places I've been in Peru so far. All of us ordered our own cakes (6 soles per slice), and I settled on a traditional Tres Leches cake. Needless to say, it was mouth-wateringly delicious!

Tres Leches

We then went on over to a cafe, where "the best coffee in Peru" was made, according to our teacher. I ordered a black coffee, for tasting, and an espresso, since my food coma was coming on strong. I'm going to have to rate the coffee as good, but not great (best coffee still gets awarded to Blue Bottle drip coffee in San Fran), but the espresso was one of the best I've had. Definitely the best coffee I've had in a while (Peruvians seem to enjoy instant coffee a lot…blech). Para continuar, we went on to a chocolate shop, which specialized in delicious coca chocolate. Nom nom. Finally, we went to get dinner at a place that specialized in cow hearts and intestines grilled on a stick. Upon our teacher's recommendation, I ordered the corazones. Putting aside the fact that they're hearts, they taste pretty good! It's similar to a really savory beef, and meat-lovers would appreciate it, I think. That ended our food tour, and we all went back to Urubamba to nurse our aching stomachs.

Hearts on the right, papas on the left

#somuchfood #goingbackforceviche #cuscoisprettysweet