Activity Summary
Saturday 30th September - Day 361
Travel to Cusco
Mirador Lagunillas - 4,444m
Sunday 1st October - Day 362
Cusco chill day
Brunch at Aulita Restaurante
Luke briefing for Salkantay Trek (Machu Picchu Expeditions)
Monday 2nd October - Day 363
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 1
Humantay Lake
Tuesday 3rd October - Day 364
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 2
Salkantay Pass
Wednesday 4th October - Day 365
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 3
Valley walking descent
Coffee farm
Santa Teresa hot springs
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 1
Terrible travel day
Santa Teresa hot springs
Thursday 5th October - Day 366
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 4
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 2
Llactapata ruin site
Hydroelectrica
Aguas Calientes
Friday 6th October - Day 367
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 5
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 3
Machu Picchu - circuit 3
Montana Machu Picchu
Scenic train to Ollantaytambo
Trekking over
Saturday 7th October - Day 368
Brunch at Organika
Cusco walking tour
Plaza Kusipata
Plaza San Francisco
Iglesia, Museo y Convento de San Francisco
San Pedro Central Market
History about Cusco & the Incas
Cusco Main Square
Church of the Society of Jesus
Cusco Cathedral
Loreto street
Church and Convent of Santo Domingo of Guzmán
La Esencia
Sunday 8th October - Day 369
Nicola not very well
Luke Sacred valley tour:
Chinchero
Moray
Maras Salt Mines
Ollantaytambo
Pisac
Monday 9th October - Day 370
Brunch at Organika
Saqsaywaman
Q'enco Archaeological Complex
San Blas district / coffee at Xapiri Ground
Dinner at La Osteria
Night bus to Puno
Summary
Cusco
A nice city to spend a lot of time in for all the various day trips and multi day hikes.
Salkantay
Cracking hike. Day 1 & 2 by far the best and Machu Picchu Expeditions are well worth going with. There are some horror companies and met plenty with bad experiences whereas ours was pretty good.
Machu Picchu
Such a logistical cluster fuck if you don’t have a ticket and still challenging with the ones we had. The views are absolutely stunning from circuit 1&2 / Machu Picchu mountain on a clear day and well worth the visit.
Transport
Cusco
Hostel pick up in Arequipa
Peru Hop bus to Cusco
Long day, went via Puno for some reason
Taxi from Peru Hop Cusco terminal to hostel
Accommodation
Cusco - Blacky Hostel
Number of nights - 2 (4 for Nicola)
Price per night per person - £10
Positives:
Really nice room with kitchenette
Wall mounted TV with Netflix
Private bathroom
Kitchen
Duvets were nice and thick for the cold
Super warm showers
Really nice reception staff
Negatives:
Private bathroom was external to the room and next to the common area - made for some awkward pooping
Common area was right next to our room and frenchies were so loud
Big Alsatian that didn’t seem to like anyone & scared Nicola
Recommend?
Yes
Cusco - Hawka Pacha hostel
Number of nights - 3
Price per night per person - £5
Positives:
Cheap
Two single beds
Nice plump pillows & thick duvets
Kitchen was pretty decent
Negatives:
Had to use reception people to get in and out of the front door
Shared bathroom
Never had any toilet paper
One of the worst showers we’d had for a while
Recommend?
If nothing is as cheap, sure but that lack of hot shower post Salkantay and in colder Cusco was a problem
Diary
Saturday 30th September - Day 361
It was one of the more pleasant Peru Hop buses we had got on so far. Claudia was our tour guide and she was great; friendly, funny and an absolute saint in trying to get the children near us to shut their pie holes. Surprisingly there were loads of kids on this 12+ hour journey and we would not have wanted to be their parents.
All was well, Luke playing switch for hours on end and Nicola in her own world. The first stop was at Mirador Lagunillas, sitting at 4,444m and had a nothing cafe. Nicola was forced to top up supplies with some cake as Luke had forgotten to take the breakfast granola out of his big bag. Despite Claudia and the driver opening up the base, Luke’s bag was balls deep inside and this was quickly aborted. Poor Claudia apparently doesn’t deal well with the altitude and dust so tried her best to hide and only walk using very small steps.
Our journey was supposed to be considerably shorter than our actual journey as a result of a diversion towards Puno. The two added hours meant that the lunch spot, another less than impressive buffet, was super late at 3pm.
Claudia in her briefing did say she had dealt with plenty of considered ‘nasty’ incidents on the bus and had the misfortune of having to deal with one of the kids having a big ol accident on this trip as well.
So a diversion near to Puno and a poosplosion clean up jobby meant we arrived in Cusco pretty late at around 7pm. Claudia sorted everyone taxis and for once we were priority number 1 and the first ones off.
That euphoria didn’t last long when we accidentally left the food bag in the taxi and Luke spent the next hour trying to get ahold of Claudia who was an absolute legend and managed to get the taxi guy to drop the bag off. It did take a lot of time when tired and a lot of standing in the strange night time streets of Cusco but it saved us having to replace some key kitchen items. So very much worth the minimal hassle.
Post an easy ramen dinner we chilled with our new found fave thing in a room, Netflix viewing from a comfy bed.
Sunday 1st October - Day 362
Having a lie in post Arequipa and travelling loads was great. What wasn’t so pleasant was Luke having yet another bout of stomach problems that kept him up all night.
Back on the Imodium it was and some serious questions about whether he should be starting the 5D4N Salkantay Trek the next day. It was his Billy big bollocks plan that only one day in Cusco was enough to acclimatise but he swiftly changed his mind once in Cusco and the additional days rest would have been much more preferable. It would have to be a wait and see day.
We had been given naff all information about Luke’s Salkantay and Nicola’s Llactapata trek so based on previous multi day hiking experiences we decided to investigate when more information would be provided. At the office we were told a meeting was at 7pm the day before, of which we had no communication at all. Luke’s evening plan was sorted then.
As we were so close we had a quick walk to the main Plaza de Armas and sat down for a bit. Quite a nice big square.
The Banco Nacional in Cusco is a little annoying as there’s always a pretty large queue and in turn this prompted hangry Nicola to make the usual dramatic flick of a switch entrance into the fray.
The walk for our breakfast at Aulita Restaurante was also not welcome. But the great sandwich’s (if not a little spenny for not too much food) turned that frown of Nicola’s upside down.
This didn’t last long as the altitude had clearly been playing havoc with her and we parted ways; Nicola to the hostel room and Luke to the market for fruit provisions.
Luke spent the afternoon packing and then we got told off for using our room kitchenette to make actual food. A bit strange but there was a proper kitchen next door we finished in.
Luke went out for his hour-long briefing for the Salkantay Trek the next day and then we had an early night.
Monday 2nd October - Day 363
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 1
It was a nice early 4.45am meet at the Machu Picchu expeditions office and fortunately for me, the Imodium seemed to be keeping me half alive.
At the office, those who had big bags dropped them in the office which ended up making their way down the road to another place for storage. This storage sucked so the recommendation would be to try and use hostel bag storage.
Everyone was split into groups and loaded into minivans. Ours seemingly was waiting on one person to arrive who eventually turned up 20 minutes later. Thys was in our group and was the victim of some incredibly poor planning from his tour company he booked with, leaving him high and dry on the side of the road outside his accomodation that wasn’t walking distance of the meet point. Fortunately Zucemo, the legendary guide of ours, was able to sort out. Naturally Thys was absolutely fuming when he got on the bus.
The drive to breakfast was fine, most people catching up on some sleep until we arrived. The eggs, bread, shit jam, fruit and coca tea combination would become a staple for the next few days.
The next part of the drive to the Salkantay trail head was a bit more spicy. The mountainside ride got pretty narrow and windy with some nice views. The constant game of Peruvian chicken with oncoming minivans was ridiculous; both drivers would see each other coming a mile off but instead of finding a sensible place to pull over and let the other pass, they would drive right up to each other's noses before one of them eventually reversed back. Reversing on such a windy and tight road was a recipe for disaster and it wasn’t fun being a passenger in these instances.
At the trailhead my group, dubbed the ‘Sexy Llamas’, got familiar with each other and our guide Zucemo, affectionately known as SexyZu. Hilariously I was put with all the people above the age of 30 while the other groups were clearly much younger.
Zu was a great guide. His family farm was in the mountains close to Salkantay and he had plenty of experience doing the trek. His approach to the tour was that of a sensible and professional guide, rather than catering to the kids on the tour with excessive energy and in parts just abandoning those who were slower or struggling. Their groups seemed more like an alpha competition.
Ours was the complete opposite. Zu made sure everyone understood where we were going, how we were going to get there as a team and threw in some examples of some prior alphas he’s had in his tours who have not made it. This calm approach and when needing to, holding up the rear to ensure everyone made it and was not left behind, meant that the whole group made it through the whole trek compared to numerous casualties in the others.
He was unbelievably knowledgeable and went to the ends of the earth to make sure everyone was happy, doing well and able to get the most out of the trek - especially when it came to the absolute shit show that is Machu Picchu.
Absolute legend and having had experience with some of the other guides, Zu was the best by a country mile. He certainly made up for the constant organisational chaos we had to endure when the company back office staff were involved in anything to do with the trip.
To start the trek Zu whipped out a bottle of the stereotypical smelling salts type liquid used for trekking at altitude in Peru. A home remedy made by his mum, each of us poured a little into our hands to rub together and take 3 big whiffs. It certainly packed a punch.
5.5 hours after meeting we were finally walking. The views of Humantay mountain did not take long to appear in all its glory, and while it was a little cloudy in places this did not hinder any views at all.
It wasn’t long until we were ascending up towards the mountain and along a river.
The scenery behind us as we walked was just as interesting. According to Zu, these mountain ridges also used to have permanent glaciers not so long ago but all that is left is the red hue of their glacial past.
There were plenty of stops on the way up as we climbed from our start point of 3,800m towards Humantay Lake. This did give me plenty of opportunity to get the binos out to nerd out over the immense nearby glacier.
As we walked we were also lucky to see plenty of condors flying overhead and ascending using thermals. Not as close a view as Colca but still impressive seeing these 2-3m wingspan birds. Apparently they are known to blind and take down livestock but because they are considered holy to the local people they don’t do anything about it. It does however mean that horses and pony’s on the trek are bought on the cheap and are quite old, just in case.
As we ascended up to Humantay lake, we had the day trip traffic from Cusco descending which was quite fortunate as it allowed us to have the lake to ourselves.
We arrived at Humantay lake, sitting at around 4,200m, a couple hours after we started walking. It was pretty impressive with the ice covered mountain in the backdrop.
The view however from the higher vantage point to the left of the lake was the money maker. From here the immense blue and yellow colours could be seen in all their glory.
Added with the ice capped mountain this was certainly a view worth coming to.
After a few pictures, people naturally queuing to get up on the big old rock overlooking the lake, we regrouped at the base.
Zu throughout was giving us various talks about the history of the place, the culture and environment. All were pretty interesting and this time he would be regularly interrupted by an avalanche from the mountainside.
After the lake it was the last stretch to the glamping site (wasn’t really camping). It was all downhill and the first of many tests on various historic knee injuries that seemed to have plagued the golden oldie sexy llamas group.
On the last road of the day we got our first glimpse of Salkantay mountain (6,271m) welcoming us back to camp. Sadly here we started to see the number of altitude sickness casualties pile up, one girl in particular from another group hurling as we stopped to put on layers. Zu didn’t think she would be able to complete the trek.
We were at the campsite around 2pm and immediately fed lunch. One fairly large gripe I have with the trek is that breakfast was never substantial enough and lunch always came pretty late in the day. Snacks are a must.
That said, lunch and dinner was always pretty good and there was plenty of food for our 10 person group. It turns out the larger groups ended up running out of food which we had no idea about. Worked in our favour well.
The starter however did make us laugh. This attempt at being fancy lasted this sole lunch however.
Zu again showed why he was top guide when he rushed us from lunch, made sure we grabbed our duffel bags (everyone was allowed 7kg that was carried by horse) and rushed to get the glamping huts rather than the more scenic igloos. The huts were great; super thick mattresses provide comfort and the huts had so much space compared to previous mountain multi day treks I had done. Thys and I were in a hut and it worked out pretty well. The igloos on the other hand apparently got mighty cold and the condensation on the glass was less than appealing.
Most people spent the afternoon either falling asleep or desperately trying not to. Thys had a pretty solid stint before dinner at 6pm.
I conversely spent the next 5 hours with a pretty nasty headache that despite coca tea at lunch and paracetamol wasn’t subsiding, hypothesised to have arisen from not being 100% healthy before starting the trek and the altitude at 4,000m. I hadn’t spent a particularly long time in Cusco at 3,400m and wished I had simply to have another day of recovery.
Hilariously one of the hardest aspects of the day was moving from the huts to the dinner hall up on top of the hill. Amazing what the altitude was doing to us, as people would crawl up with baby steps to get from one to the other.
There was some worry that my headache would stick around but thankfully after eating dinner and drinking vast quantities of coca tea I felt like a new man by the time we went to bed at 9pm. Looking around the dinner hall there were others who looked far worse and the next morning two Swedish girls who had spent the dinner doubled over, ended up going back to Cusco.
Day 1 stats:
6.84km
Elev = 605m
Start = 3,800m
Max = 4,270m
Camp = 4,000m
Moving time = 2hrs 6mins
Elapsed time = 4hrs 5mins
Most people, myself included, though this was the hardest day.
Tuesday 3rd October - Day 364
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 2
It was a 5am start and we were woken by the kitchen team with a hot cup of coca tea. Not a bad way to start the day and thankfully I felt pretty fresh.
Breakfast was atop the hill and sadly there were only two decent working shitters. The queue for these was pretty substantial all morning and left little privacy to be desired, especially with my dodgy stomach. The toilets down by the huts were awful, lacking any proper doors for the girls and the bucket and water flush system wasn’t overly appealing. Worked fine for me as a guy in the middle of the night.
The sexy llamas were good to go at 6.30am with lovely morning views of Salkantay and the first valley we’d walk.
Such a great start to the day.
One of the big negatives for day 2 were the horses, donkeys and people riding these poor animals. Top tip from Zu was to hug the mountainside whenever they came through because they did not care about charging through us.
The horse led traffic however just seemed constant. The duffel bag horses were through pretty quickly but it seemed like a million people were now riding them to the Salkantay pass. We’d known a few people from the larger group had become casualties of the altitude so we’re needing the S/.120 ride to make it to the next camp but it seemed like a large group of people had not bothered to hike the trek and opted for the horses to carry them the whole way.
One in particular caught our eye. He was morbidly obese and this poor horse was having to carry him 600m up a mountain and over 20km. Just didn’t sit right.
The start to the morning was quite gentle, flattening out over some green pasture before the harder part of the day.
The bigger ascent of the day had two options; an easy route or harder one with views. The latter was a no brainer and after some climbing up some switchbacks the views opened up.
Salkantay was there with all its glory.
A second flat valley was our team regroup point and the glacial dumping of huge rocks on the ground was super cool.
Less so that this was clearly a favourite spot for an Inca toilet stop based on the mass of toilet paper floating around. People clearly hadn’t got the ‘leave under a rock’ memo but personally I think this should all be bagged and taken back. Not that hard to do and would avoid the stain on the landscape, plus potentially wind influenced used flying toilet paper incidents to the face.
With everyone reunited and a short break near the mini lake, the last ascent of the day began.
Thys and I were in front and were the first to reach the saddle at the Salkantay pass (4,630m). Lovely views across the valley.
Again I spent a bit of time with the binoculars checking out the views.
With the group back together there were some standard posy pictures taken plus the all important group success one.
As the group rested Zu gave one of his more memorable talks of the trip, about the Inca and local beliefs around Mother Earth (pachamama) and what they believe to be of importance to them in life. The belief that family, friends, love and enjoyment was at the heart of their beliefs and in doing so pay respect and look after pachamama. This resonated quite a bit with me, having gone from a lifestyle before travelling that I despised to making many of the same realisations and changes I want going forward that Zu spoke about.
Everyone seemed to feel this as well and after we all had our own private ceremony involving 3 coca tea leaves, making our wishes known to Pachamama and Salkantay mountain and ending by placing these under a rock facing East and the mountain.
Before we got going again, Zu whipped out a bottle of rum of which the first 3 pours were given to Pachamama and in respect of family before being passed around where each of the group either took a sip or gave it to Pachamama. Having seen a large number of people quoffing snickers bars, my tribute went to Mother Earth.
We had seriously lucked out with the weather, having predominantly clear skies for the first day and our second day so far.
As we descended down the other side of the saddle this fortune changed slightly. The cloud cover was pretty dense for the most part but it did remain dry until our first meet point.
Stefan, Yanna, Thys and I managed to avoid the rain by hiding in the hut of the meeting point but did get caught when we had to walk 20 minutes down the road to our lunch spot. The £1 poncho finally got an outing as my waterproof coat isn’t quite so waterproof anymore and I didn’t fancy having it wet for the next 3 days.
Lunch was greatly appreciated as everyone was starving. I certainly enjoyed the carbo loading provided.
Lunch was also a great opportunity to catch up on the day's winners and losers. The lunchtime special of ‘hiked out Gringos’ was particularly amusing, our seats with prime time view of those fatigued and straight up fucked. One guy in particular was almost catatonic, his mate standing over him trying to feed him soup as he riled around in pain and with no energy.
The array of people lying on and trying to sleep on the dry rocks was hilarious. I haven’t seen this high density of rock dwelling creatures since the Galapagos island sea lion vibes. The cuddling in particular tickled me.
At this point everyone just wanted to get the walk done. We still had over half the distance to go but it was all aggressively downhill.
The valley walking into the cloud forest was entertaining when the cloud gave us a view, but I don’t like going downhill all that much.
Yanna, Stefan and I powered on down. Yanna did her best to try and slip off the mountainside but I was ready to catch her before she managed to regain her composure.
The latter parts prior to the campsite were clear and the valleys ahead were pretty nice. Contending with some horses that were matching our pace proved incredibly annoying for a while.
I was at the next glamping site at around 4pm, secured a hut for Thys and I and got to have a nice warm shower for S/.10. Don’t think anyone at this point was going to contest the price.
The campsite was pretty nice, this time everything on a similar level so there were no problems with hiking around for food. I spent the downtime listening to Wild Fell and relaxing.
Happy hour was at 6pm, this time biscuits & popcorn, and dinner at 7pm before heading to the standard early bed time of around 9pm.
Day 2 stats:
19.8km
Elev = 637m
Start = 4,000m
Max = 4,630m
Camp = 2,800m
Moving time = 5hrs 26mins
Elapsed time = 9hrs 41mins
Wednesday 4th October - Day 365
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 3
It was another 5am start, breakfast at 5.30am and 6.30am walking. It had decided to piss it down while we were eating but thankfully stopped as we began walking.
The rain from the night before and in the morning helped quite considerably with the views. Our morning route took us along a number of rivers and canyons that were bursting with life.
We had some great views of our campsite from across the canyon and also the river flowing nearby.
The morning views were of immense greenery, flowing rivers and carved out canyon tracks.
One bridge crossed a gorge that had amazing colours in the rock.
Across the gorge Zu told us of a thermal pool that was used by locals only. It was seriously remote and looked incredible. Apparently there were a number that existed near to where we had been walking but had been consumed by the river not too long ago and are no longer accessible to tourists.
It was pretty warm and the small waterfall of Catarata de Facchi served as a nice place to dip my head in some cool water.
Some more canyon walking led us to a small village for a fruit tasting session.
The passion fruit was decent, opened by smacking the outer shell and revealing the sweet (not sour) seeds and pulp, but the mango was fire. Hella expensive at S/.8 but it was so damn tasty. The small tube-like passion fruit was more to my taste being quite sour.
With a football field and ball around some of the kids decided to have a quite intense game. Impressed with the energy but my little tootsie blisters from my new walking boots would have not thanked me.
The last part of the walking descended down to the large river, across it and back up to the other side.
A number of landslides had meant the route of the Salkantay had had to change slightly and at this point AllTrails wasn’t exactly on point. A spot of road walking was supposed to be the end of the day as a bus was going to pick us up and drive the group to the town of Sahuayaco but Thys and I missed the ‘bus stop’ and ended up walking an additional 3.5km.
Only when we were 3km in and had to vault over a flooded road element, Thys with grace and me nearly falling in, did we start questioning whether we had gone wrong. Turns out that Peter tried shouting after us but we were too far ahead. Zu’s response was ‘they can’t get lost’ so 40 minutes later after the team had had a nice orange juice and chocolate break, they picked us up in the van on the way to the village. Woops.
Day 3 stats:
13.83km
Elev = 290m
Start = 2,800m
Max = 2,920m
Camp = 2,300m
Moving time = 3hrs 6mins
Elapsed time = 4hrs 37mins
It really wasn’t long before we got to Sahuayaco and our coffee farm tasting experience. I had done a number of coffee farm experiences before but this was legit the best.
Zu took us around part of the coffee plantation, explaining how the arabica coffee bean (red) and geisha bean (yellow) were grown here and the difference between the two.
Rather than showing the tools used for making a glorious cup of coffee, he used them to go from bean to cup.
The coffee roasting part was particularly entertaining and the smells that came through were amazing.
He then showed the two processes of grinding using a stone and the much easier hand held machine method.
Lastly we were poured our fresh ground cup of coffee, despite Zu cocking it up and requiring help from the pros. The milk jug made for some amusement.
After a bit of chill time at the coffee farm we were back on the bus and dropped off to the campsite for lunch. Typical monster spread.
The allocations of the tents got a bit interesting at this point. We were all under the impression it was a tent jobby but it turned out there weren't enough of them on the ground for everyone. So our group ended up having 3 rooms and 2 tents available for 11 of us, including Nicola. I had to remind Zu that Nicola was in fact my other half which did confuse the situation a little but we ended up drawing one of the rooms. Which after Nicola’s awful day was an absolute blessing.
Post lunch we were back in the van and driven to Santa Teresa for the hot springs. The transport cost S/.40pp for the hour drive there and hour back plus S/.10 for the springs themselves.
On the way we picked up a weary and unhappy Nicola Swain from a town in the middle of nowhere Peru.
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 1
Having spent a few days in Cusco under the weather I was looking forwards to the Llactapacta tour. I was made a little nervous the night before the tour however at the 7pm briefing. I rocked up and it took 1.5h to speak to anyone. The dude I eventually spoke to didn’t really have a clue about the tour and just told me to wait outside the office at 6:30 tomorrow. He then proceeded to tell me if I needed bag storage I’d have to drop my bag off within the next half an hour. Queue panic back to my hotel to check if they could store my bag (which they thankfully could) as I wasn’t fully packed.
6:30 am the next day I arrived outside the office, waiting anxiously for a “car”. Some dude turned up with my name on a list and i was shuffled towards a mini van.
The drive was slightly hair raising, single track, unpaved, mountain roads with huge drops. They were building tunnels through the mountains but I was thankful it wasn’t raining as the roads were super sketchy.
8h of driving later we were close the the village of Santa Teresa (my stop). The van proceeded to drive straight past the village, with me panicking and telling the driver I was supposed to be dropped off. He told me to get off the bus and walk back. So off I headed through a rural village with no idea where to head, panic texting the company. The company told me to head to the square where someone would meet me, eventually some dude turned up and took me to a restaurant who told me the guide would arrive in 3 hours.
I was the only person on the tour, but it was still a tour and being dumped as a lone woman in the middle of nowhere is unacceptable. Thank god I had previously downloaded maps and had internet or I’d have been fucked.
After about an hour and a half a guy ran upstairs, told me I was late and that everyone was waiting. I came downstairs to thankfully find Luke in a minibus. (They’d been waiting 30 seconds) and could finally start the less stressful leg of the tour.
Team travels:
It wasn’t a particularly fun reunification to be honest. Nicola had gone through the ringer and on getting an internet signal Luke had also found he had been the victim of some Revolut card fraud. Moods were not great.
At the hot springs Luke spent the first 15 minutes working out what had gone on the last 3 days he had been without signal (not very nice timing on the fraudsters part) and also trying to avoid getting bitten to death by millions of mozzies in the pools. Having his body submerged in the pool with his phone out must have looked strange.
After some time he was done flapping with his phone and we spent the next hour chilling in the quite nice temperature pools, chatting and trying to relax, the millions of Salkantay gringos hopefully drawing all the mozzies away from us. Sadly we both got nibbed.
The group had a quick beer outside the pools and then went back to the campsite for food. At this point Luke allowed himself a beer.
From the Sexy Llamas, we were the only two who had Machu Picchu entrance tickets. Zu went full dad mode and gave the clearest instructions and guide for the ticketless group which was not an easy affair.
In short, if they wanted to complete the day 4 hike the chances are that they would arrive in Aguas Calientes quite late (we arrived at 4pm) and the chances of getting a decent ticket in order to get the bus or train back to Cusco the same day was risky.
Instead the group decided to get up early, get the bus to Hydroelectrica and walk the 10km to Aguas Calientes. This would allow them to get a ticket below 300 (deemed a ballpark decent number) and then the decent circuits & time.
This meant we would part ways and we were both paired up with one of the other groups and Juan as our new guide. Nicola wasn’t feeling well so went to our room early while Luke did the rounds to introduce himself.
Thursday 5th October - Day 366
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 4
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 2
Our 5am start was a lie in comparison to the old group's 4am rush to get the bus to Hydroelectica. Of course for Nicola this was an immense struggle and the inability to eat anything giving low energy levels pretty much justified her decision not to do the Salkantay trek in full.
Almost as if the gods were responding to Nicola’s mood, the heavens opened up for a relentless morning drowning session, of course lasting pretty much the whole time we were going uphill.
The aggressive early start and hill climb never goes well for Nicola, never seeming to get a nice gentle flat intro to her early morning hikes.
So to try and ensure she was as happy as possible given the circumstances, Luke relinquished his trusty £1 poncho in favour of his fiancée and kept her as dry as possible.
Luke got soaked but never lost his energy and smile. Although has now learnt to keep his go get em attitude to himself when Nicola is struggling.
The views weren’t great for the first hour or so, high up in the cloud forest and being well and truly in its namesake.
We caught everyone else up at the first break spot and rather than sitting down for a long time we were up and moving again at our own pace. Nicola had the displeasure of having minor interactions with some absolute shite girls from the US who clearly thought themselves gods gift to the world and were self entitled as fuck. Not going to go far in life.
At this point the rain had stopped and it was nice walking through mossy covered trees and forest.
The climbing for the day was done when we reached the Llactapata ruins. Juan, the new guide, gave us a talk about the place but it didn’t carry the same sway as SexyZu.
A short way down was the supposed first viewpoint over Machu Picchu. If we hadn’t had been told this was the case we would have been none the wiser.
The leftover pizza snack Nicola had brought garnered some hilarious reactions from those on day 4 of the trek. Salivation and jealousy could be seen everywhere.
From this point it was straight down the mountainside and the visibility cleared dramatically. Nicola found her energy after being able to eat some food and not have the stress of a hill climb, so we were pretty quick to the next meet point. At this point the heat and humidity had built up so everyone was de-robing and those that were brave enough decided some air to their battered feet was a good idea. The smells, despite being in an open air shelter, were less than fresh.
The aggressive downhill part was nearly at an end, lastly crossing over a bridge where local guides thought it hilarious to jump around and make difficult for crossing tourists, and then were on the straight and narrow.
Before long we were at the town of Hydroelectrica, where the train tracks ran from the town towards Machu Picchu.
Here we had a long lunch stop at a local restaurant which didn’t offer great food.
The last 10km was a bit of a slog for Luke. The soles of his feet were pretty sore and while the route along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes was actually stunning, the discomfort started to win out a little bit.
The views of the enormous mountains as we walked along the river valley were pretty great.
We had to jump out of the way of a few trains but nothing like the drama with the horses.
Again rather than waiting for the rest of the group to catch up, we walked on ahead by ourselves to Aguas Calientes.
The town is beautiful. We didn’t really spend the time appreciating it on arrival but the next day, once done with Machu Picchu, we got a chance to enjoy the views.
The legend that was Zu was waiting for us in town to help Nicola get a morning bus ticket to Machu Picchu (Luke decided he would walk of course) and at about 4pm we were done and checked in to the hotel.
Our duffel bags were arriving at about 6pm so we didn’t have the means to get fully clean before dinner so a peasant wash had to do for now.
We were starving so went next door to Cala Tratoria for a cheeky pizza nib and a victory beer, thinking food would be at 7pm. The timing changed to 6pm so after a slice each, we boxed and saved the pizza for the next day. Would turn out to be a great decision.
While chilling in the restaurant the majority of the Sexy Llama crew were on their way back to the hostel with a great success story in hand. Each had got their desired circuit 1 ticket for 6am which meant they would get the better views and have enough time to be able to walk the 10km back to Hydroelectrica and get the bus back at 2pm, rather than having to stay an additional night in Aguas Calientes. Sacking off the day 4 walk ended up being a win for them which was great.
Dinner at the hostel restaurant was fine, Nicola wasn’t feeling great so we took off early and had our last briefing with SexyZu on the trip. He would be leading the circuit 1 crew and therefore Luke would part ways with him officially this evening. Nicola would have him for the bus ride the next morning.
It was really good to have a roof over our heads and a functioning shower. Luke was expected to be walking at the lovely time of 4.30am so sensibly passed on the Pisco sours and beers for the evening.
Day 4 stats:
26.24km
Elev = 1,310m
Start = 2,300m
Max = 2,814m
Camp = 2,000m
Moving time = 6hrs 23mins
Elapsed time = 9hrs 32mins
Friday 6th October - Day 367
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 5
4am was not a pleasant time to be getting out of bed.
I was down for breakfast at around 4.15am, lapped up the coffee that had been provided for the first time on my trek and rather than eat the underdone eggs with stale bread, made do with bananas we bought the day before.
The only people walking from the Sexy Llamas team were Anton and Xinyu. I didn’t particularly like Anton, a Bulgarian American, and therefore resisted walking with those guys.
At about 4.45am I was walking to the summit of Machu Picchu alone and at my own pace. The ticket office at the bridge didn’t open until 5pm so everyone had a bit of a queue before passports and tickets were inspected.
I was through the check at about 5.10am and then slogged it up the steep steps to the entrance of Machu Picchu. With the dark and low lying clouds when the sun started coming up, I could barely see anything around me except the next person ahead to overtake.
It was a nice spot of exercise. In just over 30 minutes I had climbed nearly 500m over 2.5km. Very sweaty work and thoroughly enjoyed. Still got the fitness.
I had caught up with the first guys through the bridge a few metres before the entrance, which I wouldn’t have thought anything of had the girl not said she was and wanted to be the first up. So close to ruining her aspirations.
I was there for about 10 minutes before the bus load of gringos turned up, allowing a nice 5.30am bus ride and carrying all to the entrance without stress. From my perspective, no fun but it was definitely needed for Nicola.
Team travels:
Nicola didn’t look happy at all and the Sexy Llamas for their first and only taste of Nicola’s early morning tactics - flat out blank everyone.
It seemed that the lead up to Machu Picchu and it’s entrance requirements was a pain in the ass and it only continued to get worse when put into action.
Firstly, we were concerned with our bags which exceeded their tiny limit. I think having 6am tickets helped have the guys at the booths not give a shit so we didn’t have any problems here.
Next was food. Apparently it’s just straight up not allowed so Luke scoffed all his pizza and banana supplies before going into the circuit 3 entrance. This isn’t really feasible for Nicola but because they don’t do bag searches, she was able to retain her supplies. There are however tons of security knocking around, so if snacks are to be consumed they really have to be done out of their views. For us the perfect spot was past the second security booth and walking up Machu Picchu mountain.
The tickets themselves are hella confusing. The two entrances are 1&2 or 3&4, the primary time allocated being the entrance to the circuits and allowing the walk around.
For us, the Machu Picchu mountain entrance (which we didn’t pay for, just so happened to get it) meant we had a 6am entry to circuit 3 and a 7am-8am window to get to the security booth at the base of the mountain. All well and good but we had no clue how to get to this entrance, not realising it was through entrance 1&2 and literally fuck all help from anyone telling us this. More on this shit show later.
Our circuit 3 & 4 group was led by Juan again and as we walked around inside the low levels of Machu Picchu (circuit 1&2 are the upper levels with much better views) it was pure cloud.
Occasionally it lifted and Luke took a million pics to make sure some half decent ones stuck.
Juan was not an entertaining speaker and from the looks of everyone else’s faces, they too were not overly interested and seemed shattered.
The walk around Machu Picchu was interesting but it didn’t blow us away.
At 7.30am Juan dismissed us, being the only circuit 3 guys and led the circuit 4 to finish their circuit and up to the Huayna Picchu viewpoint. Pretty easy for them, not so easy for us.
Juan said we were able to leave, use the toilet and come back in for the Machu Picchu mountain but was wholly unclear on where the entrance was. Luke was under the impression it was inside the circuit 3 route and had to go up where a security guard was standing. Nicola was torn, having tried the guard who pointed towards the exit.
Nicola went out to use the toilet and Luke stayed talking to the guard. Eventually Luke wore him down and he allowed us to go up past him and towards the mountain entrance. Nicola had massive problems getting back in, the queue being massive and the guard saying our ticket was at 6am. Thankfully she was bullish enough and the guy caved, for us to go the sweetener guard route and by this time having to run to the entrance as we were so late.
Turns out the entrance was at 1&2 and no one told us this.
It’s a 10 minute walk to the mountain entrance but we didn’t have that much time so it was more of a wog up some steep steps and tearing past some oldies.
Nicola was less than impressed but we made the entrance with 5 minutes to spare. The 585m climb up the mountain was the last thing she wanted to do.
Luke on the other hand was so gassed. The views, expected to be shite because of the blockade of low lying clouds, looked like there might be a chance of clearing just enough if we were patient for the views we wanted. The first such window got Luke so excited he cheered when being able to see the top of some mountains and a dutty ridge line.
Nicola was pretty pooped the whole way up.
Luke sat and chilled at the first platform we found that had a decent place to sit and enjoy potential views of Machu Picchu. While he did this Nicola made a call to someone from home and got her first job offer of the trip. But she did miss the first window of the Inca site.
When she rejoined we continued our sit and chill as she ate the forbidden food. There was no security on this mountain it seemed, so the Inca toilet and eating was all fine.
Walking up the steps on the side of the mountain in cloud transitioned to cloud forest vibes and back to the former.
At the steepest point of the climb, Nicola called it a day. She was having a terrible time, was exhausted and under the impression there would be naff all views, called off the struggle.
Luke: Salkantay Trek - Day 5 (continued)
I was still enjoying it all and was adamant the clouds would clear. It did get pretty steep so it definitely was a sensible idea for a wobbly Nicola to abort.
The summit had plenty of space for people to walk around and admire the views from both sides of the mountain. The hut was a nice touch.
While the cloud cover was everywhere I had a picture with the summit sign and then began patiently waiting for things to clear with the 10 off people that were also there.
After about 20 minutes, lo and behold it did. As time went on the cloud just didn’t return and we were lucky enough to get views of Machu Picchu continually for the rest of the day.
The views over the valley were great.
And the wrong side of the mountain was also pretty cool.
The views on the way down were great the whole time.
Nicola: Llactapata - Day 3 (continued)
On my way back down I met a nice Turkish older lady. Who was clearly very rich, but we got chatting and enjoyed the views until luke turned up.
Team travels:
Reunited at the lunch spot, we had some more pictures together courtesy of the nice Turkish lady Nicola had befriended and then made our way to the exit.
The views as we reached the base of the mountain again, continued to slay. Even got a nice lizard to pose for a photoshoot.
Now on circuit 1&2, we were perfectly content with making our way to the exit and out of the ruin site. Instead, the security guard on the rope entrance to the classic viewpoints beckoned us his way and through without a check. Once we’d returned his approach had changed and was ticketing everyone so really not sure how we managed this - can only assume our puzzled faces just instrigated his much needed assistance.
We were very thankful for the guy's blunder. The views from the upper deck over Machu Picchu were so good.
Even managed to get a decent couple shot for once.
With that all done and wrapped up we made our way to the exit. Nicola jumped on a bus back to Aguas Calientes and Luke finished the out and back route by walking back.
It was enjoyable for Luke to hear some people comment on his ‘running’ down the steps.
Day 5 stats (Luke):
14.87km
Elev = 1,356m
Max = 3,061m
Moving time = 3hrs 54mins
Elapsed time = 7hrs 22mins
Nicola had pitched up in the Cala Tratoria restaurant after grabbing our duffel bags from the hostel storage and a well deserved pizza and beer were consumed from the comfort of the sofa table by the window.
Overall, Machu Picchu was excellent and we really lucked out with the views. Naturally we were very annoyed with the information we had been given by our guides and led to a lot more stress than necessary but c’est La vie. Logistically, Machu Picchu is an absolute nightmare to get tickets, prepare for and get in… but we made it.
The two return options available to us on booking were the free van ride or a $70 scenic train ride to Ollantaytambo and then a bus back to Cusco. On hearing the bus was an 8hr hell journey, we were so happy that we opted for the train.
Our tickets were for close to 3pm and after some chill time in the restaurant made our way over to the train station. Aguas Calientes is truly stunning.
The train ride came with its own annoyances however. The company had cocked up our train tickets, despite telling them multiple times that we were a couple and wanted to travel the latter parts of the treks together, and had decided to book us tickets at different times. Zu managed to sort this out the night before but we ended up in different seats and different carriages.
Once on the train Luke could see a clear door connecting his and Nicola’s carriage. Some nice Spanish people opposite him helped communicate his dilemma and that he was going to walk through when the train spaces were known but then found out this connection was in fact not allowed.
So we spent the next 2 hours apart, admiring the views independently. Luke’s carriage was rammed and a bit of a furnace while Nicola had unlimited space and was cold. At least Luke had the nice Spanish people for company.
Once in Ollantaytambo we met up with the not so nice driver of the van for Machu Picchu Expeditions. He was overtly aggressive in trying to get us to hurry up, Luke forcing him to chill his frijoles so Nicola could use the restroom and then met up with a van load of people waiting for us for 30 minutes.
To cap it all off Luke ended up sitting next to a tourist who started dying on the bus. Nicola has been pretty unwell post this trip and the number of coughing gringos in our vicinity seemed to be quite large. Not an overly pleasant 2 hours.
Back in Cusco for around 7pm, Nicola managed to check in to our next Hostal and pick up her bag from the previous one before Luke managed to find his in the storage of Machu Picchu Expeditions. Their system was an absolute shit show.
A ramen dinner was enough for us before hitting the hay.
Saturday 7th October - Day 368
It was very nice to not have anything to get up for. We had a very slow start, going out for brunch at Organika which was pretty dam tasty.
The one activity we could bring ourselves to do was a free walking tour of Cusco. The 1pm start time suited a decent sized group so we could hide away easily. In summary it was an enjoyable walking tour, low stress and only lasted 2 hours.
Plaza Kusipata - the square we had frequented a lot recently as a result of Machu Picchu Expeditions
Plaza San Francisco
Iglesia, Museo y Convento de San Francisco
San Pedro Central Market - Luke got to show off his local passion fruit skills, learned from a few days previous. Nicola enjoys using the ‘you’ve changed’ comment whenever seeing a previously fruit-averse Luke doing things he would never have done previously. Gap Ya fun Luke guys.
History about Cusco & the Incas - the Incan empire was massive and had Cusco as the capital. Hearing about the runners on the old Inca trails was pretty impressive.
Cusco Main Square
Church of the Society of Jesus
Cusco Cathedral
Loreto street - never thought a talk about bricks would be entertaining. But the contrast between the well laid out Incan stone vs the botched modern version was telling. The walls were all sloped inwards to provide structural security against national disasters such as earthquakes.
Church and Convent of Santo Domingo of Guzmán
La Esencia - a bougie colonial style building that was claimed to be an affordable Peruvian restaurant. Na mate.
When the guide tried selling Luwak coffee we bolted. It wasn’t particularly well timed as the heavens well and truly opened up with rivers flowing down the stone streets. We managed to find a hotel with a porch we hid away in for about 20 minutes while we waited for it to pass.
Eventually we made it to the supermarket but were pretty sodden.
As the kitchen was half decent we were able to cook frozen breaded nugs and fried potatoes which at the time was stellar but would prove to be a bad choice the next day.
Sunday 8th October - Day 369
This ended up being a pretty rough night for Nicola. She felt pretty sick overnight and exacerbated tenfold by Luke’s stomach continuously turning knots in itself, materialising in a constant stream of pungent sewer he couldn’t help but release in his sleep.
Luke gassed Nicola out so badly, despite trying desperately to play nice, she had to try and sleep in the common area on our floor at 5am.
Feeling terrible, Luke quickly switched places with Nicola but the damage was done and there was no way she was going to make the 7am tour to the Sacred Valley.
Luke adventures:
Sorry Nicola.
I certainly wasn’t 100% and was once again back on the imodium. At the meet point in the square for the tour I had to secure my seat and stand outside of the van as we waited for stragglers to ensure I didn’t gas everyone out.
The Sacred valley tour was good fun. It was a long day, 12 hours from pick up to drop off but it was nicely balanced between driving and having a decent amount of walking around sites.
The guide wasn’t annoying at all and everything went well (bar Ollantaytambo).
Chinchero
At Chinchero I was able to buy the ticket for the Incan sites. The 10 day option for S/130 meant Nicola and I could see some of the closer temples next to Cusco tomorrow. It was S/70 for the day plus $25 for the tour so not too bad a price.
Chinchero was a nice first stop, pretty low key with the church and Incan remains.
Local village
Can’t be a tourist without being taken to a tourist trap. But it was actually quite a nice one.
One of the local ladies explained how they made their various Alpaca garments and the use of natural colourings from things such as bugs.
The Guinea pig cage was clearly used for the tourist shock effort.
Moray
A pretty cool site. The Incas used the area for farming, the stepped terraces having different climates and therefore able to grow more temperate produce.
There were some cracking views of the mountains behind, Chichen being the tallest peak in the area.
Chocolate / salt / gift shop
We had a quick stop at a shop which had a variety of different chocolate, salt and other gifts. I appreciated the free salted snacks but that was about it.
Maras Salt Mines
The salt mine landscape was very interesting. First we stopped at a high viewpoint where our guide gave us some background about the mine.
Salt water comes from below the ground and the mountain, flowing in from a stream and into the pools above.
The farmers then filter into pools by use of channels and blocks, the water initially starting off brown and over a few days becoming white with dried salt. During the wet season the mine is not operational.
The mine is owned by two local villages who managed to keep hold of the mine despite the Peruvian government at one point trying to seize control.
From the lower viewpoint we had a short time to walk around and see the salt farms up close.
Lunch
A buffet lunch was included in the price of the tour and as usual, was pretty disappointing. An array of dry and sometimes weird meat wasn’t overly appealing and not well supported by better salad options. Drinks were also hella expensive.
Ollantaytambo
After leaving Ollantaytambo on our Machu Picchu day I was back to take in some more of the site, except it was absolute chaos and not overly enjoyable.
We didn’t have long to see the site, so had to speed up the steps to get the views from up high. The queues of old people made this pretty challenging.
It was an interesting place, with a strange face carved into the rock face opposite from the site.
Sadly one of the girls, Grace, had a pretty nasty fall here and her ankle was well and truly swollen. This ended her day and very likely the next week, including the Salkantay trek which was absolutely gutting for her. Everyone was super supportive but there was only so much we could do as she bawled her eyes out in distress and pain.
Pisac
The last stop, because we all refused to go to a silver and gold store, was Pisac and it was probably the most interesting ruin site.
The tombs in the mountainside were especially interesting. Grave diggers, knowing that the Incas were buried with a wealth of treasure, had found these graves and opened up the burial sites in the sides of the mountain so it looked like the mountain had acne.
With the tour stops now over we drove back to Cusco. The main focus of everyone was Grace and her busted ankle and as a fellow Brit I offered to help any way I could, initially offering my phone to call her insurance company in the UK for free and then became a much needed crutch once getting a drop off at her hostel. She could barely move and I spent the next 30 minutes helping her get settled, sorting with her hostel and then once my good deed was done for the day, I left her to the will of the gods.
Made me appreciate travelling with Nicola and having that safety net. As a solo traveller she knew no one and had no help.
Nicola adventures:
I spent the day in bed, with a trip for food and snacks.
Team travels:
Reunited we had some food and passed out. The end.
Monday 9th October - Day 370
Another night bus meant we had all day in Cusco to kill. As usual we maxed out our allowed time in our hostel before checking out and went back to Organika for brunch.
Now fueled we walked over to some of the Incan ruin sites closer to Cusco. The walk to Saqsaywaman was quite nice and gave some decent views out over the city.
With Nicola’s day ticket purchased we started our slow meander through the site. Nicola did not have a bundle of energy and one of the first things we did was have a long old sit down in the shade.
Saqsaywaman was enjoyable to walk around, especially at our own pace.
There were some great views over the whole of Cusco from up high.
We debated getting a taxi to Tambomachay but it didn’t seem like this was possible. Instead we went for the short walk to Q'enco Archaeological Complex and would call it a day from there. The tall eucalyptus trees up to the entrance made for a nice view.
Q’enco was a much smaller site, the big attraction being a large rock room where sacrifices were made.
We had a short walk around, a sit down and then made our way back down to Cusco.
Back in Cusco we had a quick browse of the San Blas district.
With a few more hours left to kill, we got a coffee at Xapiri Ground which ended up being so edgy, the cups had lost their edges. This in turn made it impossible to drink hot liquid.
As soon as we stepped outside back into Cusco, Nicola began feeling rough again. Safety pasta was required and dinner at La Osteria did not disappoint. The pasta carbonara was great, albeit a little on the pricey side.
The hostel allowed us to sit upstairs near the kitchen and watch TV for a couple hours before calling us a cab to the Peru Hop Cusco terminal. Despite getting a price before leaving the driver decided to mug us off for more money.
There was a half hour wait to board the night bus to Puno, Nicola running on to secure decent spots while Luke dealt with the big bags. The bottom deck was far more comfortable than the top it would turn out.
At 9.30pm we were on our way to Puno.
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