“It’s a piece of cake” is what we were told before our bags even met our backs or hiking boots on our feet met the Incan trail. Yet, when we signed up for the Salkantay trek, we were told it would be the most challenging of all the hikes. Fernando had confidence in each of the nine of us to get through the five day hike with flying colors. He described the entire hike in eight simple words, “flat, up, up, down, down, down, down, down.”
The first day was a breeze, sort of. We were told that we would hike for two hours to the reforestation site. Half the ‘hike’ ended up being a walk through the town to the base of the mountain, but the other half was straight up. Samaya and I stuck together and fought our heavy breathing until we made it to the top. There, Ayesha and I planted twelve trees along the Incan trail. On the way down, we were asked by two men if we’d seen their cows, but unfortunately, we couldn’t help them too much. Plus, during our break for lunch, they served avocado and we played cards, so all in all, it wasn’t a bad first day.
Sunday was out first actual day of hiking the Salkantay route. After a two hour long bus ride, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere on the middle of a mountain. We got a ‘group photo’ on the request of Fernando prior to starting the challenging adventure we just put ourselves in. The weather was perfect for hiking and, as Fernando said, most of the way was flat, until lunch. Surrounded by beautiful vistas, we trekked on and up to our first campsite, after a total of about 11 km of hiking. The night was cold and rainy, so I passed on playing cards. However, there was guacamole at lunch, so I was a happy camper.
Louis and the other cooks made pancakes for breakfast. I think they foretold our day of hiking up hill to our highest point, so they ensured we left with full stomachs and smiles on our faces. We ended up mixing between to other groups, in a race to the top. Yet, I kept the motto, “slow and steady wins the race” in mind because I kept running out of breathe as we got to the higher altitude. At last, we made it to our summit of 4,630 m. Adrenaline overtook me, as I ignored the snow freezing on my fingers and captured the moment of accomplishment, which was rewarded with a Sublime bar. “Ay, ay, ay, Pachamama,” as Fernando would say, it was definitely a challenging couple of hours. Layers came off as the altitude came back down as Ayesha and I ran down the mountain to our next lunch spot. 19 km later, now in the rainforest, we made it to the site, where we played football, ate dinner, and passed out.
The fourth day hit us hard. We hiked up and down through the rainforest. There were only three extremely steep parts of the trail that day, but our bodies were physically drained from the previous days. My shoulders ached from the weight, my arms from the reforestation digging, my hips from the rubbing of my bag, and my legs from the constant marching. At one point we passed a waterfall and Fernando said, “That’s a kodak moment,” so of course I stopped to take a picture. We trudged on for six hours straight before getting to lunch, but the most difficult part of the day was standing up after lunch for the next 45 minutes to our campsite at the coffee plantation on a flat road. The flies were annoying, Peru lost to Chile in football, and at some point, I had burnt my tongue on soup, but on the bright side, the coffee was good and the hosts were funny.
Out last day of hiking consisted of two and a half hours straight up hill and three hours down to catch the train to Aguas Clientes. We quickly found our pace, interchanging with a group of middle-aged trekkers. Jimmy, our other guide, pointed out to us where we would be hiking to, which looked like a saddle in the mountain. At one point, we stopped and I thought we had made it to the top, but it turned out that we still had “a half hour more.” Ayesha, Samaya, and I slowed a bit, but pushed on our final uphill. Eventually, made it to the highest point of the day, which seemed as if it were in the middle of the forest, but nonetheless, it meant only downhill from there. Mike came with the front of the group and experienced our running pace, and laughed at the reason why we were always so far ahead.
After about ten minutes of running, the message was passed on from Jimmy to not look left. We all turned our heads to the right, as a domino effect, as not to ruin the surprise of Machu Picchu. One by one, we walked past the Incan ruins and had our first glance of Machu Picchu from above. Again, we continued our run, until Samaya ironically yelled out, “Careful!” as she tripped on a tree root and face planted. The remaining part of the hike was hot and downhill until we reached the bridge, where it was flat until the train. We successfully finished the Saltantay hike.
We took the train to Aguas Calientes, showered, ate a group dinner, and passed out in actual beds, just to wake up at three in the morning. In order to catch the first buses up to Machu Picchu at five, we had to be the firsts in line. If you ever plan to go to Machu Picchu, I know it sounds horrible, but the early rise and wait was worth it. I was on bus 23, the second bus running and my visit to Machu Picchu was touristy, yet magical. As we walked in, the ruins were covered by clouds, but we “waited for the magic,” “looked in our hearts,” and “used our imaginations” as Fernando told us and the clouds cleared, revealing Machu Picchu to us.
