Salkantay III

Feeling much better, we had a brief breakfast and the usual coca tea. The sun rising, the air smelled refreshing and we were once again on the road. Day 3 of the trek to Machu Picchu. It was a bittersweet day as this was also the last day we were going to be with the other group as they had a 5 days trek while we had 4 days. We passed by more marvelous terrain from rivers, waterfalls, vertical farms on the mountain side and valleys. The road went on and on and Richard brought out the old pen again. Angel and I took some hits and we were just vibing, the path was dominantly flat and everything was so good until it wasn't. We had to cross some land that was destroyed by the recent landslide while there were still rocks falling around. It was quite thrilling, I had a lot of fun doing this part of the trek. Others not so much, as Sharouz has put it, "I literally shit my pants." Richard also almost got hit by a rock while crossing through. We had to jump across rivers and I wasn't so lucky as my shoes fell in the water which quickly dried up due to the heat. We crossed some bridges and some some more animals and insects. We finally got to the next checkpoint where we had our final lunch with the gang. We had a lot of photo taking and I was surprised to find purple corn on my plate. Then it was time to say good bye, we bid our farewells and picked up where we left off. Most of the way was still flat, I was so thankful to my hiking shoes as I had absolutely no blisters throughout the whole hike while the others had a bunch, I've no idea how they pushed through it all.

We soon found ourselves on the rail road tracks, it was just one way and all we had to do was follow it. The views were still amazing as we had the river by our side now bigger than ever. Ramiro started to talk about the various ancient civilizations and about the Incans as we approached Machu Picchu. We were even able to see it from below. The trek went on for a couple of more hours, taking a few breaks every now and then to wait for the two ladies who were a bit behind. I stuck with Ramiro to learn as much as I can but in the end, I couldn't remember much of what he was saying. It was already dark when we finally arrived to Aguas Calientes, this is the town we were going to stay in for the night. We had dinner, just the four of us. The ladies had some wine while I just got some juice. I was still in a vegan mode. I had a whole room to myself again, with fresh beds and another shower. I slept so well that night.Read more