Cusco and the Rainbow Mountains 🌈

The journey from Paracas via Ica to Cusco was once again very adventurous... First, we took a private shuttle to Ica for 1 hour. From there, we took an overnight bus to Cusco for 17 hours. For this long journey, we treated ourselves to seats in first class. The seats were very comfortable, but the bus driver was quite disturbed and drove the winding road almost unbraked at high speed, making it almost impossible to sleep. In addition, a woman vomited loudly for almost half the night. Totally exhausted and annoyed, we finally arrived in beautiful and sunny Cusco. We spent the day recovering from the bus ride.

Cusco is located at an altitude of 3300 meters and is the oldest continuously inhabited city on the continent, once the most important fortress of the Inca Empire, and today the archaeological capital of South America. Old Inca walls, narrow streets, many churches and beautiful lively squares... Cusco is a very beautiful but also very touristy city and the starting point for many tours in the area.

After recovering a bit and visiting Cusco, we booked a tour to the mountain Vinicunca or also called Rainbow Mountain through the agency Macchu Picchu Reservations. Early in the morning, we took the bus for a long time to the starting point of the hike, almost 2 hours through Cusco until we had collected all the participants. Nevertheless, the drive through the mountains was beautiful once again. The hike up to Rainbow Mountain takes about 2-2 1/2 hours and involves some challenging climbs up to about 5000 meters. But the path itself and the view of the colorful mountains were definitely worth the effort. The Rainbow Mountain shines in 7 different colors, caused by various minerals. But just take a look at the photos....