Salkantay trek: Day 1

I woke up at 3:45am to be ready to be picked up outside at 4:20...after figuring out how to get outside (a challenge of its own) and picking up the rest of the group, we were on our way up and out of Cusco. The drive took 3 hours...the first hour was on a standard 2-lane highway road. After awhile, we stopped in a small town (Mollepata?) for a bathroom break, and our guide grabbed breakfast from a street vendor, but warned us not to do the same.

The remainder of the drive was on a one-lane dirt road weaving up the mountain. Our van forded streams and climbed over rocks, inches from sheer dropoffs down the mountain...it reminded me of pictures I've seen of the "Most Dangerous Road" in Bolivia.

After surviving the drive, we disembarked at Soraypampa and had breakfast while the horsemen prepared the luggage. Then we began the trek uphill, from elevation 12,139 feet asl to Salkantay Pass at 15,090 feet asl. From the pass, glacier-covered Salkantay Peak loomed another 5,000 feet above us, partially hidden by clouds.

After making a coca leaf offering as per tradition, we trekked the 3,000 feet down to our slightly warmer campsite, arriving just as daylight was fading. The night sky was incredible: the snow-capped mountains shone in the moonlight and there were more stars than I'd ever seen, even some distant galaxies.Read more