Rainbow Mountain

Today was an early start for me to head out to Rainbow Mountain.

I went out to wait for the tour bus at 3am and got picked up about 20 minutes later. Once we had all our passengers, around 3:35, we headed out to breakfast. About an hour and a half later we got to a small restaurant with a buffet breakfast. My stomach hasn't been feeling great, so I kept it simple with some plain pancakes and watermelon. Good thing too because no sooner had I taken my last bite, the tour guide was loading us onto the bus! It was a quick 20 minute stop on the way to the mountain. They really wanted to make sure we got there first!

After about another hour, and failed attempt to sleep, we reached the parking lot. Roxanna explained that you had two options to go up, walk or take a horse most of the way. About half the group took a horse and half walked.

The path was pretty gradual up the majority of the way, but the high altitude had me huffing and puffing. I was still walking strong though until it got steeper. The view the whole way was beautiful with mountains and a glacier on the left. At the steeper part, I looked behind me and saw that some fog was quickly rolling in. Not wanting my hiking to be futile, I had to really dig deep for that steep section to make it to the top and see the mountain before the fog enveloped it. Luckily I made it and got some good pictures too. There were more colors/stripes of color than I expected and for something natural, the hue was what I expected too. It was still pretty colorful, even on the cloudy day even if the colors weren't eye poppingly vibrant. They also extended around the surrounding mountains towards the Red Valley. I sat for a while at the viewpoint, and then halfway down when it was too cold, and enjoyed the view as fog rolled in and out of the area.

Roxanna explained about the local people for a bit and about how the tourism around the mountain has formed a big part of their livelihood. She also explained that Rainbow Mountain hasn't been open long because it used to be covered by glacier (hello climate change). Some people continued on to the Red Valley viewpoint, but I made my way back down because it was still pretty foggy and I didn't think I'd see much at the viewpoint.

The walk back down took about an hour, but felt much longer. I admired the mountain scenery again, astounded at the fact it wasn't even 9 am yet and I'd already been up and almost down a mountain. I guess this is how Allan felt climbing his big volcanoes. I sat on a bench for a while at the bottom and looked out over the mountains and the glaciers. It was very peaceful.

Once I got back to the bus, it was luckily open, so I went in with a couple of other people and tried to have a nap while nobody was there. It was more successful than the way there and I also managed to sleep a bit on the hour back to the lunch place. It was buffet lunch similar to breakfast. Again, I took it easy with some pita chips, boiled vegetables and rice with chicken. I was feeling hungry which was a change from this morning.

After lunch, it was time to get back on the bus and finish the drive to Cusco. We were doing pretty good for time, until about 5km out. Even the driver got frustrated at one point and went off the road onto a dirt road near the rail road tracks. No trains came, but was still a bit of a risky move.

We got back to the Plaza de Armas around 3:30 and I walked up to the hostel to a warm welcome from Allan who'd been working on uni stuff all day while I was gone. I had a lukewarm shower, and laid down for a while, eventually falling asleep for a short nap before picking up the laundry and heading to dinner. The rest of the evening was pretty chill, we even managed to watch an episode of Rings of Power. It's been so long since I've watched any TV. Sometimes I miss mundane things like that. Gotta have a balance to all the adventuring.

Hatun Quilla (double w/ private bathroom)
9/10
Facilities: 😀
Comfort: 😀
Location: 😀
Cleanliness: 😀
Value for money: 😀
Staff: 😀

Summary: Great little hostel not far from main square with very friendly staff.

Good: Please note this review is based on a double room with private bathroom. Please see my other review for twin room with shared bathroom. The hostel was close to the main square (5-minute walk) but far enough to avoid the chaos, including a 2-day long celebration with marching bands and fireworks. The staff were extremely friendly and allowed us to store luggage for 6 days for free while we visited the Sacred Valley, hiked the Inca Trail and visited Machu Picchu. Staff were also transparent about the water issues (not always the case in Peru) and advised us the best time to shower to get hot water. Extra blankets were provided though not required. Room was more like a chalet, split over two levels, and almost twice the size of the town room. Having stayed in a town room before the Sacred Valley/Inca Trail/Machu Picchu, I would definitely recommend paying slightly more for this room type. The only reason I have not rated this 10/10 is because the breakfast was on the basic side.

Bad: N/a. It would be unfair to comment negatively on the wider water issues, especially since the staff were upfront about this on our arrival.Leia mais