Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu,Peru

-Originally composed April 17th- 

On Saturday the 9th of April Art, Denis the French Canadian and myself left the city of Arica, Chile to head to Peru. After a confusing miscommunication of information, we were told the most efficient way to leave Chile was by means of a colectivo (private cab that runs a standard bus route). The three of us walked to the bus station and spent the last of our Chilean pesos on cab fare, fruit, queso empanadas and street meat. Then we jumped in the cab and sped towards the border. 

Chaos erupted at the border when we learned we couldn’t bring fruits into Peru. So we did the only thing that felt right and we started eating. 6 bananas, 3 apples, 2 large pears, and a massive cucumber later, we still had more fruit. We quickly turned to our colectivo driver who was waiting in anxiety to help.  

The border crossing went well after that and we had a quick 20km ride to the city of Tacna. We got dropped off at a bus station and arranged two buses to arrive in Cusco by 6:30am the next morning.

In Cusco we got settled into an airy hostel that is centered around an internal garden. It also has views of the whole city from the top floor. After getting situated we went out for lunch and looked through a local market. We arrived on their Election Day and a lot was happening in the streets. One of the town plazas was setup as a food court. Up and down the street were tents that locals setup. Each tent had a different menu and a little table to sit at. 

Lunch menus here offer a selection of the day and usually for cheap. We grabbed some baked guinea pig, rice, sweet potato and beans, and the whole thing cost less than $3.5 (10 soles). 
The rest of the day was spent wandering the local markets and artisanal textile shops. 

The next day we started planning our Machu Picchu trek. Months ago I read that it is mandatory to take a guide in the Inca trail to MP, and it costs a few hundred dollars. An alternative to the Inca trail is the the Salkantay trek to MP. This can be done without a guide, is generally less traveled and gives you close up views of Nevado Salkantay (6240m, 21,300ft). The trek is done over 5 days and 4 nights, and ranges in elevation from 6,000ft to 15,150ft.

The logistics included getting transportation to and from the trek and buying a day pass to MP. After figuring these out we went to the San Pedro market in town and bought as much dry fruits, veggies and grains as we could from local vendors. The last of the groceries we got at a regular super market. Lunch is served in little stands in one end of the market and is also super cheap. And another thing about Peru, someone is always trying to hustle you, so the rule of thumb is to haggle as much as you can until you get a price your happy with. Wherever you go someone is trying to sell you something, so it gets pretty fun making negotiations. 

The first menu we got for lunch was a big salad, then a big plate of fried trout and rice. This cost 5 soles ($1.53). After that we found a little fish stand and got ceviche, fried rice and baked sweet potato. 

 Later in the evening we all packed 5 days of food, cut as much weight from our packs as possible, and got to bed around 1am.

Our alarms went off at 3:30am so we could catch our 4am van a small pueblo called Mollepata. After a bumpy 2.5hr ride we got dropped off in the pueblo’s center. Not long after another gringo came down the hill and greeted us. Joey from Oregon was his name and we all decided to hike together. The trek started out of Mollepata and steadily gained elevation. 

Around eight hours later we started getting views of the massive peaks that people come to see. We turned another corner and were in plain sight of Salkantay. Around 12,800ft we pitched camp next to the guided groups and ate dinner. Joey the speed demon was feeling good and he kept on moving. The sun went down around 5:30 and by 6 we were all so beat we went to bed.We woke up at 6am and broke camp to head towards Salkantay pass. The hike kept gaining elevation throughout the course of three hours when we finally made the pass (15,150ft). Each of the tour groups had a special ritual done in the Quechua language, we ate cheese and drank maté. 

Clouds were coming and going and it was difficult to see the entire peak at any given time, but it was simple to see that the south face was off limits to anyone interested in climbing it. The face was covered in massive seracs, vertical flutes and rime ice. I’ve read a few Salkantay climb reports in the past but nothing has been documented on the south face or connecting ridges. It would be a massive feat of alpinism to make the summit by this side.. Maybe il come back in a decade when I’m ready. 

After the pass we had a grueling two days of down climbing. We started slow and descended for six hours before making it to a campamento where we found other tour groups. 

The next day was much of the same, breakfast, break camp, down climb. The hike was pretty scenic though and this helped us forget that our calves that were exploding. 

Around noon we arrived to a pueblo named Playa. We were gonna drop packs here for lunch when some colectivo drivers started hassling us for rides. Politely saying “no” to all of their offers, we began walking through the town, past them, down the valley to a spot where we could have lunch. After a minute though, one the drivers passed by, stopped, and said “15 soles!”.

Our remaining hike was a 12km, 2000ft drop in elevation to arrive at the next town, Santa Maria. Realizing it would cost us each $1.50 to skip the hike, we shamefully took the driver up on his offer. 

In Santa Maria we made camp at a campamento and finally dried our stuff which had been soaking for the last two days. Each morning the rainforest dew accumulates as much as a rainstorm, so finally having sunshine and dry grass was a huge plus. Later in the evening we walked to the thermal baths outside of Santa Maria. The admission was 5 soles (another $1.50), and they made us shower before going in the pool. This was to everyone’s benefit really, because the amount of sweat that accumulates in the rainforest is pretty outrageous.

From Santa Maria, an 18km road hike and a hike along train tracks was all we had left to reach Pueblo Machu Picchu (the little plastic town that services all tourism to go up to Machu Picchu).  Along the way we stumbled into another gringo, Tate from Washington. It only took us about five hours to get to Pueblo Machu Picchu, when the weather changed from blazing sun to torrential downpour. Soaked again, we entered the little town and saw that hostels we’re going for 20 soles ($6 a person). 

Realizing it would suck a lot to have to camp, break camp in the rain at 3am, find somewhere to stash out gear, then hike up to Machu Picchu before sunrise, the four of us bought a hostel. 
At the hostel we sorted out our things, made some food and went to bed around 11. 

We woke up at 3:30 and grabbed our things for the day, then followed a stream of headlamps out of town towards the MP gates. At 5:10 we were allowed to make the hike up to MP, then when we arrived at administration at 6am we showed our tickets and were allowed access to the historical sanctuary. It was thick and foggy when we arrived and we couldn’t see much until around 7am. We spent the day wandering the ancient town and trying to blend into tour groups to learn a little more. We all felt a little ignorant for neglecting a guide, but wanting to save money we figured we’d do all of our research after the fact. 

We also saw some good ole friends up there that we hadn’t seen since Torres Del Paine. Pretty remarkable. Also realizing we didn’t have much food or cash with us, we accepted starving ourselves until it got dark and we got kicked out. All in all, we spent the sunrise and sunset up there and it was an amazing day.

To get educated, right when we went down we searched for the cheapest menus, bought two each, some beers, then read everything Wikipedia had to offer on MP. 

We stayed another night in MP pueblo then spent the next day hiking three hours to catch a six hour bus ride back to Cusco.

Back in Cusco we stayed the night at the same cool garden hostel that we stashed our extra gear at. The next day we cleaned up, did laundry and planned our next excursions. 

At this point we had just three weeks left in South America, all of which we wanted to spend in Peru. The next things on the list were a 6000m peak, a jungle tour, and surfing in northern Peru. We wanted to spend a week doing each so we quickly jumped on a night bus back to Arequipa (which we had. previously only passed through) so we could plan a peak.