Machu Picchu: Hiking my way through the Salkantay

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”– Greg Anderson

The Backdrop

It’s time for the apex, the highlight, the grand finale of a trip to Peru.  Especially for what has turned into a mont of full blown TREKKING for me.

Machu Picchu.

I always planned to stop at this most famous of Peruvian sites.  And I always knew I wasn’t going to be one of those tourists taking the train from Cusco for a day trip.  No, I was hiking there.  The only question was which route to take.

As my travels wear on, my itinerary is getting more and more dependent on my daily mood, quantity of sleep, and the weather report.  In other words, I don’t plan too far ahead.  Therefore, the Inca trail is out.  It has a limit of 500 permits a day.  You have to book it months in advance.  Obviously I didn’t do this.

I’m left with a choice between the Lares and the Salkantay Trek.  A travel lesson I’ve learned is the best insider info comes not from google searches and obsessive trip advisor reading, but from talking to actual insiders.  I’ve met a lot of people while traveling.  Many of them have hiked to Machu Picchu.  Better yet, many of them are on a budget.  So for everyone I meet, I ask – have you done one of these treks?  What tour company did you use?  Was the food good (hint: this is a super important question)?  If I hear rave reviews about the same tour company twice?  Well, then I HAVE to pick that one.

This is how I landed on my choice for a 5 day classic Salkantay Trek with Salkantay Trekking.  Easy to find, easy to remember.

The Salkantay Trek is an considered an alternative route to the famous Inca Trail.  The journey crosses the Salkantay Pass (hence the name), descends through the jungly forest, and ends in the town of Aguas Calientes just outside of Machu Picchu.  It’s 70 kilometers beginning to end.  Before you start thinking the Salkantay is just a second rate consolation prize: Salkantay is less crowded than the Inca trail and was named among the 25 best Treks in the World by National Geographic.  So there.

Note to self: I need to read and conquer that National Geographic list….

Getting Started

The first day involves, of course, a 4am pickup followed by a short drive and a 12 km hike.  I would call the first half of the day a ‘wake the hell up’ hike.  It’s a moderate incline of 600 meters (3,300 meters to 3,900 meters) spread over 8 km.  It’s not too steep, but not too flat.  We stopped mid-day for lunch at a spot which was also our campsite for the night.  Following lunch, we had a 4 km roundtrip out and back trek up another 700 meters to Humantay Lake.

Day one is supposed to be an easy/moderate day to get everyone used to altitude.  Supposed to be.  I think it’s more of a test so the guide knows which hikers he needs to keep an eye on.

The morning wasn’t bad but the afternoon was a different story.  Two kilometers doesn’t sound like much but it was steep.  Several in our group struggled.  Not to be braggy, but I was not one of them.  I’d spent the last month scaling mountains across Peru, making me the most experienced at multi-day hikes and easily the best acclimatized.  I was right at the front.  Hiking, especially in altitude, isn’t a race to the top.  But it felt good to feel strong, as that hasn’t been the case for me on every trek.  Granted, I have the advantage of treating my outdoor adventures like full-time employment for the last few months.  Don’t care.  I’ll take it and I’ll brag about it along the way.

Machu Picchu-ians

I was one of 10 people in my hiking group. Time for introductions.

The Canadians.  A family of four from Toronto.  The parents, Rosana and Po.  Their children, Justin and Crystal are both recent college graduates.  Can I take a second to note how fantastic it is that this family still travels together, even though their kids are well into their 20’s?  Can I be further amazed that they decided to trek to Machu Picchu together?? Seriously, wow.  Family goals.

The rest of the group was Americans.  Amanda and Zoe are an Aunt and Niece duo from the Midwest.  Zoe, age 14, lives in Chicago with her parents.  Amanda recently moved to Minneapolis.  Since this is my hometown, it gave us something to chat about for the next few days.  Again, how great to have an Aunt who brings you with her on vacation to PERU when you’re 14??  You’re a lucky girl, Zoe.

Next are Jon and Priya, the doctor couple from New York City.  Jon is a psychiatrist, and Priya works with premature babies in the NICU.  Both were very down to earth, obviously smart, and sociable people.  They’ve been together 5 years, and they’re yet another couple that seems to have discovered the key to a good relationship.  You see them together and you like them together.

My tent-mate, Heiki, is originally from England but has lived in New York State for several years now.  She first came to the US on a school transfer program and ended up staying a few decades.  Heiki is well traveled, chatty, and has been traveling for the last few months on her own mini life adventure.

Noteworthy Facts

A few bloggable things of note about this trek.

Firstly, the FOOD.  Holy cow, the food.  It was amazing.  I’ve never had anything like it on a trek before.  We had full on 7-8 course meals every day.  Salad, soup, five kinds of entrée, and dessert.  Our trekking guide Sergio told he had been trying to lose weight, but it was impossible with his job and this food.  I see what he means.  This was the best I’ve eaten in my entire time in South America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is our accommodation.  We didn’t stay in simple tents.  We stayed in sky domes and jungle huts. Here’s your picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a glaringly obvious marketing ploy by this trekking company and I bought into it hook, line, and sinker.   It’s a badass way to sleep in the Peruvian mountains.

Lastly, our guide.  I’ve enjoyed my trekking guides before, but Sergio was my favorite.  He was funny and energetic.  He reminded me of a little kid being excited to get outside and play.  His energy was infectious, and no matter what time of day, morning noon or night, he yelled ‘Good Mooooorrrning’ to get us motivated.  After the trek he sent a recording of this to the group over text.  You could make that your alarm clock and never wake up grumpy.

Back to the Hike…

The second day is long (about 22 km) and challenging, as you cross through Salkantay Pass at 4,600 meters.  The morning is full of steep climbs and high-altitude slow breathing, but it’s rewarded with views of snow capped mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The afternoon is a beautiful walk down with wide expansive views of mountains and forests below.  This was my favorite day.  You can tell in my picture poses full of energy and nature love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third day is a bit of a break.  It’s mostly downhill, and the temps get warmer as the group descends down the mountains.  The afternoon was reserved for a trip to a local hot spring.  We all welcomed this trekking vacation.   It was also a nice chance for the group to get to know each other better and commiserate about various muscle pains and forming blisters three days in.

Day 4 I don’t even want to talk about.  It was long and grueling and I’ll be honest…I hated it.  We were warned that the morning would be tough.  A 7 km very steep hike, followed by 7 km step downhill, lunch, and a 12 km afternoon flat hike following the train tracks to Aguas Calientes.  I mentally prepared for the tough morning hike which turned out to be…not that tough.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Once we reached the top of the overpass, we also had our first views of the side of Machu Picchu.  I enjoyed this part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The afternoon was absolute shit.  I thought we’d have it easy walking flat next to the train tracks.  No.  It. Was. The. Worst.  It’s loose gravel, which is a pain to walk in.  Your foot is always slipping and it takes more energy to keep balance and momentum.  This part felt like it was never going to end.  There was nothing to look at, it was monotonous.

Enough said.

Machu Picchu

And now the main attraction.  Machu Picchu.

From Aguas Calientes, it’s possible to hike to Machu Picchu.  It takes less than an hour, but largely follows a windy uphill road.  After the prior day the group was in no mood for this.  The entire group bought a bus ticket to drive us 20 minutes to the entrance.  We woke up at 3:30 am so we were first in line for the bus which left at 5:20 am so we could be ready for Machu Picchu to open.  We were all pretty exhausted by now, but adrenaline and the promise of a UNESCO world heritage site kept us going.

Our tour guide Sergio used to be a tour operator for Machu Picchu.  The prior night at dinner he asked us all if we trust him.  By now he’d guided us this far thorugh mountain overpasses, river crossings, and jungle climbs.  Sure we do.  Like kids in line at Disneyworld we were to push through the crowds on the opening of the Machu Picchu gate promptly at 6am.  No stopping for pictures, do not follow the crowds.  He knew the best spot to start the day.

We pushed our fatigued muscles to climb yet even more stairs to his perfect high viewpoint. And well it really was perfect.  From here, we could take pictures and see the sunrise.  Our perfect spot and our pictures were largely untainted by crowds of tourists which would pile in later that day with their tour guide flags and selfie sticks. He didn’t steer us wrong.

 

Following the sunrise we followed Sergio for another hour while we got the tourist history of Machu Picchu before saying our goodbyes to him.  He was heading back home.  We had the day free to roam the ruins, aside from needing to return to Aguas Calientes in time to catch our train back to Cusco later that night.

One More Mountain

Some of us, myself included, had ideas to hike yet another mountain.  There are two options – Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain if you have pre-booked tickets, or walk to the Sun Gate for free.  Huayna Picchu is the mountain nearest to the site and is often depicted in pictures.  It’s a steep and narrow climb, but relatively short and can be completed in about an hour and a half.  Machu Picchu mountain is a little farther from the main site, but offers a higher viewpoint of the ruins.  Of course this means it’s longer and steeper.  And OF COURSE that’s the one I booked.  Sometimes I wonder when I’ll learn.

Jonathan and Priya also had tickets for Machu Picchu mountain and so we walked to the entrance together.  Upon seeing the stone steps to get to the entrance, Priya smartly turned back.  She was done climbing mountains for the week.  Once we got past the entrance and saw that the entire trek involved steep stone steps, Jonathan smartly turned back.  He didn’t care that we paid an extra $25 for this add on.  He wasn’t up for the exhaustion.

And what did I do?  I stubbornly kept going straight up that damn mountain.  One steep stone step after another.  That’s all it was.  It was one giant stone staircase for an hour and a half.  No flat parts.  No resting stops.  Just stairs.

I’m glad I did it, but man, I’m a real sucker for self torment.  As I huffed and I puffed and dragged my tired ass up there I thought – Why do I do this to myself?  Why can’t I take a break and get some gelato once in awhile (although in truth, I have eaten copious amounts of ice cream on this trip)?

Because I paid for it.  I’m only at Machu Picchu once in a lifetime, and damn it, I was going to do it!  That’s why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m happy I climbed it and proud of myself.  But I was in rough shape after that.  Walking down was almost as bad as climbing up.  My feet hurt, my ankles hurt, and my muscles were aching.  I was limping like a decrepit old lady.  All I kept thinking was how I was going to get the energy to walk to the exit, grab the bus, walk to the hotel to grab my stuff, and then walk to the train station later that day.  Dear god, HOW.

I found a patch of grass and plopped down there for a good hour.  I needed to work up my mental stamina again.  Eventually I wandered back through the ruins, back to my hotel, and caught the train back to Cusco.  It was all a blur, but it happened.

Peru in Summary

All in all, Machu Picchu and Peru in general have been an incredible experience that I won’t soon forget.  In the month I spent in Peru, I trekked over 150 kilometers, or about 100 miles.  And I did this almost entirely in altitude between 3,000 and 5,000 meters.  I may be unemployed, but I can still feel accomplished after that.

After Machu Picchu I spent two more days in Cusco before leaving for my last stop in South America: Chile.  I used hotel points and stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn in Cusco where I lazily spent the next two days lounging like a half dead crippled zombie.  I demolished their buffet breakfast every morning to the point of normal human embarrassment.  My big excursion was walking to downtown Cusco and getting a massage for 30 soles.

One more week of adventure before heading home between continents.  I may be wrapping up South America, but I’m FAR from done with this escapade.