08/03/2023 - Rainbow Mountain & Red Valley / Peru

3.30 Clock rang, because today we had a 4-hour Car ride ahead of us. 4am Willi picked us up, he is again our guide and driver. We drove south, the later it became the smaller the villages and the more beautiful the Landscape. The last two hours we drove at 20 km/h on a bumpy gravel road. There is no electricity in these places and public buses only run once a week to the market. Llamas and alpacas graze in the pasture and eat fresh grass, preferably straw, that is their favorite food. Potatoes are grown on the slope, otherwise almost nothing grows here anymore, because we are now almost at an altitude of 5000 meters. At some point we reached the last houses and a sign that told us that it is no longer possible to continue by car. We took a quad bike and Willi a motorcycle and then drove another 25 minutes further up. Now we could see it, the Montana de Vinicunca, the Rainbow Mountain. But to enjoy the best view, we had another hike ahead of us. We walked slowly and stopped frequently to enjoy the view, but also to catch our breath. Done, we had arrived at 5,036 meters and we were alone. Once again, because we started so early, luckily. Great views, no matter which direction we looked, colorful Mountains, glaciers, lakes, alpacas, all incredibly beautiful. Slowly other tourists also arrived, but from the other direction and they all had to walk up the mountain for at least 2 hours, we had clearly chosen the more comfortable way, even if the car ride took 4 instead of just 3 hours. Right next to the Rainbow Mountain is the Red Valley, which we also wanted to visit. We walked a bit downhill, straight ahead and uphill again. Behind a wall and a stone gate, a valley made solely of red rock welcomed us. Green spots indicated that some plants do grow up here. Another climb that was definitely worth it. Slowly we started the way back. To get to the quad bike, we had to walk up again, past the Rainbow Mountain and back down. The air at this altitude is really quite thin and low in oxygen, we walked so slowly and took constant breaks, but it felt like we were running a marathon. But every view we could enjoy up here in the Andes excused that.