Day 8: Slow and steady wins the race.....OR how to conquer the Salkantay Glacier pass!

Our official itinerary for today:
Day 3: Soraypampa to Wayraccnachay

Emergency Horse gets a little Emergency hoof-maintenance!

After an early start, we hike up the Rio Blanco valley, circling Humantay Peak across from Salkantay Peak.  The highest point on the trek is a pass at 15,213 ft where we will stop briefly.  From there we continue our descent toward Wayra Lodge, our destination for the evening.  Hot lunch en route; dinner, breakfast and overnight at Wayra Lodge.

This was it.  Today was THE big day - the one we've been dreading/looking forward to/training for. The one that everyone in our group was nervous about and that led to a very poor night's sleep for both Lisa and I.  However, before I describe today's absolutely monumental effort, I think its time to  its time to properly introduce you to the rest of the people in our trekking group.

Our super-stylish horse girl, Anna.  If you look
waaaaay in the distance, you can just see the
lodge we just hiked up from en route to
Salkantay pass.

There are only 10 of us in total, which is fantastic (no massive group tours!) and, except for the first 2 nights, we actually have the lodges completely to ourselves!  The service has been outstanding throughout the trip (so far) and I definitely think that having a small group makes providing a personal service with the tiniest attention to detail that much easier.  If any of you are feeling inspired by our trip so far, then I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending our tour operator, Mountain Lodges of Peru.  There’s a reason they are rated so incredibly highly on Trip Advisor and on REI.com – and that’s because the trip, the service, the food, the lodges, the guides, basically everything has been outstanding.  I also like the fact that they actively give back to the local community, so the money you spend on vacation is also helping with local educational and development initiatives such as those run by Yanapana Peru (http://www.yanapana.org).

Some of you may also be wondering why we chose not to trek the classic Inca trail – well, firstly, there are many routes that lead to Machu Picchu and the Inca trail is just one of them, albeit the best known.  The main reason we chose the Salkantay trek instead is that is the road less travelled.  Instead of having to share the Inca trail with literally hundreds of other trekkers, today, for example, other than our group and local farmers and horse traffic, we saw precisely ZERO other tourists.  Nada.  We saw a few yesterday, as we were walking down from Humantay lake, but that’s been it on the whole trip so far.  In the fleeting moments that my lungs haven’t been exploding and I’ve been huffing and puffing like crazy, I’ve very much enjoyed the solitude of the trail and not having to share it with anyone else (other than our little group, of course).  I think it would be a different experience if you were constantly having to navigate other trekkers.  Of course, the other benefit of being able to stay in luxury lodges at the end of each day’s travel, being met with aforementioned cool towels and hot beverages rather than having to rough it camping each night, was purely coincidental.  Not a critical factor at all, no sirree.

The back side of the Humantay glacier we'd been in front of
the day before

But back to our fellow intrepid trekkers.  Let’s start with our brilliant guides, the fabulous Liz and Johann. 

I don’t think I’ve ever met two guides who are more knowledgeable about the local culture, flora and fauna and history than these two.  Johann is a bit cheeky with a mischievous smile – we’ve been having great fun teasing each other and Lisa has been having bets with him in terms of him guessing the exact number of minutes until we reach our destination du jour.  If he gets it right, then Lisa has to buy him a Pisco Sour!  And today, he actually got one of them right (“its 23 minutes til we reach the lunch stop) so Lisa has to buy him a drink when we arrive at the lodge!  Liz (short for Lixayda) is also fantastic – she’s been the one who’s been briefing us every day on what the next day’s activities entail and most of the time she’s been setting the pace, leading the group from the front.  She has the perfect demeanor for a guide – again, incredibly knowledgeable, and also very patient and observant too.  She’s a trained EMT so is always reminding people to drink lots of water at our breaks (“drink, please! Stay hydrated!”) and checking in with us all first thing in the morning and then throughout the day to see how we’re all doing and that none of us are feeling any undue effects of altitude sickness.  With both of them to guide us, we’ve felt in very safe and capable hands.

Then there is Anna, our very stylish horse lady and her horsey crew, plus Emergency Horse and his sidekick, Water Horse.  None of us have had to use Emergency Horse, thank goodness, but its been very good to know that resource was there for us, should we have needed it.

Now, on to our fellow explorers.  Here they are, described below, in descending rank order of those I'd like to sit next to at dinner time: 

1. In first place we have Top Brit and Top Banana, the 70yr-young British couple who I think are absolutely brilliant and who I want to be like when I grow up.  Top Brit earned my undying respect for his skivvy-dip in the glacial lake the day before and Top Banana, his wife, is a complete rockstar.  Probably one of the nicest couples you'd ever hope to meet, they are brilliantly intrepid souls who've been (almost) everywhere!  They've been telling me about the trip they made to Everest Base Camp for Top Brit's 60th birthday ten years ago (!) and it sounds kinda tempting...
2. In second place, we have Crazy Sticks and Hyperactive Hypoxic Man: this couple are also British and have been fun to talk to.  Crazy Sticks gets her name from her inability to control her hiking poles when attempting to multi-task on the trail (adjust a layer or get the camera, drink some water etc) resulting in them flailing behind her, threatening to take out the eye of the unsuspecting person behind (often me) or skewer a femoral artery.  HHM was originally just Hypoxic Man as he was the one we were most worried about with altitude sickness.  The additional H was added because of the manic energy he also emitted - he's like one of those puppies that bounces around with high-energy enthusiasm, leaving a trail of near destruction in his wake.
3. In third equal place we have the two remaining couples: the American couple, Captain Obvious and his wife, Pick Your Feet Up and the Swiss couple, Mountain Goat and Heidi.  Starting with Mountain Goat and Heidi, both seemed sickening unaffected by the altitude and through the whole trip looked like they'd been taking an easy stroll through the park.  Mountain Goat would bound off suddenly to go and look at interesting flowers up on the hillside and then would bound back down and slot back into the hiking formation.  Like a mountain goat, he didn't have a great concept of personal space so would invariably walk just a bit too close behind you, rather disconcerting when you needed to stop and take a breath - you were never quite sure if he'd left himself enough stopping distance.  We don't have any photographs of Heidi for she was rarely seen during the treks.  She was always at the front, was rarely seen at the back of the pack and also didn't say a huge amount.  She was, indeed, an enigma.   Now, on the other hand, Captain Obvious always had something to say.  Someone would make a comment about something and Captain Obvious would always reply with one of the following "yes, I knew that and when I ...." or "Oh, I've done that too".  I'm sure he didn't mean to come across as condescending or patronizing but sometimes thats just how it came across, so after Day 1, my main objective on the trail was to stay out of earshot lest I get further irritated.   His wife I almost named Mrs Captain Obvious but, after spending today behind her on the trek to Salkantay pass, her new nickname is Pick Your Feet Up.  One of the things that becomes very important to you on the trail, especially when the trek is very challenging and uphill, is the pace and foot pattern of the person in front of you.  In those moments where its the hardest, your world seems to contract into a tiny space where there is just you, your breathing, your boots and the boots of the person in front of you.  You try and achieve a rhythm in sync with the person in front and it almost reaches a point where it becomes meditative and you completely zone out.  That's why the person in front of you can become very important.  Now, PYFU set a very nice pace in terms of speed, but I soon noticed that her step itself was incredibly inefficient - as she brought each foot forward, she'd drag the toe of her boot along the ground, effectively acting as her own brake with every step.  I didn't feel I could tell her to pick her feet up, but i'm sure if she did, then she'd have found the entire trek a whole lot easier!

So that's the gang.  Now on to today's trek itself.  As i mentioned earlier, its the big one, where we ascend up to 15,000ft to the Salkantay glacier pass and its a steady uphill the whole way.  We started early, leaving at 7am and the first bit up to the pass was estimated to take us around 5hrs.  I had had a terrible nights sleep - not sure why, perhaps the room was too hot or I was just nervous, but there was no time to dwell on how tired I was feeling at the start of the day - it was time to just grit your teeth and do it!

The first bit of the hike led us out of the lodge the same way as yesterday's hike to the glacier but then, after 20mins or so, we hiked off to the right, starting to ascend the Rio Valley.  The scenery was again absolutely spectacular, surrounded as we were by glacial mountain ranges (apparently Southern Peru has the highest number of glacial peaks in the Andes - but I'm sure Captain Obvious already knew that) and the first hour or so wasn't so bad.  Then, though, we started to ascend at a steeper incline and it became harder and everyone became much more focused on finding their own rhythm and balance between hiking and breathing.  The hardest part of the trail, about 2 and a half hours in was the section that is called the Seven Snakes which is, as you could probably guess from the name, a long section of crushingly hard switchbacks.  After those were conquered (we did it!  we're still alive!  OMG!), it was only another half hour to our Snack Break (bloody love those) were we could take a breather, a drink and a pee!

Incredibly picturesque stop for a Snack Break, right?

The Snack Break stop was in this improbably sited alpine meadow - its weird, you get so used to hiking clinging to the side of a mountain, looking down thousands of feet to the valley floor below, that its always a mild surprise to crest over a ridge or come round a bend and see this big expanse of green, flat meadow spread out before you!  This one had plenty of oversized rocks that served perfectly as restrooms on the go, so we spent about 20mins there before the final push to the top and to the Salkantay pass.

Approaching the Salkantay pass....

I've been wondering how best to describe the pass and the feeling of sheer exhilaration when we got there, but its very difficult to exactly put into words just the sense of accomplishment and pride that we did it!  WE ACTUALLY BLOODY WELL DID IT!!  It was one of the hardest physically challenging hikes I've ever done (only rivaled by the glacier hike I did in Patagonia many years ago that was a beast) but we actually did it!!  In that moment, you feel completely invincible and you could achieve anything you set your mind too.  The euphoria may have had a slightly hypoxic component to it, but it has shown me that I can set myself seemingly unattainable goals and achieve them - and that's pretty damn cool work for a Sunday morning.

YES!!!

We spent about a half hour at the pass, taking picture and enjoying the simply majestic views until it was then time to start our descent.  Obviously going down is easier in some respects than climbing but, for reasons we've discussed previously, its just as difficult in different ways.  The terrain underfoot was very uneven and rocky so you had to concentrate intently on where you placed every single footstep, so that you didn't mis-step and twist an ankle (or worse).  As with the ascent up, here our little tribe of 10 trekkers had self-organized in a quite interesting way over the last 3 days with a, by now, not explicitly stated but well-understood order and structure to it.  Obviously Heidi was always up front, strolling along without poles and with her hands in her pockets.  Then usually came Captain Obvious and Mountain Goat (although as mentioned before, he was a bit of a wild card in the Order Of Things), followed by HHM and Crazy Sticks.  PYFU, was usually behind Captain Obvious but, for some reason on the ascent up to Salkantay Pass, she was just in front of me.  Then there was me, heading up the Brit Pack at the back (Lisa is an honorary Brit for this part of the story), followed by Top Brit, then Top Banana then Lisa, bringing up the rear.  Top Banana was Lisa's pacer and I was the canary in the cage for the Brit Pack, trying to find the best path downwards for everyone who was following me.  Now, I know what you're thinking "but you're so clumsy - how on earth did that work?" but here's the funny thing - when I was concentrating intently on trying to find a path for the others, my own Clumsiness Index dropped dramatically.  Weird, huh?

After an hour and a half of this, we reached the lunch spot - and what a treat we had laid out for us.  Rather than just a box lunch, the kitchen staff had gone ahead before us and set up tents and a mobile kitchen and portapotties (luxury!) and so we had a hot lunch of traditional corn soup and pasta waiting for us as we arrived!!  Bloody brilliant!!  And even the water that they had in a barrel for us to wash our hands with before lunch was warm!  See - the devil really is in the details and it makes all the difference!

After lunch, it was another couple of hours hiking downwards on the crappy rocky road until we finally reached the Wayra lodge and a very welcome sight it was too!!  After peeling off our boots, soon after we headed off to the hot tub to soak our aching muscles and reflect on what had been really quite a spectacular day.  My description really doesn't do it justice, but I hope you've managed to get at least a sense of what it was like - if you ever get a chance to do this trek, do it!!

So that was today.  A day I shall remember for the rest of my life.  This vacation is turning out to be something quite magical.  Goodnight, blogwatchers!

Scores on the doors:
Start time: 7.08am
Duration: 6hrs 36mins (walking only, paused for breaks/lunch)
Distance: 6.34 miles
Training benefit: Basic and steady state training, long
Avg. HR: 113 (63%)
Max HR: 141 (79%)
Calories: 2342
Fat burn as % of calories: 55% (whoo hoo! I am a fat burning MACHINE!)
Average speed: 1.1 mph
Maximum speed: 5.6 mph
Max. altitude: 15,260 ft
Ascent: 2140 ft
Descent: 1940 ft

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!!!  For the first time EVER in SITC blog history, we have a guest writer!  Because today was such a monumental day that I'll certainly feel proud of for the rest of my life, I wanted to invite Lisa to share with you, dearest blogwatchers, her thoughts and impressions of the day, so that she can re-read this in the coming months and remember all the details of this incredible trek.  Here's what she wrote (unedited by me!), so please enjoy - and thank you, Lisa!

 Hi blogwatchers...I have the honor and distinct pleasure to be THE FIRST EVER Guest Blog Writer! I am staring at a blank white page and wondering how Sarah weaves her tales so elegantly with just the right amount of humor, sarcasm, etc. She claims that she tries to write about what her sister would like, but I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting Louise so that's not particularly helpful advice. I'm afraid, blogwatchers, that we are on our own. I will do my best to live up to the high standards she has accustomed you, too.

The first thing I have to say about Infamous Day 3 is that it was a long ass day. It started at 1 am with me fumbling to grab my tiny flashlight to go have a wee (electricity is off here 11pm-6am), only to realize when I got to the loo that the tiny cylindrical object in my hand was a Chapstick...not very useful in the current circumstance! Stumble back to the room, fumble through more objects, do-over.  Breakfast at 6 (growing anxiety), leave the lodge by 7,(near panic attack), cross the rocky, boggy (poopy) valley, and then start your way up....

 The way up was rocky, dusty and dry. The vegetation was mostly bromeliads. The trail was steep and did switch-backs straight up the side of the mountain. The sun was hot. And up we went. And we were still going up. And up some more...well, you get the idea. Step, breathe in, step, long breath out (think "slow"in an effort to make your entire body move at a snail's pace), do-over. Yup, you all know that we were still totally winded. I followed the sweetest 70-year old woman up...she is everything that I am not...slow and steady. The trail kept going and so did we! I've never been so happy to hear the word "HORSES!" Because that meant we got an unscheduled, much needed break :). But the top....the top was something exquisite. The view (please refer to pics and multiply by 1000000000), the journey...Merely getting there brought smiles and a tear or two. Five hours, five long, hot, sweaty hours up the steep, steep mountain....it was worth every single sweaty, poopy, dusty, rocky step!

The second thing I will say about Infamous Day 3 - if you imagine pasta while you are trudging up the mountain, pasta appears in your bowl at lunch! I love Peru! Of course, Sarah, being the ever practical one thinks I should start imagining things like Rolexes! Never has fresh OJ, hot cocoa, and a bowl of pasta hit the spot so perfectly. Thinking about it now...sounds like an  absolutely disgusting

combo...you'll have to trust me on this one. It was gooooood. Trudging another hour and a half home in the chilly, windy fog....not quite as perfect. Oh well, win some, lose some. At least it wasn't rain!(Jinx!)

The final thing I will say about Infamous Day 3 - it was incredibly challenging, incredibly gratifying, incredibly beautiful, and incredibly awe-inspiring. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was...simply incredible. Enjoy the pics, enjoy the stories, and stay-tuned for more! We are certainly excited to see what beauty and what adventure Peru has in store for us next. XoXo Lisa

PS-"Hi" back to Mumsie and Ashley!

 LISA'S TOP 10 THOUGHTS ON HIKING IN THE ANDES

1. No matter what you do, you will be out of breath. Get used to it.

Embrace the feeling of your heart pounding and your chest heaving. You have plenty of time to breathe normally when you get back home ;) 

2. Go slow. I mean go really slowly. Nope, slower yet. The whole body slow. Slower than a turtle or maple syrup on the coldest day in NH. Yes, you're still out of breath. That's ok.  Keep going slowly.

3.  When you stop, catch your breath first, then drink water, continue catching breath. Don't forget to take a look around you! (sigh!)....continue catching breath!

4. Hiking poles, referred to by most here as "sticks", make for excellent brakes AND give a girl with short, tired little legs a little boost up yet another BIG step! Gotta love the sticks! However, beware of CRAZY STICKS. These are the sticks that go flailing around in front of you by "that person" who somehow forgot they were holding sticks...

 5. Don't kid yourself, you cannot move faster than that turtle! Keep going slowly! (Catching breath...again!) 

6. The views are breathtaking, literally, figuratively, emotionally. There are no words capable of describing what thine eyes have seen.

7. The temperature changes in a fraction of a heartbeat. No sooner do you get all layered up, the sun pops out, and you find yourself peeling off the layers, lathering on the sunscreen and trying to jam them all in your pack. (Rewind, press play...at least 3x per day!) 

8. Poop, dusty dirt, rocks. Skidding on dusty, poopy rocks. No matter, look at that glacier over there!

9.  HORSES! Yes, my friends, rush hour does exist in the Andes. Every

morning the horses go up, up, up with their folks to harvest potatoes. Every time they go by, we all dive off to the mountain side of the path (aaahhhhhh, a chance for a bit if a break! Breathe! Drink water! Breathe!) Every evening, loaded down with the day's loot, the horses go back down to the valley. (Ugh, get on with it horses...it's tea time at the lodge!) 

10. There is nothing better after a long day's hike than a cool towel and mint tea...oh, wait...yes there is...TAKING OFF THE BOOTS!!! 

View from the pass of the Salkantay glacier

The original sign that marked the pass

Top Brit and Top Banana

Simply breathtaking views.

Johann, Liz, PYFU and Captain Obvious

Our guides with Crazy Sticks and HHM

One more for the road - our guides and yours truly.  Can't get enough
of those pics of us by the sign - we did it!!!

This mound of rocks represents hundreds of years
of people bringing individual rocks as spiritual offerings
to the mountain and the gods

On of the trekkers from the previous group obviously didnt
quite make it

Descending towards our lunch stop - the blue tents with the yellow
roofs - big ones on the left is the lunch tent, the two little ones on the
right are the loos!

And yours truly, doing what I do every evening -
blog for you, dearest blogwatchers!