After a relaxing day and a night of great food and dancing, it was up and at ’em bright and early the next morning to head out of the mountains.

A portion of the trail we were supposed to take had gotten washed out, so instead of trying to hike over a rockslide we opted for an alternative route.  Because of this, the first part of the hike was some serious up and downhill along cliffs with narrow, partially washed-out trails.

After the initial up and down the road flattened out, and the next few miles were on a wide dirt road running along a ravine, at bottom of which a (pretty raging) river ran.

Eventually we reached our destination in the middle of the mountains, the end of this part of our trek.  From here we were going to catch a ride to our next trail head.

So we bought a few refreshments from the tenants…

…said goodbye to our mules…

…and to the team that had helped us get there.

And then, we all hopped onto the mini-bus of terror for a death ride.

For the next 45 minutes we wound our way along a narrow dirt road packed in a top-heavy mini-bus, wedged between a rocky mountain face and a sheer cliff that dropped, oh, about a thousand feet down to the river.  I was, of course, in the seat by the window on the cliff side. It was not one of my finer moments.

A few heart palpitations later, we made it down to the river, where the bus dropped us off and I dropped to my knees and kissed the ground.  We followed the trail through a bunch of plantain trees and coffee plants…

…into the cloud forest to the 4th lodge.

Which was, of course, ridiculously awesome.

Plus everyone was feeling great because we were no longer at altitude.

That evening we took a little walk down the trail into the jungle to visit the house of a couple who grows coffee…

…where we learned how the beans are roasted and ground and, with a little help, made our own little pot of fresh ground coffee and got to taste it straight off the stove.  It was AMAZING.

And yes, of course there were guinea pigs running around the house.

Waiting for dinner to start that night we played some local (?) games that Leo suggested.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for some people) it doesn’t look like I have copies of any of those pictures.

It also happened to be the 50th birthday of one of our hiking mates.  The staff baked a beautiful cake and we celebrated with a lot of Peruvian wine.  It was a great night with great people, we went to bed happy and ready for our final day of hiking along the trail.

Next up: The First Sighting

We woke up the next morning to another absolutely beautiful day.  Salkantay, which had been shrouded in clouds the evening before, was visible through the window of our room and was completely spectacular.

We got to sleep in a little bit (till 6:30), and after a good breakfast and saying goodbye to the staff, we headed out into this.

Downhill.

As we dropped further and further the vegetation became more lush, and eventually we started seeing small villages and huts along the way.  About 2 hours in we took a break in front of a home on the path…

…where this couple lived.

We (meaning the guides) talked to them for a while while the group regrouped. They asked how to say a few things in English (we practiced “have a nice day”), then we were on our way again, across a few waterfalls…

…and out of the altitude.  Everyone (literally) breathed a big sigh of relief.  Eventually we made our way down to the river running through the valley…

…went over the saggy bridge and up the hill to Lodge #3.

We arrived to a whole meal of guinea pig and other local cuisine.  After a delicious lunch of local produce and guinea pig (yes, I ate some…Susie refused), we had some time to hang out.  Some people sat in the chairs in front of the lodge…

…overlooking the valley.

A few people played volleyball with the staff…

…and a few others went down to the river we had crossed to do some fishing…

…with a piece of string.

Directly across the valley from our lodge was a pretty significant landslide, and we spent the better part of the evening watching two cows slowly slide down the side of the mountain.

(Apparently landslides weren’t uncommon in the area, in the opposite valley across from the lodge was a town whose name literally translated to “Big Scary Landslide.”)

That evening, after a delicious dinner (and a few drinks), some of the staff performed a traditional dance for us involving a creepy mask and a whip.

Masks are everywhere in this region of Peru, there are festivals in a number of towns that involve dancing for days wearing masks.   There is even a town named “Black Underwear” because of one of these festivals held there and all the women wear masks and short skirts and do this dance where they flash their underwear, which is black (obviously).

So, naturally, there were masks lining the wall of the lodge.  A guy in our group named Bob really liked one of them.

Next up: Day 5–Into the Cloud Forest and the Mini-Bus Ride of Terror

The group met in the lobby pretty early on Day 3 for a little extra instruction on our climb to the top of the Salkantay Pass.

Before we start, a little bit about the Salkantay trail.  Salkantay (meaning “Savage Mountain” in Quechua) is the highest peak of the Cordillera Vilcabamba part of the Peruvian Andes.  It lies directly to the South of Machu Picchu and is one of three main trails that lead from Cuzco to Machu Picchu.  The Salkantay trail is less traveled than the Inca trail and, with higher passes, is known for being a more challenging route.

Salkantay and Humantay (the glacier responsible for the glacial lake the day before) lie next to each other, and the Rio Blanco valley (through which we were about to hike on Day 3) wraps around Humantay Peak and along the West side of Salkantay, through the pass.

So everyone was a little nervous, we’d be hiking about 2,600 feet in the first 2 or 3 miles to the pass it up over 15,000 feet in altitude (the highest I’ve ever been).  After that, we’d be heading back down hill towards lodge #2, which was at approximately the same altitude as the first lodge.

So we set out…

…into the mountains.

As mentioned above, we started our hike up through the Rio Blanco valley.  The first hour or so was similar to the previous day, gradual uphill on some grassy slopes.  We passed a few signs letting us know that we were headed the right direction.

About an hour and a half into the hike we hit the Seven Snakes, a particularly grueling set of switchbacks up the side of the mountain.

It was no joke.  The group took a break about halfway up.

Upon arriving at the top of the Seven Snakes we found ourselves in a really cool open, grassy plateau with a small, green, glacial lake.

It was here that Leo (our leader) told us the hardest part was coming up, that from here on out it was probably a good idea to shut up and save your breath for breathing (not that anyone needed that reminder) and just focus on getting up to the top.

So as we climbed into increasingly rocky terrain, that’s exactly what we did.

And before we knew it, we were there.

We celebrated…

…and took it all in.

We actually didn’t get to hang out at the top for too long, the leaders wanted to make sure no one stayed at that altitude for more than about 20-30 minutes.  So we snapped a group shot…

…and began our descent…

…down into the Scottish Highlands.

OK no not really, but that’s what it looked like.  Complete with the stone walls and fog.

After another 30 minutes or so heading downhill, we arrived at a yellow tent set up in the middle of nowhere.

Lunch.

Yes, seriously.

We were served an amazing meal of pasta, hot tea, and a horror story from Leo about a woman on one of his trips who suffered severe altitude sickness at the second lodge…where we were heading…and how he and a few staff from the lodge had had to literally run her down the mountain on a stretcher, in the rain, in the dark, with an oxygen tank, giving her shots of epinephrine so that she didn’t go into cardiac arrest.  It was horrifying and did a wonderful job of freaking everybody out.

Stuffed and hyper-sensitive to any sort of headache we might feel coming on, we continued heading downhill into a wide, flat, green valley.

After crossing a few rivers…

…we arrived at the lodge.

Wayraqmachay.  Gate of the Wind.

The lodge sat on a ravine…

…through which a river ran…

…and over which Salkantay loomed.

Next up: Day 4–The Downhill Begins