Lares Valley (Day 1)

Day 1, I don't have many pictures as my phone battery died really quickly. Silly phone.

En route we stopped at the Market in Calca. I had to pick up some meds for my cold/cough and we picked some colored pencils to hand out to the kids along the trek. We had our first breakfast together at the Lares hot springs (not sunny enough to go for a dip). From there we hiked a few km uphill to the mountain community of Quiswarani (not pictured) for a rainy lunch. There were very few cars in this town but the village was fairly remote. From there we continued our hike upwards for several hours to our first camp site- blue lagoon at 3900 m (12795 ft). Total elevation gain was ~ 700 m (2700 ft) and maybe 10km.

Despite my cold, I was handling the altitude fairly well. No headache or anything just my stupid cough which diminished by lung capacity for sure. Fortunately, Lucio (our guide) helped me to find cough drops and a decongestant of sorts in Calca. Life saver. Also, I learned on the Laguna 69 hike the importance of staying hydrated at altitude so I drank about 2 liters of h20 after lunch to help my body cope. We had porters and horses carrying the kitchen supplies, toilet (yes, luxury I know), tents etc. I only had to haul my small daypack (18L) which made the hiking considerably easier.

Day 1 I learned that every meal was at least 3 courses. Alex our chef made amazing dishes from his portable kitchen. We even had a snack of popcorn before dinner- my favorite! The food on this trek was some of the best dining I had my whole trip to Peru. We had delicious, local dishes that were different at every meal.Read more