Salkantay trek

With only a week left in my trip, I decided to catch a flight to Cuzco instead of spending a whole day on a bus. As soon as I arrived and found a place to crash for the night, I joined a 5 day 4 night trek departing the next day through the Salkantay mountains, ending at the Machu Pichu ruins. Walking distance was about 35 miles, and maximum elevation was slightly more than 15,000 ft. Because that was the only departure that fit my schedule, I didn't have the luxury of acclimatizing to the altitude as much as I should before beginning the trek. The journey was covered by bus, truck, train, and foot. Our team consisted of a Belgian couple, an American, our guide Silvio, five horses, 2 horsemen, and a cook. I was too cheap to hire extra space on a horse or a personal porter, so I just had to carry my own pack.

On the first day, we made our way to the starting point standing on a truck bed, flying over uneven ground and dodging tree branches. We made camp in a valley surrounded by glacial mountains.

The second day proved to be the toughest of all five, where we ascended into snow, reaching 4200 meters above sea level, and then descending into the jungle. With a headache pounding due to the altitude, I chewed as many coca leaves (yeah we can buy as much of this main ingredient of cocaine we want here) as I can fit between the gum and the cheek, and pushed on for about 9 hours. The scenery was spectacular, and it was there we understand why the Incas made the mountains, gods. On the way, I almost got taken out by a snow wheel that grew almost waist high as it rolled down the mountain. That same day, a donkey and a horse from another team, unfortunately, lost their footing and fell down a pass with all their payload. We arrived at our camp safely after dusk as it started pouring.

The next two days were spent walking at lower altitudes, learning about indigenous herbs along the way and helping ourselves to the passion fruits, sweet limes, mandarins, and bananas that grew in abundance along the path. This segment ended at Agua Calientes, a touristy gateway town for travelers about to ascend to Machu Pichu. Lined with fancy restaurants and tourist services, it was a departure from traveling style of the past 3 days. I had some "cuy" or guinea pig (tasted like chicken, but they didn't remove the organs) and went to sleep, anticipating the 3 am alarm and the climax of the trek at Machu Pichu.

The Inca trail is an extremely popular 4d3n trek, selling out half a year in advance because of limits set in place by the government. Used by high society Andean people of old, it passes through numerous sacred sites as they purify themselves spiritually before arriving at Machu Pichu. The Salkantay trail was another inca trail used by ordinary folk, possibly to service the Machu Pichu site. The views at Machu Pichu were incredible. It's a lot larger than it seems, and one can spend a whole day roaming around. I'll post pictures when I get a chance, Internet is so slow here. As the first few to arrive, we got to see the ruins before three thousand people poured in. We even got to see the president of peru and his entourage as he graced the site as part of its 100th anniversary of discovery. We were also early enough to see a beautiful sunrise and climb a neighboring peak, Wayna Pichu where we had a commanding view of the entire valley and glacial mountains beyond. We spent the rest of the day with the guide as he explained the significance of each stone in the ruins, and messing with the resident ear tagged llamas that graze there. They cannot resist bananas.

As my trip in south America comes to an end, I spent the next day wondering around the cobble stoned streets of Cuzco and taking a horse out to the neighboring hills to check out more ruins.

Back to bean town!

Parapente en Lima

I went to Lima Peru to learn how to fly a paraglider under Lucho Munarriz, award winning acro-pilot and tandem instructor. Staying at the beautiful cliffside community of Miraflores, I spent the better part of 10 days flying up and down the coast of Lima and other sites nearby, drinking Pisco Sours, attempting to surf in the pacific, and hanging out with cool folks from the hostel.

My first lesson took me to the Lurin sand dunes about 30 minutes south of Lima, also known as the bunny hills of paragliding. After pointing out a few power lines and an army explosives test facility to avoid, my instructor strapped me into the harness, and I executed a windless running takeoff. The first feeling of flight on the glider was both exhilarating and very addictive.

After several practices on the bunny hill, it was time to move on to the real stuff. The next day, I was introduced to dynamic soaring along the cliffs of Miraflores. With the assurance of my instructor flying tandem, I practiced landing approaches, traffic etiquette (there were about 13 gliders in the air at one point), and finding terrain that generated lift. That night, I got to meet the fun loving (some slightly crazy) and passionate Peruvian paragliding community at a dinner party.

After more practice the next day, the instructor deemed me ready for my first solo flight. As the winds were strong but coming in from a southerly direction, we moved to a different location where the wind was more perpendicular to the cliffs. Unfortunately, this alternative location was a park, and taking off involved using the glider to pick me up about a yard off the ground to clear a fence and some thorny bushes.

The next few days were spent practicing solo under radio supervision until my instructor felt comfortable with letting me fly alone. At some point I was an hour in the air, landing for the bathroom and lunch. On a good day in Miraflores, you could climb to see the roof of the Mariott, one of the tallest buildings in the area, and climb even higher using the lift of the wind incident on the tower. You'll be high enough to see eagles and vultures soaring under you, the air no longer solely their domain.

To end the course, I was taught how to use the reserve parachute. Although I would have been more comfortable with that in the beginning, not knowing how to use the chute until the end definitely made me pay more attention during the course.

Having spent more than a week in Lima, it was time to move on to Cuzco, where I'll start a 5 day trek through the Andes ending at the Machu Pichu ruins. Stay tuned!