We started the Salcantay trek to Machu Picchu on July 28th. We booked it months in advance but realized that we should have waited until we got to Cusco because we paid twice the amount than tour companies were offering within the city. Regardless though this trek was absolutely stunning and worth every arduous step. On day one we left Cusco at around 4:30am and drove to the village of Mollepata. We had breakfast, met our horseman and cook, got acquainted with the other people who were on the trek, got all packed up and set out on the trek. Once we made it out of Mollepata we entered cloud forest and beautiful Andean mountain scenery. The weather was warm but not deathly hot but as day one progressed it got more challenging.

Our guide, Edy, had us follow along the road for awhile and then he would lead us to shortcuts. Yes they were shortcuts but straight up steep narrow paths that took you through mud and horse s*** that went up to your ankles almost. I was dripping in sweat after every shortcut. I admit I am very open so sorry if this is TMI but I was still feeling a little sick and as Cersei Lannister would say my "red flower was in bloom" so I was bringing up the rear of the group. We hiked the first day for roughly ten hours total and we had extreme weather changes. First warm cloud forest to freezing snow conditions. We made it to camp one at Soraypampa at 12,631 ft above sea level which was at the base of Salcantay Pass and Huamantay Mountain which was completely covered in snow. As soon as we made it to the first camp, I got sick and vomit several times YIPPIE! I went to bed early without dinner. However I woke up a few times in the middle of the night and went outside to use their extremely basic bathroom amenities and when I went outside I saw the most beautiful night sky. You could see every star perfectly clear and great views of the Southern Cross.

The next morning I woke up still feeling sick and I really wanted to continue walking, but day two was supposed to be the most difficult since you walk through Salcantay Pass and the first two hours is all up mountain. However I was too weak, so I had to take a horse ride up through the pass for the first two hours. I sat on the horse with freezing hands (I forgot my gloves back in Lima) but simply enjoyed the beauty around me. The horseman, Alberto who is 43, was a badass though. He was trekking in Converses and didn't stop once. We made it to Abra Salcantay which is 15,026 ft above sea level where the horsemen continued on and I met up with the group to hike the rest of the day with them. From there the remaining hike was down and walking over rocks and small boulders. I was feeling much better and was able to hike back at my normal capacity. As we descended the weather started to change. Less and less snow and back to cloud forest and then almost rainforest. I have never experienced such drastic climate changes in such a short span of time. We continued walking for roughly six hours or so and made it to Challway at 9,842 ft which was camp two. This site was surrounded by green mountains and right next to a beautiful river, oh and it also rained almost immediately after making it to camp. We got settled, ate dinner and passed out.

The third day we woke up, ate breakfast and packed up to continue on with the trek. On the third day, we trekked through more forest trails following the river and we came across a few small waterfalls and crossed several makeshift bridges constructed out of mud and branches, or rocks sometimes. Day three was a relatively easy day with flat, small up and downhill and no extreme weather changes. After about five hours of hiking we made it to the village of Playa at 6,890 ft and had lunch. One thing I haven't gone into detail about are the meals. Our trek cook, Washington or Washy, was amazing. He prepared fantastic Peruvian dishes and was super accommodating to Michelle and I since we are vegetarians. It was sad that the first two days I did not eat much because I was sick but every lunch and dinner started with a different soup and then we were served basically four course meals. Sadly so much food was prepared we never ate all of it but every meal was delicious.

Now back at Playa, we saw the locals drying out coffee beans from nearby plantations and then later made our way on. Our group, we had a total of seven hikers, our guide, our cook and the driver all packed into a collectivo van to take us to Santa Teresa which was where our fourth camp was. After about 45 minutes we made it Santa Teresa and our group size decreased. Four people from our group did the 4D/3N option so they left to continue to the hydroelectric train station to take them to Aguas Calientes. Me, Michelle, and our new friend from Mexico, Rodrigo, stayed behind in Santa Teresa and we went to the local hot springs. These two hot springs were hilarious, they were basically just like incredibly large hot tubs which had easily 50-100 people per pool. There were locals and there were tourists and there were Mosquitos. We stayed at the springs for about two hours and then made our way back to camp.

Since the next day trekkers didn't need to wake up at 5:30, 6:30 instead, this was the party night. The campsite was at a campground where there was a developed party area with a bonfire and sound system for music. The three of us joined with another group of hikers, all Spanish speakers from Argentina and not sure where else, and we all danced the night away. Again I drank nothing, so I think I might've been the only sober one but still had a blast. We were all dancing around the fire and then on top of a large rock looking down at the other 30 or so dancing hikers. And then it rained, so we shook our asses and danced on the rock in the rain. I went to bed early, around 11:15 and most others partied until around 2. The next morning we woke up to continue on to day four of the trek. Most of the other groups either zip lined or took transportation to the hydroelectric train station, but not the three of us with our guide Edy. We walked. We followed the road which lead us to the hydroelectric station.

Now this was where confusion and disappointment set in. For our tour package we paid for the hydroelectric train to take us to Aguas Calientes, we weren't against walking but we both wanted to take the train. Turns out after our roughly three hour hike to the station, we had three more hours to go of hiking. So instead of taking the train we hiked alongside it to Aguas Calientes. It was beautiful and I am glad I did it but I was still a little disappointed. But as we were walking we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu Mountain from below. We walk and walk and make it to Aguas Calientes, 6,726 ft above sea level, and by this point we just want to make it to our hostel and take our large backpacks off our shoulders. Oh and I also was suffering from extreme blisters, I think I have about ten in total... Super fun. We walked through the town to the top and finally made it to our hostel around 2pm. We get our room and take the first hot shower we've had in a week...it was amazing!

Afterwards we walk around Aguas Calientes for a couple of hours before dinner and we get asked probably about 50 times if we want a massage or if we want to eat at a particular restaurant, overall an incredibly tourist town. Aguas Calientes is at the base of Machu Picchu mountain so it provides great views of the Andes and the Urubamba River but no need to spend a lot of time there.

The next day is the day we went to Machu Picchu. We woke up at 4am, had breakfast and walked down to the bus station to take us to MaPi. The first bus leaves at 5:30 and we got there @ 5 but there were at least 50 people in front of us and hundreds of people behind us. We got on a bus at 5:45 and it took about 20 minutes to get up to the mountain. We got there and then once again stood in line to get inside the park since they were checking tickets and passports. Finally we were in! We walked up some stone steps and got our first full view of Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu in the back. We take some photos and revel in the fact that we are actually here. Then we follow our guide Edy who takes us on a 2.5 hour tour to the significant places. We walked up to the Guardhouse and he gave us information and history of the Incas. I knew some of it but I learned even more.

Anthropologists and archaeologists theorize that MaPi was a religious site for an Inca king and was not a stronghold for the Inca. The reason why MaPi is well intact is because the Spanish never found it due to the fact that the last Inca king had bridges and roads destroyed that lead to the sacred city. The last Inca king according to the Spanish was Manco Inka and he lead some of his people to MaPi. It is believed though that they continued on to Vilcabamba, the last Inca city to be conquered, and from there it is unknown what happened to Manco. Prior to the Spanish's conquest there was a civil war within the Inca nation between two brothers, Huascar and Atahualpa who were sons of the last Inca king before the Spanish arrived. I would love to continue writing about history but I do not remember all the names and dates and I have little time for blogging, I am behind in blogging actually so you guys get what you get. Do some research if you are interested, it really is fascinating information.

So back to the Guardhouse, there was also a sacrifice altar still intact but the Inca rarely sacrificed people, they sacrificed llamas, guinea pigs and condors. There are three levels of life to the Inca, the heavens, our earth and the underworld and they are each represented with a different animal. The heavens were represented with a condor, which acts as a messenger between the world they lived in to the deities, earth was represented with a puma depicting strength and the underworld was represented with a serpent which to the Inca was not a symbol of evil but of wisdom and intelligence. When Catholicism came the Spanish believed snakes were evil and black was the most evil of colors but the Inca believed the opposite. Black represented strength and was a rare color. But again luckily the Spanish never found MaPi.

The city was abandoned for some reason or another and went undiscovered for over 300 years until in 1911 anthropologist Hiram Bingham accidentally stumbled across it during his search for Vilcabamba, the lost city. However when he arrived there were two families living at MaPi, so technically Hiram was the scientific discoverer of MaPi. After we learned a bit about Inca history we continued on our tour and learned about the architecture of the site and about the infamous Inca Block.

The area was prone to earthquakes so the Inca constructed doorways at a slight angle, like a trapezoid and would use mortar to keep boulders intact in certain areas. But in some areas the Inca never used mortar, just piled perfectly shaped blocks on top of each other with no binding agent whatsoever. These blocks are flawless 90 degree angles and fit on top and next to each other perfectly. It still dumbfounds some archaeologists how they were able to create these perfect blocks.

Another mystifying concept about the Inca is that no remains have been found depicting any type of writing system or record keeping. It is believed that the Inca would use llama or alpaca wool to create a weaving system with knots and this was their way for communicating. The Inca constructed roads and bridges to connect to other cities for trade and sending messages via runners. These roads stretched from Colombia to Argentina and could take only a few days for a runner to get from one place to the next. If you know nothing about archaeology or history then having a guide at MaPi is very helpful. I am fortunate to know a bit about the history due to my studies and interests so it wasn't mandatory for me but there is always more to learn. Edy took us to the top of the astronomy tower and we saw the stone carved sundial and we also went to the Temple of the Sun.

In my experience virtually every archaeological site I have gone to there is a Temple of the Sun but the significance is different to virtually every culture. We finished our tour with Edy and he left MaPi to go meet another Salcantay trek group, it is high season after all. So afterwards Michelle and I head to the entrance of Wayna Picchu since we purchased tickets months in advance. Only 400 people are allowed to go per day and there are two times slots, 7am or 10am each allowing 200 people. We got there at 10 and stand in line for 30 minutes and finally made our way in. Wayna Picchu means Little Mountain but it is not a little mountain, it is a very steep mountain. It says the hike up takes usually an hour or so but the record time is about 18 minutes, it took us about 35 minutes with time for pictures so I felt pretty accomplished.

We made it to the top and got our view looking down at MaPi but we wanted more. So we did the full loop down to the Great Cave which is said to be four hours round trip, it took us 2.5 hours. We climbed to the top and climbed back down to the cave where the Temple of the Moon was. It was not very impressive but the walk was great since we were in jungle pretty much at this point. As we walked we saw tons of caterpillars, butterflies and we heard thousands of cicada's and later saw some jumping from place to place. They look exactly like grasshoppers but still my first time seeing them so I thought it was cool. We spent a little time at the Temple of the Moon and then we made the arduous trek back up the mountain. Since we did the full loop we climbed that mountain twice and it was exhausting but worth every second. We made it back to the top and then climbed back down and out of Wayna Picchu back to Machu Picchu.

By this point we had spent roughly seven hours total within MaPi National Park and we were feeling extremely exhausted and accomplished. As we left we got passport stamps of MaPi in our passport books and made our way back to Aguas Calientes. A few hours later we had our train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo which left @ 7pm. I am writing this all from Ollantaytambo and Pisaq so I will be posting another blog about Ollantaytambo and the remaining Sacred Valley within the next couple of days. Overall though, Machu Picchu was worth it all. Yes it is incredibly touristy and there are so many other amazing places in this beautiful country but MaPi is an absolute must.