I just returned late last night from a 5 day trek/ Machu Picchu trip. I think I had fun overall, but it was ridiculous as you will soon read.
On the morning of 3/11, we left Cuzco at 4:45am for a five hour drive to the mountain village of Mollepata to begin the trek. My first impression of the guide was a bad one- he was wearing an old army surplus coat, black jeans and slip-on leather shoes. Not exactly appropriate trekking attire, let along something a guide should wear. Upon getting in the van, he (Alex) promptly fell asleep, not bothering to stay up with the driver to keep him awake and make sure he was driving safely. I woke up about an hour before we got to Mollepata and the drive was beautiful! Lots of steep green hills with fog lingering down in the valleys and even some snowy mountains! When we arrived, I found out I was sharing a tent with a German girl named Simone and her and I plus an Austrian/German couple (Karina and Andrei) and a Swedish girl (Rebekka) ended up hiking together and hanging out for most of the trek. After a few minutes, Alex gave us a really awkward speech: "I don´t want you to tip the horsemen we are using, I want you to save the tip for me and the cooks. When we get to Aguas Calientes, I don´t want to hear any of you saying you don´t have money left for our tip." Oh no. That is awkward and really unprofessional. As we start the hike on roads out of the village, Alex gets confused and has to ask 3 locals where the trail is. We finally get going, walking past little farms perched on steep hillsides, pretty flowers and layers and layers of bright green hills in the distance. The road we were hiking on was really really muddy, but we managed to stay dry and clean for the most part. We stopped at a little house high above the village for lunch after a few hours of walking. Fortunately, there were some other vegetarians in the group because it took all three of us to explain what a vegetarian was. And at all subsequent meals we were still asked "But you eat chicken right?" Ha. The lunch was really good though- those cooks really know how to make perfect rice! Yum. After lunch a Dutch girl slipped in the mud and reached for the nearest branch to catch herself. It just so happens that the branch was covered with enormous thorns and she cut her hand pretty badly. Guess who didn´t have a first aid kit? I bet you guessed right- the guide forgot the first aid kit! This was the first instance where I had to use the phrase "Alex, this is completely unacceptable", a phrase that was to be repeated about 3 times a day. He was trying to tell me that the agency didn´t give him one so it wasn´t his fault and I explained to him that as the guide, he was responsible for things like a first aid kit. After asking what kind of first aid certification he had, I was answered with mumbles and more awkwardness. So I used my personal first aid kit and helped the poor girl myself. The hike after this improved immensely with peeks of the giant snowy mountains up near Salkantay. By the time we got to camp, the weather had changed from hot sun to pouring cold rain, but after setting up tents and getting situated under a shelter (thank god cause the tents would have been soaked through in 2 seconds), the clouds cleared around the mountains to expose spectacular glaciers and really steep, but delicate looking fluting high near the summit. It was beautiful! The hills on the other side of the valley were streaked with numerous waterfalls and were free of vegetation except a yellowish moss, making the contrast with the snow and the waterfall really awesome. We had popcorn and tea for snack time and then some more really good food for dinner (with more delicious rice). Unfortunately the cold I had felt instensifying all day got pretty bad and I was completely congested by the time I went to bed.
We got up fairly early on March 12 to begin the hike up to Salkantay pass at 15,235ft! When I first got up, you could see the mountains really well again and there was every some morning sun on the tip of the summit. We also saw Salkantay for the first time up valley. By the time we started hiking, thick fog had rolled in and we could see very little. The valley we hiked up was really pretty though with lots of waterfalls and big boulders. I could really feel the elevation! I wasn´t getting a headache or any serious symptoms, but it was so easy to get out of breath! When I reached the top all I could see infront of me were huge icy walls and crevassed glaciers extending up into the fog. There were even some avalanches that kept coming down through one particular chute. It was awesome! There was even some sun at one point. I wish I could have seen more of the mountain, but the fog eventually descended low enough that we could see very little. After admiring the the view from the pass for about 45 minutes, we headed down the otherside and it promptly began to pour. We could only see about 20 ft in front of us sometimes because of the fog as well. We finally got down to the hut for lunch at 2, starving, cold and wet, but luckily didn´t have to wait for the slower group before we ate. The same girl that hurt her hand ended up rolling her ankle and spraining it really badly on the way down from the pass and luckily Simone had an Ace bandage, since I had only brought a mini first aid kit with me (expecting to be able to use the guide´s if something bad happened). She was still able to walk on the ankle, but just barely. After lunch we continued down along a swollen river lower and lower until we were in full on jungley cloud forest. There were huge flowers of all kinds and all the streams crossing the trail raced downhill towards the river through tunnels of thick green rain forest plants. It also got a warmer and much more humid. The fog in the trees looked really cool- just like rainforest pictures you see in National Geographic. We also started to see the first evidence of the mudslides that plaque the countryside in this part of the country- whole hillsides were ripped out by what looked like little creeks. It was crazy. We arrived at our campsite- the second storey of a farmhouse- at dark. Again, we were really lucky to be out of the rain and under a roof!
On March 13, we set off through on a road bisected every few hundred feet with massive landslide debris piles. Alex employed his favorite attention-grabbing technique, informing us that "a few people died here last year so we have to be careful." He was really tired this day and most of the time was about 30 minutes behind the German guy and myself. Lame. He complained about his blisters alot- get some real shoes Mr. Guide or suck it up YOU ARE THE GUIDE! Anywho, most of the day was spent walking downhill on the road along a furious swollen dark brown river through rainforest. There were a ton of pretty butterflies whose wings flashed electric blue when the sun hit them directly and lots more pretty flowers. The most exciting part of the day was a nasty stream crossing towards the end of the hike. Andrei and I made it across after analyzing possible crossings for a few minutes and decided to throw some sticks down over the worst part so the others could cross more easily. Rebekka made it across ok, but one of the sticks turned on Simone and she fell in! Luckily another stick pinned her up vertically and kept her from going downstream! It was kind of scary, but she was fine. Where was Alex? Oh about 30 minutes behind limping along, not being a guide. When we finally made it to the end of the road to catch a bus to our next campsite, Alex informed us that we would be carrying all our luggage 12 miles the next day. Excuse me? The agency NEVER said anything about this. I had packed my sleeping bag, etc in this crappy little pack the agency had lent me because they said my big pack was too big for the horses (even though everyone else used ones the same size as my big one for the horses), so I had two backpacks and never had any idea that I would have to carry it all. It didn´t weigh alot, it was just going to be really awkward and I would´ve just packed things in my big pack! I employed the phrase "this is totally unacceptable" once again. Half the group was going on a bus the first 6 miles the next day and Alex made arrangements for the luggage of the walkers to be dropped off at the half way point. Better, but still not what I paid for. Anywho, by this point I had a pretty bad fever and was stressed out from dealing with Alex so I left and laid down in the grass for a nap away from him. We caught a bus in the afternoon to our campsite, once again in a house. The bus ride was on this narrow little muddy road with a million hairpin turns, but the scenery was really pretty- banana palms and coffee plants! That night Simone got a text from a friend telling us about the earthquake. We calculated that it must have happened on Saturday and my dad was there on business and was flying out Friday so I was relieved.
On the morning of March 14, those of us walking all day, set out for the trail passing through the village of Santa Teresa. Alex hiked in flip flops. Yep. And a trench coat and short shorts. He looked like a joke! He had to ask 5 locals where the trail was before we found it! We walked over a rickety little suspension bridge and then down along the Urubamba river. This river! It was the most furious, violent, powerful, raging swollen brown scary river I have ever seen. It what would normally be a little rapid, the river was throwing spray 10 feet into the air! And when it got steep it was terrifying to look at! At one point a rusty old cable with some ropes on it came into view and we assumed it was a bridge that had been washed out. Then Alex got up on the platform. And then we saw the basket attached to the cable. Oh no. We had to cross the SCARIEST river I have ever seen in a basket held up by a rusty cable and pulled by fraying, soaked boat ropes. Really? Alex didn´t think to tell us about this? Once again I used my trademark phrase. And then Alex employed his favorite phrase "some people died here..." But I cut him off cause we didn´t want to hear it. Most of us would have taken the bus with the rest of the group if we kew about this. Anywho, Rebekkah and a Chilean fellow hopped in first and were rolling down the cable to the otherside of the river without any problem when the basket stopped half way across. I looked up just in time to see the river throw some spray that would have soaked Rebekka if they had been about 2 ft closer to us (the basket was about 15ft above the river). They looked back in confusion and Alex had to mime to them (the river was too loud to yell across) how to keep going. They made it. I went next with a Brazilian guy and we also got stuck half way across. I was in the back and there were gears above my head so I couldn´t do anything, but try to give the guy instructions in English, which he barely spoke, as he started to panic. We made it too. Everyone made it fine (but with cuts and gouges in fingers cause of pulling on the cable), and now looking back it´s one of those things that seems hilarious, but we were really scared at the time. So we continue on. Twenty minutes later we see another trekking group walking over a huge bridge built to support the weight of construction trucks rumbling up and down the road. Hmmm. Could´ve gone that way! The rest of the walk to our luggage was along the raging river on a road through a steep green valley. After getting our luggage (yes I had a gaper front pack since I had two backpacks) we continued along railroad tracks and the river for the rest of the way to Aguas Calientes. At one point we had another bridge to cross- it was a railroad bridge with a little pedestrian one hanging off the side. Scariest bridge ever. It was made with a single layer of sheet metal, rusted through in some places and buckeling and bending below us as we walked. AAAAAAAAAAAH! We made it once again. Right before Aguas Calientes, we saw the guard house of Machu Picchu! It was a beautiful day and perfectly clear! Our first glimpse of Aguas Calientes was the Urubamba river coming around a corner and some buildings along its bank about to fall in! It is kind of a gross little town- really touristy and only in existence because of Machu Picchu. After waiting for ALex to catch up, we checked into our hostel and went to dinner. At the restaurant we were able to watch CNN and catch up on news of the earthquake. After 30 minutes of seeing images of death and destruction, the anchor woman finally said "Friday´s earthquake..." and I panicked because that meant my dad was there. I ran out of the restaurant to an internet cafe and was shaking so bad it took me 3 tries to log in to my email. The first email was from Dad saying he was fine. THANK GOD! I was really scared. When I got back, Alex had us fill out performance reviews. He wanted us to put our names on them, but we refused. As we finished, he would come up behind us and then read our review whil standing right behind us! OH NO! I once again used my token phrase and he just shrugged and went to the other end of the table to read all of them. To make it even worse he then gave another extremely awkward speech that started with the words "Some of you really know how to hurt..." OH NO! I couldn´t believe what I was hearing! He went on and on about how we just didn´t like him personally and that we were all just really mean. After the speech he acted like a little kid that is mad at his parents- all questions are answered in contempt and as short as possible and he would glare at us if we talked to him! UNBELIEVEABLE!
Yesterday we got up at 3am and left the hostel at 3:30 to walk to the first entrance gate. They let us through that at 4:50, we hiked up the world´s steepest, never-ending staircase to the main entrance and were let in at 6:00 there. The whole time it was POURING! But the walk up had made us all really sweaty (even with just a t-shirt on under my raincoat!) so everyone was really damp and cold by the time our guided tour started 45 minutes later. Our tour lasted about an hour and a half in POURING rain with a guide that none of us could understand. I wanted to climb Wayna Picchu, the lone mountain behind Machu Picchu, but had to wait another hour and a half before I could start (you can only start at certain times). I was able to wait in a shelter, under cover, but my cold had gone to my chest and I started coughing a pnemonia cough really bad. I had been in the rain or waiting damp and cold for about 7.5 hours by the time I decided it was time to give up and go down. It turns out it competely cleared off 30 MINUTES AFTER I LEFT!!!!!!!!!! A few of our group members stayed up there and saw the amazing Machu Picchu you see in pictures. In the afternoon it seemed like it was probably clear up there so I went to buy a bus ticket to go back up, but the bus driver said it was still cloudy and that you still couldn´t see anything. I don´t know why he said that because it was completely clear by then. But I didn´t go back up because of this so I didn´t really get to see Machu Picchu. I took 5 pictures. Simone and Rebekka have really good pictures though so they are going to email me some at some point. We took a train and then a bus back to Cuzco and got back here at about 12:30am. A long day!
So that is my ridiculous trek/ Machu Picchu experience. Looking back on it, I had fun, but I wouldn´t go with that company again knowing what I know now. I tried to stay positive throughout, but it was hard sometimes! My cough is getting worse and I have been checking weather forecasts for Ecuador- NOT GOOD. I think trying to combine Patagonia with Peru and Ecuador just doesn´t really work since they are good in opposite seasons. For these reasons, I am ready to come home and I have just changed my flights. I fly to Ecuador on Friday and then back to Portland on March 25th. I am cutting my trip short by 3 weeks (for a hefty penalty price from the airlines of course), but I have had such a good trip up til now that I don´t want to spend the next month moping around in the soggy Ecuadorian Andes. SO, 10 days and counting! See you soon!
