dennargle
Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2012
- Messages
- 39
Last fall I hoped on a plane and flew down to Cusco Peru. I meet up with my friend joey who has been living there for 5 years now. In total I spent a little over a month running around Peru. This is one of the many adventures i went on.
Our journey began in Cucso where we caught a cab to a town called Mollepata elevation 9300 feet. Over the next 5 days we climbed up to 15250 feet and then all the way back down to 6000 feet. At the end of the Salkantay we visited Machu Pichu.
As the journey began we slowly worked our way up through eucalyptus forests passing small farms occasionally seeing a wild guinea pig dart into the bushes. The first day was extremely hot and strenuous. Out of all 5 days this was probably the least interesting. Just as the evening rolled around we got our first glimpse of the extremely tall ice covered peaks ahead of us. We got permission from a farmer to camp on his property. We set up camp in his backyard in the shade of his brugmansia tree. brugmansia more commonly known as datura is a species of flowering tree that grows in the Andes. It produces large trumpet shaped red or yellow flowers that contain the hallucinogen scopolamine. this plant has a long history of usage in shamanic rituals throughout south America.
The second day we awoke in the clouds we packed up the tent and by the time we were ready to head out the clouds were on the rise and quickly burned off. We climbed up through some really interesting terrain its very jungle y with lots of bromeliads stuck to the trees and small creeks crossing the trail. As you get higher the vegetation disappears all except for small plants and grasses. The views of the Andes here are just spectacular. We passed the last bit of civilization a small settlement called sorray. We worked our way up through a grassy canyon with a small stream flowing through it. As we climbed higher and higher it became apparent there was not very much oxygen in the air. The hiking was tough. As we hiked the clouds would part ahead of us for small amounts of time showing us the majestic nevado salkanty. At 20574 feet and covered in glaciers its quite a sight. It started to get dark right as we were about to reach the pass so we set up camp at right around 15200 feet. I didnt get much sleep that night breathing was a challenge and to make matters worse huge chunks of ice were falling off the glacier all night long making huge explosion noises; that was a bit nerve racking to say the least.
On the Third day we awoke to one of the most spectacular sights ive ever seen. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We had a perfect unobstructed view of nevado salkantay. We wandered around ate breakfast packed up and headed out. We reached the pass and decided to check out a glacial lake a little ways away. The lake was a beautiful turquoise color we sat around and took in the beauty of the area for several hours then we noticed the clouds were working there way up the large canyon below us. We sat and watched them rise slowly engulfing us in water vapor. The excitement of being in the clouds was short lived. It started to snow on us so we headed down the canyon passing a few convoys of mules. We made our way passed a very magical place where all the rocks were bright red from a lichen that grows on them. As we descended in elevation the trees returned we were soon in the high jungle. just as it was getting dark we found a farmer asked him if we could camp on his land. He said yes. We set up camp and went to sleep.
On the fourth day we headed down canyon made it to the bridge across the rio santa teressa. From this part on the trail makes its way above the river. We passed through several small towns during the day. we saw a lot of really interesting bug species including a few walking sticks, spiders, assassin bugs, butterfly's, etc. the lower we went the more humid and forested it became. we saw a castor bean plant which is really an interesting species it has leaves that are shaped like marijuana and produces spiky beans that contain the deadly poison ricin. We crossed a lot of small creeks including one that forms a 4 step waterfall into th e river. we set up camp by the river and went to sleep.
on day five we woke up walked down into the first major town where we caught a taxi to the train station.we thought of walking alongside the train tracks instead of paying the ridiculously expensive tourist fee but our legs were just to tiered so we gave in and rode the train. we got to agua callientes rented a hotel room and had a nice chillax day walking around town.
Day six we woke up bright and early in the morning it was raining and didnt look like it was going to be a good day. I bought my tourist ticket to machu pichu. I Boarded the buss and rode up a very steep set of switchbacks to the mountain where machu pichu resides. As soon as I walked through the gates of machu pichu I was hit with one of the greatest felling of accomplishment i have ever felt. Here i am 18 years old standing at the greatest inca ruin there is. I have been dreaming of this day since the first time i saw a picture of machu pichu when i was in the 3rd grade! My dream was to make it machu pichu and now im standing here victorious. I explored all over the ruin for most of the day. this is for sure one of the greatest days of my life thus far. words cant even describe awe inspiring majestic nature of machu pichu. it is truly one of the wonders of world.
Featured image for homepage slideshow:
Our journey began in Cucso where we caught a cab to a town called Mollepata elevation 9300 feet. Over the next 5 days we climbed up to 15250 feet and then all the way back down to 6000 feet. At the end of the Salkantay we visited Machu Pichu.
As the journey began we slowly worked our way up through eucalyptus forests passing small farms occasionally seeing a wild guinea pig dart into the bushes. The first day was extremely hot and strenuous. Out of all 5 days this was probably the least interesting. Just as the evening rolled around we got our first glimpse of the extremely tall ice covered peaks ahead of us. We got permission from a farmer to camp on his property. We set up camp in his backyard in the shade of his brugmansia tree. brugmansia more commonly known as datura is a species of flowering tree that grows in the Andes. It produces large trumpet shaped red or yellow flowers that contain the hallucinogen scopolamine. this plant has a long history of usage in shamanic rituals throughout south America.
The second day we awoke in the clouds we packed up the tent and by the time we were ready to head out the clouds were on the rise and quickly burned off. We climbed up through some really interesting terrain its very jungle y with lots of bromeliads stuck to the trees and small creeks crossing the trail. As you get higher the vegetation disappears all except for small plants and grasses. The views of the Andes here are just spectacular. We passed the last bit of civilization a small settlement called sorray. We worked our way up through a grassy canyon with a small stream flowing through it. As we climbed higher and higher it became apparent there was not very much oxygen in the air. The hiking was tough. As we hiked the clouds would part ahead of us for small amounts of time showing us the majestic nevado salkanty. At 20574 feet and covered in glaciers its quite a sight. It started to get dark right as we were about to reach the pass so we set up camp at right around 15200 feet. I didnt get much sleep that night breathing was a challenge and to make matters worse huge chunks of ice were falling off the glacier all night long making huge explosion noises; that was a bit nerve racking to say the least.
On the Third day we awoke to one of the most spectacular sights ive ever seen. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We had a perfect unobstructed view of nevado salkantay. We wandered around ate breakfast packed up and headed out. We reached the pass and decided to check out a glacial lake a little ways away. The lake was a beautiful turquoise color we sat around and took in the beauty of the area for several hours then we noticed the clouds were working there way up the large canyon below us. We sat and watched them rise slowly engulfing us in water vapor. The excitement of being in the clouds was short lived. It started to snow on us so we headed down the canyon passing a few convoys of mules. We made our way passed a very magical place where all the rocks were bright red from a lichen that grows on them. As we descended in elevation the trees returned we were soon in the high jungle. just as it was getting dark we found a farmer asked him if we could camp on his land. He said yes. We set up camp and went to sleep.
On the fourth day we headed down canyon made it to the bridge across the rio santa teressa. From this part on the trail makes its way above the river. We passed through several small towns during the day. we saw a lot of really interesting bug species including a few walking sticks, spiders, assassin bugs, butterfly's, etc. the lower we went the more humid and forested it became. we saw a castor bean plant which is really an interesting species it has leaves that are shaped like marijuana and produces spiky beans that contain the deadly poison ricin. We crossed a lot of small creeks including one that forms a 4 step waterfall into th e river. we set up camp by the river and went to sleep.
on day five we woke up walked down into the first major town where we caught a taxi to the train station.we thought of walking alongside the train tracks instead of paying the ridiculously expensive tourist fee but our legs were just to tiered so we gave in and rode the train. we got to agua callientes rented a hotel room and had a nice chillax day walking around town.Day six we woke up bright and early in the morning it was raining and didnt look like it was going to be a good day. I bought my tourist ticket to machu pichu. I Boarded the buss and rode up a very steep set of switchbacks to the mountain where machu pichu resides. As soon as I walked through the gates of machu pichu I was hit with one of the greatest felling of accomplishment i have ever felt. Here i am 18 years old standing at the greatest inca ruin there is. I have been dreaming of this day since the first time i saw a picture of machu pichu when i was in the 3rd grade! My dream was to make it machu pichu and now im standing here victorious. I explored all over the ruin for most of the day. this is for sure one of the greatest days of my life thus far. words cant even describe awe inspiring majestic nature of machu pichu. it is truly one of the wonders of world.
Featured image for homepage slideshow:
