Salkantay

I awoke very early in the day, it was pretty much still pitch black outside. I barely got any sleep. I pushed on through, took my shower and double checked all my things. Put on my chullo and waded out through the darkness until I reached my hostel's entrance. I wasn't too keen on going out just yet. I took a peek outside, the streets were empty with only street lamps lighting the path. I quickly went back in, it was bloody cold. I waited for a couple of more minutes and one of the guys from Salkantay Trekking, Ramiro came to get me. We headed over to the plaza, I was doing all I can to keep myself warm. We had to wait for the van to pick us up. After a couple of more grueling minutes, our ride finally arrived. I quickly got on and took a solo seat and tried to get some shut eye. People in the back were surprisingly noisy, I wasn't exactly in the mood to be making conversation at 4 in the morning. We had to pick up two more people, some chicks from New York who apparently were in the same group as me. The rest of the guys were also from the US. It was a long ride to where we were going and the guys at the back just wouldn't shut up, it was quite annoying, especially that one voice (Arash). After an hour or so, the sun started to shine through, revealing the beautiful mountain range of the Andes. My mood started to get better, making some small talks here and there.

We got to our first stop, a nearby village to eat our breakfast. I was seated with my group, Trish and Penelope. The other guys were at the other table, the lot of them were from Iran except Richard who looked Asian. Arash, Faraz, Shahrouz, Omid & Kia, spoiler alert... turns out they are really amazing people and I was just letting my morning crankiness get the best of me. Arash especially was a very funny guy. Our breakfast was amazing, a lot of fruits mostly. There were also some coca leaves, I advised the girls to get some to fight the impending fight with altitude. We took our turns going to the one toilet available and got on back to our ride that took us even higher up the mountain. My ears were popping again and again. We finally touched down on ground zero, I was feeling a bit nervous but also excited, what have I gotten myself into, can I really do this? We were putting on our sun screen and it was a good thing I opted to get the hiking sticks since I saw everyone had them. I was trying to save money but on hindsight, I probably would not have made it without them. Our conversations touched a bit on Ayahuasca and such, they wanted to try it as well and I shared my experience. We were all set to go after another bathroom break until Richard brought out his pen. Oh man, my Achilles' Heel. We passed it around and hit it hard, I just can't say no when offered. It felt like a good and bad idea at the same time, now I just had to see how it goes. Ramiro gathered up our group, gave us a short brief and off we went. We were asked to pick up a rock right before we started a trek.

Now the pen was hitting me hard at this point, I originally had to stay away from any drugs before taking San Pedro but everything was once in a lifetime. The hike started out pretty amazing, the mountain was absolutely breathtaking. There were flowers blooming all around, all the different kind of plants and trees. It felt so liberating to be smack dab in the middle of all this wonderulf nature. However, there was the altitude, and the weed certainly did not help doing the hike. I got winded pretty quickly, and soon I was regretting my decision as we pushed on higher and higher, I was already lagging behind the group. I was trying to put on a straight face but man, it was so tough. Ramiro would stop from time to time to share and explain some of the flora and fauna which I happily welcomed. This went on for who knows how long until Ramiro finally said that the worse part is over for the day. I let out a huge sigh of relief. We got to rest for a bit by some rocks and ate some snacks. There was a dog who hanged out with us for a bit. We passed by a lot of beautiful landscapes and waterfalls on the way to our camp. From the distance, I could see our sky-dome glass tents. It was still a long walk away but I was quite happy we were heading downhill. We got to rest for a bit and had some traditional Peruvian food for lunch. We were in a huge cabin with a giant glass window showcasing us the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, the worse is yet to come as we put our stuff in our domes, I was lucky enough to have one all to myself being in a 3-man group. I ran into Richard and told him of my plight and him being a life-saver that he is, shared with me some altitude sickness pills. Without those, I probably also would not have been able to make it pass the first day. We had to rendevouz once again in the main lounge because our next goal was Laguna Humantay, which was going to take another couple of hours worth of non-stop uphill.

I was already pretty winded from the initial hike, the next one had me gasping for air. It was gruesome, long and winding, seemed to never end as we climbed up the zigzagging road of rocks. I started to feel the altitude sickness pills taking effect but it was still difficult nonetheless. I can't imagine doing it without them. Ramiro stayed behind me and encouraged me, waiting for me to catch up. It was the first time I had to do something this difficult bar Mt. Fuji. I didn't want to give up, though the option was presented to me by Ramiro to go back. I chose to push on and on I went, lagging behind everyone at this point. They have much more experience at hiking than me. I made it though, I was welcomed by everyone and the hike was completely worth it. Laguna Humantay was absolutely out of this world. We had some picture taking while I sat down and tried to catch my breath but the moment you stopped moving the cold started to creep in. Not long after, we were now heading back down which thankfully was much easier than going up. I still had to catch my breath every now and then but the worse of the day was behind me. It was sunset now, there were alpacas grazing about and it was much more peaceful. I started to appreciate the day and was so relieved for having survived Day 1 out of 4. We had a chill dinner and I got some more pills from the gang, thankfully all of them were pharmacists and had a huge inventory. I bade them good night and quickly got to my dome and crashed. The stars were amazing though but I was just so extremely tired. It was very cold as well, I had to put on layers upon layers and tucked myself in my sleeping bag with a blanket draped over. I couldn't sleep and tried my best, I had to go out to take a piss as well. It was a difficult night which was soon interrupted by the morning call of coca tea.Read more