Salkantaytrek (self-guided) Part II

Day 3:
It is the end of November, which means rainy season in Peru, but we didn't notice anything on our first two days. But on the morning of the third day, we also experienced the rain. After a quick oatmeal breakfast and brushing our teeth, we packed our things, trying to keep them as dry as possible. Unfortunately, we had to pack up the tent while it was wet, and the sand was not the best ground to keep it clean. But there's nothing we can do about it, put on the rain coat, grab the backpack, and try to move forward as quickly as possible. 

Stuff is packed!

I quickly realized why the raincoat only cost €1.50, because after about 30 minutes, I lost one of the sleeves. But since I was sweating a lot inside the plastic bag and my rain jacket kept me dry, I didn't have a problem getting rid of it. What bothered me more was that I found out that my sneakers were no longer waterproof and I was walking through water like in a bath. 

Moving forward kilometer by kilometer..

But our luck didn't take long to come back. After 1.5 hours, we wanted to take a short snack break under a tree, and just as we put down our backpacks, the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came out. I took off my t-shirt, looked up at the sky, and couldn't help but laugh, oh how beautiful life is!

How happy a few rays of sunshine can make you!

We soon reached Playa, from where there are two options: you can take a collectivo directly to the hot springs in Santa Teresa, or you can choose to climb another 800m up to Llactapata, and we chose the latter because the view from Llactapata was promising! From Playa, you have to walk for 45 minutes on the road until you reach the starting point of the trek again, and when a local offered us a ride, we couldn't say no, saving a bit of energy doesn't hurt. Before the climb, we refilled our water supplies and then it was time to put one foot in front of the other again. 

Ready for the next altitude meters

However, around 12:00, we found the perfect spot for lunch. Suddenly, there was a covered bench on the narrow path, with a beautiful view over the valley. Perfect for drying our things as well. I somehow hung the tent on the roof and finally took off my shoes. All our things were nicely placed in the sun, we made ourselves comfortable on the bench, and our oatmeal soup almost tasted like steak again. 

You can't imagine better clotheslines

It's comfortable here

During this trek, we really learned to appreciate food, and even though we were eating a lot, we were almost always hungry, so most of our conversations and thoughts revolved around food. During the climb to Llactapata, for example, we constantly imagined a bread roll with butter and salt and talked about it. It may sound strange, but in that moment, we would have done anything for bread with butter and salt. It was even funnier when we discovered a small shop at a campsite at the top. We actually wanted to continue to our sleeping spot and cook something, but Gabriel wanted to buy bread and bananas, and maybe they also had butter 😍, so he went back. He came back slightly disappointed with only bread and bananas and told me, "Why doesn't anyone have butter here? They only had that damn Mantequilla." If only he had learned some Spanish, he would have known that Mantequilla means butter, but yes, at least we had something to laugh about. 

So we conquered another 800 meters of altitude, and at the peak, we found an amazing camping spot with a breathtaking view. We could already see Machu Picchu, and because it had rained a bit before, a beautiful rainbow appeared right in front of us. 

A positive side of rain..

But a local we met before told us that there should be an even nicer camping spot a kilometer ahead. Gabriel didn't want to walk any more, but my curiosity got the best of me once again, so I left my backpack with Gabriel and ran down to the camping spot. Unfortunately, I realized that it was not just 1 kilometer, but also 250 meters of descent that I had to walk back up to Gabriel... But it was worth it, this sleeping spot was simply a dream, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Of course, the hammock was put to use again!

Time to eat!

On this camping spot, we also met an organized group of tourists, and it just felt good to see how they already had their tents set up, could leave them here, and had meals prepared for them. And us? We didn't depend on anyone and were 100% independent and self-sufficient, a good feeling! However, we were very exhausted at the end of the day, but we slept well!
Summary of Day 3:
15.2 km, 1,000 meters of ascent, 450 meters of descent, plus 2 km and 250 meters of up and down just for me...

Day 4:
The fourth day of our trek was supposed to be more relaxed, as we had already covered a lot of kilometers and altitude in the first three days. Our goal for today is the hot springs in Cocalmayo (near Santa Teresa), which is not really on the way to Machu Picchu, but the thought of spending a day relaxing in hot springs quickly convinced us to take the detour.
But first things first: breakfast! Today we could indulge in a real luxury breakfast, as the woman from the campsite sold us some eggs. We have never been so excited about eggs for breakfast! But then we had to descend the 800 meters again into the valley, to Hydroelectrica. Instead of going to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu), we headed towards Santa Teresa. At first, we were determined to hike the 11 km there, but when we arrived at the trail, we were sent back to the road due to rockfall danger, and after 10 minutes of walking on the road, someone offered us a ride. (3 hours of hiking on the road was not worth it) Thanks to this ride, we arrived at the hot springs before noon. 

Arrival at the hot springs

When we arrived there, we immediately decided that we wanted to stay here longer! So we pitched our tent on the meadows above the hot springs and immediately made ourselves comfortable in the pools. 

Sleeping place is set!

What an amazing feeling to float in the warm water after four days of hiking! We could feel our muscles relaxing and didn't want to leave the water. 

You can't relax any better than this!

At the hot springs, we once again realized that as so-called 'Gringos' in South America, we can sometimes be like a tourist attraction for the locals (maybe also because of our height), because when we got out of the water, several Peruvian girls suddenly came to us and wanted to take a photo with us. So we spent 5 minutes waiting for each of them to take a picture with each of us. We have joked that this is how we can replenish our travel funds if we ever run out of money...
There, we also met Natalie, a nice French girl who was sleeping in her hammock next to us, and Lejito, a Brazilian who is traveling all over South America by bike (a cool, impressive idea!), and as a reward, we didn't cook for ourselves for the first time on this trek, but treated ourselves to dinner with them at the nice little restaurant next to the hot springs. However, the hot springs also had a downside: annoying small biting sand flies! Fortunately, they left me more or less alone, but Gabriel was almost killed by them within two minutes after getting out of the water. A picture speaks more than a thousand words here.

The other foot looked the same, by the way.

Nevertheless, it was definitely the right decision to stay here for a night, especially when we had the entire pools to ourselves at night and could jump into the warm water one more time before going to bed!

Summary of Day 4: 

4.1 km, 800 meters of descent, and lots of relaxation!

Day 5:

It rained all night, but fortunately, our tent kept us dry again. I felt really sorry for Natalie, who was sleeping in her hammock. I gave her my hammock and set it up as a makeshift roof, but with this rain, she could hardly keep it dry. In the morning, the rain still didn't stop, but at some point, we crawled out of our tents and decided to just chill in the pool. When the water temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, you don't really care about the rain. Natalie was nowhere to be seen, and Lejito decided to stay in his tent longer, just like us. After 4 hours in the pool, we finally had to start heading towards Aguas Calientes, so we packed our things, quickly cooked something, said goodbye to Lejito, and set off. A woman immediately offered us a ride to Hydroelectrica, and since this path is just a road, we couldn't say no, of course. Here, we also discovered that tuk-tuks are not only found in Asia.

From Hydroelectrica, it is a 10 km walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes.

Right before the entrance to Machu Picchu, we found a very nice campsite and decided to stay there. Here, we met Alexis and Ned (two Australians), Cata (Colombia), and Oskar (Argentina). We immediately got along with them and had a fun first evening together. 

Our last sleeping spot!

In the evening, I went to Aguas Calientes with them to buy tickets for Machu Picchu. However, since the entrance fee for Machu Picchu is one-third cheaper if you buy the tickets on the same day in the morning and then go up in the afternoon, we decided to go for this option. We used our city visit to buy vegetables and other food for cooking at the market. Because our luck was that Oskar is a trained chef in Argentina, and he immediately proved his skills to us on the first evening, oh how we enjoyed that meal! 

Summary of Day 5: 10 km, 200 meters of descent, 70 meters of ascent

Day 6:
The next morning, we were about to leave when Natalie suddenly appeared at the campsite, what a coincidence! Together, we set off for Aguas Calientes again to buy our tickets (100 Soles -> €25) and then started the final 500 meters of ascent up thousands of steps until we finally reached Machu Picchu!

The way to go!

Step by step up!

Ned, Alexis, and Natalie sped up during the ascent and sent us ahead, so we explored Machu Picchu with Cata and Oskar. The sight of this wonder of the world is simply incredible, one cannot imagine how people were able to build it over 500 years ago without iron tools. Huge, massive granite blocks form the walls, and not even a sheet of paper fits between the stones!

Machu Picchu!

The FCW also made it to Machu Picchu :-D

We also went to the Sun Gate, a viewpoint, which required another 270 meters of ascent from the start of Machu Picchu, but from there, you have a great view over the Inca city. 

The view from the Sun Gate

This place definitely has a special aura, and you can feel that it is a mystical place! After sitting there for a while, enjoying the moment and absorbing the energy of the place, we made our way back to the campsite. There, we met Natalie again, who, in turn, ran into Lejito by chance. It was really funny that we all ended up being at Machu Picchu at the same time. Since it was too late to return to Cusco, we decided to start the journey back the next morning.
Summary of Day 6: 10 km, 720 meters of ascent, 720 meters of descent

Day 7:
The next morning, we packed our things and set off for Cusco with Natalie (the others returned in the afternoon). On the way to the collectivo, we met Adrian and Mateu, two Catalans from Barcelona and Mallorca, two really cool guys with whom we had a lot of fun later! In Hydroelectrica, we quickly found a driver who took us back to Cusco for €8 each. But after the 5-hour drive, we were not tired, but motivated to celebrate the end of this amazing trek, so we had a really fun night out in Cusco with Mateu and Adrian!
Summary of Day 7: 8.5 km, 200 meters of ascent, 70 meters of descent

Conclusion: More than 83 km, 3,500 meters of ascent and 5,500 meters of descent, we hiked with our backpacks weighing more than 20 kg in one week, with the ultimate goal of reaching Machu Picchu! In the end, we can only say that it was definitely the right decision to do it on our own. Not only did we save a lot of money, but we also had an incredibly beautiful experience with the wonderful nature of Peru!

Author: Andreas