The minibus's heater must have been broken as they gave all of us blankets and we need them.

The village of Cusipata where we had breakfast, dwarfed by the mountain it sits under.

A super wiggly river winding through the valley.

I'm assuming the giant boulder finished up in that position before they built the stone bridge.

Those who decided not to walk saddling up for the trek.

I got the feeling they wear the local dress all the time and not just for the tourists.

One woman and her horse heading back down to the start point.

Jogging back down to catch another fare, walking was hard enough.

By this point taking the horse option was looking more and more attractive.

Glaciers on the other side of the valley.

The final ascent to the 5,036m viewing point.

Vinicunca, the original name until about 15 years ago when it changed to its more descriptive name.

Our guide took one look at us at the start and said 'the horses are this way'. Little did he know us

For a fee you could have your photo taken with this little fella. He was very patient, knew his job.

Rainbow Mountain

February 3 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

We were picked today up at 4:25am, a total of 2 hours 50 mins in the hotel and 90 minutes in bed, since we got back from the Machu Picchu trip.

We were very disappointed to find there were other people on our tour today! We have been really lucky with quite a few excursions being the only ones on them. So after having picked up the others, such a chore, we had a 90 min drive before stopping for breakfast.

After breakfast we drove the Cusipata route for an hour along the most stunning valley, slowly climbing its steep, windy, earth & gravel road until we reached the point where we could go no further. Here at around 4,600m we had a choice, to walk 3.3km or to take a horse and walk the last 800m. We decided on the former.

The trip really is a pretty stupid thing to do. To drive up to 4,600m and then climb another 400m over a couple of miles is really physically challenging for someone of any age and medical facilities looked none existent. When I did the Everest marathon we started at 3,400m and walked for 7 days before we got to 5,000m. But that said, we set off with a mix of excitement and expectation that it was going to be really tough.

Up to where the horses go, the path was pretty good and the climb reasonable with some level bits. Stopping every ten mins or so for a 30 second breather worked well. However, the last 800m were really, really, tough. The incline suddenly ramped up and the combination of what we'd already done, not being remotely acclimatised and only having been in bed for 90 minutes last night really hit home. On sections I was down to 25 steps between stops to get my breath back. But like all these thing if you can keep putting one foot in front of the other you eventually get there, even if you are questioning why you are doing it.

Reaching the top felt euphoric, but that might just have been down to the lack of oxygen. I had been worried that the colours wouldn't live up to all the photos I'd seen, but it was every bit as spectacular. The sun was out, the morning snow had almost all melted, the colours were sharp and vibrant and the sense of achievement of making it to the 5,036m viewing point was better than the majority of things I've done.

It was one of the best tours I've ever been on, the drive through the valley alone was a whole trip in itself, the Andes are breathtaking.Read more