As I have been traveling through Peru, I have experienced many first. Amongst these first, one is going on treks blindsided because my wonderful program leaders have done all the dirty work in organizing our adventures. I knew a 5 day trek that ended with hiking matchu pichuu was a part of our itinerary, but I underestimated the beauty, the wild, the unexpected journey we would embark on as travelers on the salakantay trek. A large group of anxious travelers scarfed down breakfast in a little restaurant as our guides split us into groups and weighed our mule bags. This was the first trek I would be doing that involved mules doing the heavy lifting, but I embraced it anticipating the hard five days of hiking that lied ahead. At breakfast we learned that nearly 85 people would be hiking along the trail with us and camping at the sites set out along the journey. Yes, 85, people! More firsts. We were split into groups of 14-20 that so as we started the first day of hiking, we eagerly made it to the front of the groups and started our first full day of hiking. The trail started with a steep uphill to a more moderate incline that began overlooking the vast canyons and mountains of the Andes. We climbed above the towns until they were dollhouses in the far distance. After hiking all morning we came upon the first surprise on the trail, a little store with rest area. It already felt odd not to have my backpack by my side, but now a little Peruvian lady is selling me chocolate and inca kola? I caved for a purchase of a Sublime chocolate bar. It was worth every centimos. We moved along because lunch was just another hikers hour later. The trail started to expose a drop off along the right of the hiking trail. Hiking along ridgelines always brings me joy. It was a perfect mix of steady ups and downs until eventually we turned the corner to see the massive glacier in the distance. The glaciar was massive and the white peaks were glowing in the distance. We were able to see our campsite far in the distance, nestled in the valley underneath the glacier. The view of our destination brought new excitement to the trail. Eventually lunch time came along and SURPRISE, all meals provided are prepared by our amazing and talented chef, Washington. We were pampered with mates, soups, starters, desserts throughout our whole trek. I was expecting backpackers pantry and packaged food, but what we ate was treking food for gods! The next few days of treking involved a rapid accent to our highest elevation of 4630 m. We all hiked at different paces to reach the top but shared the joy and sense of accomplishment when we reunited at the top. We are surrounded by glacier peaks and the sight of our trail below that stretched into the jungle. Our decent opened up more time to converse about anything and everything that popped into our minds. It had been about week four of traveling with the 12 others in the OG group and every day provided the opportunity to learn something new about one another. The jungle brought a new experience to all our senses; the air was thicker, the scenery was green, lush, and there was flowing water everywhere, and you can feel the life growing and living all around you. We traveled through a lot of small communities, wondering what their day to day life was like. For us, our days in the jungle revolved around walking, playing with chickens, eatings snacks, and drinking beers and playing games at the campsite. After our days hiking in the jungle were over, we took a bus to a campsite in Santa Teresa. We all were excited for this stop because the much anticipated hot springs awaited us. We got to soak our bodies in warm mineral pools, rinse off under waterfalls, enjoy expensive wine and beers at the bar, and rest after an exciting three days of trekking.
On our last day, the group was split into a Zipline group and a hiking group. I chose to hike, having experienced ziplining a few times in the past. Although the trail was just a road, and the day carried a hot and heavy heat to it, I enjoyed the morning hike. It was refreshing to get the chance to exchange stories more in depth amongst our small hiking group and to take some time for personal reflection. Eventually we met up with the Zipline group and hiked the remainder of the trail to Aguas Caliente. The trail followed along a railroad. It was flat and appeared endless. We had to tap into stored energy reserves in order to reach our destination. Aguas Caliente is a tourist paradise. It was full of energy in the streets, beautiful Incan shops, flashy hotels, hole in the wall hostels, and restaurants of every variety. We were all happy to have a warm shower and a bed for the night because we needed to be well rested for our sunrise hike up to Machu Picchu.
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