Salkantay - the alternative Inca Trail

"The name Salkantay is from salka, a quechua word meaning wild, uncivilized, savage, or invincible, and was recorded as early as 1583. The name is thus often translated as "Savage Mountain"."
~Wikipedia

Wednesday, October 15th to Sunday, October 18th 2008

Thinking about Trekking Machu Picchu?
The first thing that came to mind was probably the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
But there is a catch: because of excessive crowds the Peruvian government decided not only to limit daily access but also to impose strict Inca Trail regulations. It is impossible to get a permit unless you book at least 4 months in advance. But luckily there is an alternative to get to Machu Picchu on foot (which is how I felt it should be done) - The famous Salkantay Trek, recently named among the 25 best Treks in the World, by National Geographic Adventure Travel Magazine is a trek open to everybody, with no limitation on spaces or permits (at least for now). Connecting the city of Cuzco with Machu Picchu, The Salkantay Trek is an ancient and remote footpath located in the same region as the Inca Trail where massive snow capped mountains collide with lush tropical rain forests.

We departed from Cuzco at about 06:00 and traveled by bus to the start of the trail at Mollepata. We stopped for breakfast at a typical restaurant and met our guide Darwin and the rest of the group which consisted other than the 7 of us of 3 Portuguese and 2 brothers and a sister from England. We trekked for about 3 hours on an unpaved truck road passing through small Andean communities until we stopped for lunch at a cluster of 2-3 small straw covered huts above the canyon of Rio Blanco. On the way to our lunch we stopped at a small store. It turned out the the trek is popular enough that you can find those stores in intervals of 1 hour walking almost all through the path. Since your heavy equipment in on the donkeys - you can do this trek with just your wallet if you want to... At the first store we also had to say goodbye to Ilan who recently came from Israel and could not cope with hiking in those altitudes. After lunch we continued to hike on the truck road for another 4 hours through the green mountain side catching glimpses of the Huamantay and Salkantay snowy peaks through the clouds to our campsite at Soraypampa . We had a good hot meal and retired to our tents for a good night sleep despite the biting cold night outside.

On the second day we woke up early and after one hour of hiking on a moderate trail we started climbing up a steep series of switchbacks known as the 7 Culebras (7 snakes) to El Paso or Salkantay Pass which at 4600m is the highest point of the trek. The mountain pass was shrouded in clouds and visibility was limited to about 100 meters adding to the atmosphere of the climb and pass itself with its ceremonial stone piles. When we got to the pass it started to snow and we offered some coca leaves to the Inca gods, took a group photo and hurried down the steep muddy path. The light snow turned into a snow storm and than torrential rain as we got lower and lower and we were completely wet when we got to our designated lunch spot: a small village of 4 houses at the edge of the cloud forest named Huaracmachay. Because of the rain we ate our lunch inside one of locals huts which was smoky and dark but also relatively warm and dry. After lunch and a well deserved rest we got out and found out that the sky has cleared so we enjoyed sun warmth and the view of the dramatic cloud forest and the many waterfalls who flowed down the lush vegetation of the steep canyon walls. We descended into the forest on a muddy narrow trail along the Salkantay river and passed small lakes and moraines along the route. From now on the scenery started to change from high mountain terrain to a more tropical climate. It took us another 3 and hours of walking downhill to get to Colpapampa where we camped for the night.

The third day was an easy day, walking mainly downhill for about 3 hours through the sense forest to Lluscamayo where we boarded a van and rode for 30 minutes to eat our lunch at La Playa. We noticed the climate becoming much warmer as we entered a zone of high-jungle known locally as Ceja de Selva (or the eyebrow of the jungle). We saw many small plantations in this area growing coffee, coca and several types of fruit such as bananas. From La Playa we boarded the van again for a hour and a half ride to the town of Santa Teresa where we met a friendly domesticated monkey, locked our belongings and got on the van again for a ride to the local hot springs. While not bas eing hot as the previous springs I experienced in Peru, it was still very nice to take a shower and soak in the hot water for a couple of hours. The only downside was that the local mosquitoes turned out to be of a particularly vicious kind.. refreshed from the shower we got back to our campsite, ate dinner and played poker into the night.

We started our last day with a hike on a dirt road along the Santa Teresa river to the old hydro electric station. I felt a need for good exercise and practically run the first section which ended in an amazing view of the water from the station gushing into the river through a natural tunnel in an incredibly strong stream. I waited almost an hour watching the water current until the rest of the group joined me. After another short walk with a nice mountain side waterfall and a bridge crossing we got to the station itself where we ate lunch at the local train station to Machu Picchu. The last part of the day took us along the train rails to the town of Agua Caliente which is the base camp for lost city of the Inca. While walking on the rails offered nice views it was an extremely irritating walk and I was happy when it ended. We checked into a hotel which was arranged as part of the trek, had a hot shower met in one of the local restaurants for our final dinner. After dinner and some explanations from our guide about the next day we cruised the town for some beers and pancakes, bought some supplies and got ready for our final accent to the ruins themselves - a story that will be told in my next post...