Day 6: Things I have learned while hiking in the Peruvian Andes - Part 1

Quite possibly the most picturesque bathroom stop in the world

This is it.  The start of the Machu Picchu Lodge to Lodge trek itself!  The itinerary covers 7 days and 6 nights and I'll start each blog with the official description of what's ahead - and then give you the real skinny of how it went down.  Here's the official version of what's in store today:
Day 1 itinerary Cusco - Soraypampa:
The pick-up begins at 7am at our different hotels in Cusco.  En route we take a short break to visit the Inca ruins of Tarawasi.  After 2hrs of further traveling, including passing through the mountain village of Mollepata, we arrive to a place called Marcoccasa where we begin our trek to Soraypampa. Box lunch, dinner and overnight at Salkantay Lodge.

A stunning view of Salkantay peak from the Huillque viewpoint

The detailed route (in case you all want to go and Google all these places are:)
Cusco - Izcuchaca
Izcuchaca - Huillque (Salkantay view point)
Huillque - Tarawasi Archeological site (Limatambo)
Mollepata - Marcocasa (start of acclimitization hike)
Marcocasa - Challacancha
Challacancha - Soraypampa (Salkantay Lodge)

A bit closer up to Salkantay peak - we are hking past
this on Sunday - eek!!!

So the first couple of places on the list were rest stops on the road out from Cusco.  Rather dull, I hear you say, until you see some of the completely spectacular scenery that we were driving past!  The road from Cusco ultimately takes you to Lima (takes a full 22 hrs) and winds and wends its way carved up high into the mountainside, offering fabulous views down into the valley below.  It reminded me a lot of driving through the Bhutanese countryside, but with fewer trees.

Colonial Spanish house built on top of Inca
built foundations.  

Our first proper stop of the day was at Tarawasi where we had a short visit to some more Incan ruins.  They were bloody clever, those Incans - and they certainly seemed to enjoy building walls.  At this stop, there was also another temple with lots of niches carved into them where they would place statues or Mummified Important People (MIPs) who would sometimes continue to participate in daily activities even after they'd passed onto their next lives (from their life in this world, the Puma world, to the life in the next, the Snake world).

Inside the colonial house.  Not sure exactly how
old but from the 1500's I think.

Lisa practicing her MIP pose

These views were really quite ridiculously lovely

 You've earned a reprieve for now,
fluffboy....

After Tarawasi, we continued our journey on to Mollepata where we were going to see some of the good that Mountain Lodges of Peru (our Peruvian owned and operated tour company) does for the local community.  Mollepata is a community where local women are being re-taught some of the old Incan customs and crafts that have formerly been lost, so we first stopped for tea and snacks (huzzah) and to look at some ill-fated guinea pigs (I tried to pick the fluffiest, cutest, saddest looking one for lunch but they didn't let me).

 Reinvigorated with tea, we were then taken to meet some of the women and see them at work weaving things and, of course, for the opportunity to buy their local products.  Obviously I'm a sucker for a shopping opportunity at the best of times but, combined with "its for a good cause", then I knew I wasn't going to be walking out of there empty handed!  In the end I bought (another) scarf, a knitted keyring for my admin's niece and some locally produced, all organic honey, blueberry jam and chia seeds for Mumsie.   My civic duty was discharged for the day.

This may look like weaving but what these women
are actually doing are reeling in my money...

I can't remember exactly where on the hike this was but it was flat,
I was knackered...but we'd made it!

Yes, that's a Doctor Who hat.  And yes, its a bloody long way up.

After this stop, it was back in the van for another half hour drive further up into the mountains to a place called Marcoccasa until finally it was time to get our asses loaded off the bus and to start hiking.  The moment we'd been looking forward to/dreading in equal measure!  Our hike today was to take us to Soraypampa where our lodge was located.  It was a long hike, scheduled to take between 5-6hrs, depending on our pace, how many rest stops we took, how many people died along the way, etc etc.  Writing this now, the hike is a bit of a blur as I alternated between moments of "OK, this isn't too terrible" with "OMG I'm going to die" all the time while trying to keep an eye on where I was putting my feet (I'm not known for my deftness of step).  The scenery was, of course, spectacular and I would run out of superlatives if I tried to describe it for you.  I did remember to look up and try and enjoy it on occasion, when i wasn't focused on my feet or inadequate lungs.

We hiked for a solid 2hrs, pausing frequently to take quick rest stops, before our first snack break stop, stopping on this high alpine meadow.  Another hour and we stopped for lunch, sheltering from the blazing hot sun (which was, by this stage, not welcome!) under s traditional hut with a grass-woven roof and with the most spectacular view of the Humantay mountain and glacier.  Our boxed lunch was very tasty - a pasta quinoa salad (Mumsie - I may end up eating quinoa at home after this vacation!) and a mango chicken croissant, along with some fruit and some biscuits.  Not too heavy and just the job for refueling ready for the final push to our destination!

The final hour or so (time by this stage had ceased to have any meaning) took us high along the mountain, following the path of a stream that had been cut into the side of the mountain (does that count as an aqueduct?).  It got a bit tricky at times, as we walked along the side of the aqueduct on the stone walls, probably less than 2ft across and with sheer drops of several thousands of feet down into the valley floor below.  But it was fine and, in time, we were descending into the valley itself and our lodge was very close.  Now, we knew we were getting near but, because of how they'd built the lodge (which was very clever) you can't actually see it until you are right upon it!  Great for the environment and everything - not great for weary trekkers looking for their light at the end of their proverbial hiking tunnel!  But we finally made it and - as promised in the brochure - were met by the staff with cool, damp towels for us to wipe our hands and faces with and mugs of steaming mint tea.  Perfect service.  We had about an hour before dinner at 7pm, so just enough time to have a quick shower and change, before enjoying some very yummy food - and then crashing out and heading off to bed at 8.30!!  It was a very long, very tiring day - but extremely satisfying.

Local variety of passionfruit that looked disgusting
but tasted pretty good - as long as you could get over
the mucus pod appearance

So, as another Brucie Bonus, here are the stats from my heart rate monitor watch from today's hike.  It did crap out about half an hour from the end of my hike (I knew the feeling) but you'll get a sense of what today entailed. When I get home and can download all the GPS info onto my Mac, I'll actually be able to get a full map of exactly where we hiked (and be able to see just where the route made my heart rate soar to the heavens) which I think will be a cool souvenir.

Today’s scores on the doors:

Start time: 12.00pm

Duration: 5hrs 23min (plus another 45mins cos it crapped out at the end)

Distance: 6.52 mi

Avg heart rate: 112 (63%)

Max heart rate: 140 (79%)

Calories: 1924

Fat burn % of calories: 55% (whoo hoo)

Average speed: 1.4mph

Maximum speed: 3.4 mph

Max.altitude: 12705 ft

Ascent: 1600 ft

Descent: 80 ft

So then. Here's what I've learned about trekking in the Peruvian Andes so far, one day in:

1.  However fit you are when you start trekking, you will wish you were fitter.  All I can think right now (and I cant think of much cos I'm so unbelievably tired) is THANK GOD I've been training for a half marathon (and its for charity and its not too late to donate, oh new blogwatchers - here's the link: ).  Even despite the training, this trek is HARD.  Its difficult to tease out just how much of that is because of the altitude but it certainly makes every step much more of an effort.  Fortunately, Leese (sp?) one of our tour guides keeps a very slow and steady pace and everyone seems to be roughly walking at the same pace too (with one or two notable exceptions which I shall tell you about in a future post).  So, so far, so good.  Lisa and I are not charging it from the front, but we're certainly not lagging miles behind at the back either.  We're in the middle of the pack, and that's totally fine by us.  (I'll tell you a bit more about our hiking companions in another couple of days when I've come with nicknames for them all, so stay tuned...)

2.    At some point in time during the trek, you will be so knackered that you will stop giving a crap about walking through it.  The extra effort involved in diverting past cowpats and horse poo will simply not be worth it.

3.      You will discover the holy trinity of trekking nirvana – in rank order:
a.      Shade.  This is THE most valuable hiking currency by far, irrespective of whether you are going uphill or downhill.  If the sun is beating down on your head, you will sweat like a beast and make that lovely little hike at 13,000 ft just a little bit more interesting.
b.      Flat.  After shade, this is what you will crave on the trail, especially after an hour or so of steady uphill climbing.  OK, OK, who am I trying to kid.  I crave the flat after only 15 mins of hiking. 
c.      Downhill.  After a few hours of uphill nonsense, there is an ultimate potential reward of being able, at some point in the future, of going downhill again.  This is a welcome respite to all the uphill slogging that shoots your heart rate up like a rocket and makes you huff and puff like a 20yr 2 pack a day smoker.  However, with all good things (except shopping, champagne and Doctor Who), it is a treat best enjoyed in moderation.  Prolonged periods of going-downness (steady) are absolute hell on the knees.  Ironically, going uphill has been fine for my calf muscle and its nascent niggle as I can actually sneak in some quick stretches as I climb, but going downhill engages a whole different set of muscles that are now complaining at me as I type.  There are rumblings about them forming a union due to overwork and underpay, so I shall have to keep an eye on the thighs.

4.  Stopping to rest is awesome, especially sitting down to eat lunch.  Getting back up again to hike for another 2hrs?  Not so much.

The final thing I’ve learned so far about trekking in the Andes is that there is another condition that’s almost as common as altitude sickness that both Lisa and I have been afflicted with several times since arriving in Cusco.  Its called Altitude Complacency and it can be recognized by its sufferers uttering such phrases as “Ooo, well I think we’re acclimatizing very well, don’t you think?” or “My fingers are still tingling but I’m not getting out of breath as much”.  AC is brought on by prolonged bouts of strolling gently round town shopping, or walking along gentle verdant fields while out on an easy hike.  The only known cure for altitude complacency is to walk up a flight of stairs whereby the symptoms will instantly disappear in a wheezy, panting cacophony of heavy breathing and swearing.  Altitude complacency banished for at least 4-6 hrs until altitude forgetfulness kicks in and the cycle begins again.

Tomorrow is a slightly easier day in that its not as long as today - however, the first 2.5hrs are steadily uphill, as we climb up out of the valley and towards the glacial lake of Humantay. 

View of the Humantay glacier from our lunch spot

Clouds lifted, stunning view

If you look very closely at this picture you will
eventually spot an Andean condor.  Quite rare
and wingspans of 15ft (I think)

Another view from our lunch spot

The alpine flowers are fantastic - purple lupins
are everywhere!