Things to know if you are doing the trek:
- Shop around in Cusco when you arrive. You’ll find a better deal than online. Often you can find a good deal if you don’t mind booking last minute.
- If you do Peru Hop or Bolivia hop, you will get a discount
- YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! The more you pay, the better your guide, food and all around service will be.
- Rent sleeping bags. It’s not expensive and it’s not as cold as you think so -15 degrees C is fine! (We paid for 2 sleeping bags and 2 pairs of trekking poles at total of 90 soles for all 5 days)
- Expect to pay between $240-to upwards of $600/person
Read on for our adventure.....
Macchu Picchu, it is probably the first thing you think of when someone mentions Peru. It's one of those things you hear about and see on TV and in books and never thought you would actually get a chance to go in your lifetime. Incredibly the time had come and we were actually ready to plan for Macchu Picchu! Hannah and John were researching and so were we, in different parts of the world. We were both finding that this was going to be an expensive endeavor. We researched a few options. The most popular of course is the Inca trail. Unless you book months in advance, one is out of luck. It is more expensive anyway. The four of us decided we def wanted to trek, as that was how we all met 6 months prior in Nepal in the first place. So we researched and found another option: the Salkantay trek. It is a 5 day, 4 night trek through the mountains reaching an altitude of 4,600 meter and 3 nights in tents then ending at Macchu Picchu. Sounded perfect! We did more research and found it would be cheaper to book your tickets in Cusco when you were there.
Fast forward....we are now in Cusco. We had done Peru Hop bus and they had a travel agency associated with them, so we decided to check them out first. Turns out since we did Peru Hop they gave us a discount. What we thought would have been 300-350$\peraon turned out to be $230\person through the agency. That was a relief! Fare warning , you get what you pay for! You need to rent sleeping bags and we recommend renting hiking poles as well. But that's pretty cheap. With the trek booked, we had a day to get ready. We got our sleeping bags and hiking poles and packed. We were ready for a 4àm pick up!
Day 1: Early morning and some hiking
As the alarm goes off way before the sun was even up, we all grunt and roll out of bed. We shuffles around and get our things together then go and wait in the cold for our guide to arrive. 4am passes, 4:15 passes, and 4:30am almost passes when finally he arrives. A 10 minute walk to the bus full of all the other gringos in our group we were to be with for the next 5 days. A few hours later we arrived in a small mountain town called Mollepata. Here we gave our bags to be loaded on the ‘horses’ to the guides, drank some coffee and ate our pre-made avo and cheese sandwiches. An hour or so later, we eventually set off with our 2 guides and 21 other people. Through the town we went, then up and around and up some more. We stopped and waited for the entire group to catch up a few times, which was a bit trying at times. We eventually made it to what looked like the top. We must have been behind schedule so instead of following the path down, the guides quickly ran us pretty much straight down the mountain. At least it landed us at our lunch spot! Most of us have been eaten alive by biting flies by then (The guides insisted they were very "strong" Peruvian mosquito's. Lunch consisted of soup for a starter, then rice and veggies with some meat and juice. We would be eating about the same thing for lunch and dinner for the next 4 days. We were all a bit tired more so due to the fact we had been up since 3:30am but luckily only had 3 hours to our camping site for the night.
We were all a bit nervous as the camping was at elevation
and it was supposedly very cold. We
hiked what was supposed to take us 3 hours in 2! We turned up to pleasantly
find out that our tents were all lined up in 2 rows and in a tarp
enclosure. This made a big difference
and I think it was the hottest night we slept on the entire trek. We chilled out, drank a beer and waited for
dinner. We all mingled with the other members in our group and played a game of
Mafia. Dinner came, we ate, and promptly
went to bed. Our guides that day, had
very little information to tell us even when we asked questions and rushed us
through to get us to where we needed to be. We should have known then. But we
didn’t pay that much and they did get us from point A to point B safely. You
get what you pay for!
Another early rise and shine day as the guides and cook came
around at 5:30 am knocking on our tents with a “Buenos dias!” We knew it was
going to be the longest day but we were happy it was at the beginning of the
trek. Up and out and thank goodness
there was coffee. It wasn’t as cold as we thought it would be so that was a
plus! We ended up setting off 45 minutes later than we were originally told.
Man, could have used that 45 minutes of sleep!
The day was beautiful and we were all feeling pretty good! The hike was
gorgeous, it made you feel really tiny.
Three hours later we reached the ‘summit’ of the pass. It was cold, gray
and snowing. We were still happy to be
up there! The hike so far had been way easier than we expected, which was
awesome. I think anything after the
Annapurna circuit is relatively easy. Haha.
It was all downhill from here. We set off at a speedy pace as the next
stop was lunch! It drizzled at first then it progressively started raining more
and more. We were equipped with rain gear which made it slightly less miserable
as it was cold as well. The hiking
wasn’t easy either, it was through mud and rocks and nonsense. We finally made it to the lunch tent. John
being number one! This is the day figured out when the guides would say, “the
hike will take 4 hours til lunch and lunch at 1pm,” what it really meant was
lunch isn’t til 1pm. But they will tell you it takes as many hours as it is
from breakfast til the scheduled lunch time. For example, you leave at 6am and
lunch is at 12pm. Even though the hike isn’t that long, they will tell you it
will take 6 hours. We
arrived in the
lunch tent at around 11am. It was cold
and we were wet and the benches were uncomfortable but we made the best of it.
At least there was hot drinks! Lunch
wouldn’t be ready til 1pm but they wouldn’t tell us that. We sang songs and laughed a bit. Lunch finally came! A few people in our group were feeling the
altitude and not feeling so well. Poor guys and gals! After lunch was supposed to be another 4
hours. Luckily it had just stopped
raining when we set off after lunch. The
hike only took us 3 hours but get to the small town where we were camping but it
felt really long. It wasn’t tough, just felt long. Hawie’s knees started to
bother him as well which made it a bit tougher. It was like seeing the finish
line when we finally got there! Now to find our bags that were on the horses
and get our stuff set up in the tent. At first we couldn’t find our bags. After
some terrible Spanish we finally found our bags…and they were pretty wet. Our
bags did a good job of keeping the water out for the most part but a bunch of
our stuff was quite damp. As it was still humid, and not a lot of places to
hang our already other wet stuff, we just shrugged it off. Unfortunately the
bottom of Hawie’s sleeping bag was damp as well. It didn’t help that it rained
that night and the tents (again, you get what you pay for), were not completely
waterproof. The zippers didn’t work well, if at all sometimes, and the tents
were well worn. We made due, knowing the next day was an easy day. So we thought. We all chilled out, tried to dry out, drank a
beer and waited for dinner. Card games were our saving grace this time! After
dinner was bed thirty as we had another early morning!
Day 3: A long day through the jungle
This day was supposed to be easy. As John had gotten a chest infection on day
one of the hike, he was feeling the effects by now. He was a trooper and did a
great job pushing through. The jungle day we thought was going to be flat.
Turns out it was quite a bit of up and down, hot and humid and the guides took
off like bats out of you know where. We
were all a bit tired by now. We hadn’t
really slept well in a few days and even though the hiking wasn’t that
difficult, when you are hiking sometimes up to 8 hours in a day, it can wear on
you. We all trudged along and got
through the hike. It was a 6 hour hiking
day. I had stopped off to pee quickly
and the guide waited to head up the back of the group, which is where we had
ended up. We figured it wasn’t worth hiking fast to lunch as lunch wouldn’t be
ready anyway so no need to kill ourselves to sit on hard benches for hours
waiting. Anyway, as I came down from my
trek to hike off the trail to go pee, we asked the guide how much longer. He said another 2 hours. We sighed, shook it
off, and pushed forward. Not more than 5 minutes later, we reached the rest of
the group who was at a resting stop. We
then asked the main guide how long til lunch. Thirty minutes, he said. WHAT?! 2 hours and 30 minutes, bit of a
discrepancy! Haha. We were happy for the news we were almost there. So we
charged forward to lunch! Not only were we happy about lunch today, after lunch
there we were done hiking! Done hiking AND off to the hot springs!! Lunch was
really good! We had quinoa and sweet potatoes and all sorts of good stuff!!! It
was much needed and appreciated after the long days we had. After lunch, we waited until we were given the
word to move. We first all piled into
this mini van bus. As we kept all piling
in, we realized there was no way we were all going to fit. The guides swore we
would. In few minutes they were proven
wrong. So the remaining people we shuffled over to a station wagon taxi. I sat
in the front seat with another girl in the mini van bus thing and Hawie went
and sat in the front of the taxi. One guy actually rode in the trunk of the
taxi. Ridiculous! At least there was room for our bags on the top and they
weren't with us. Then the driver gets in, I look over to the girl sitting next to me and whisper, “he barely looks old enough to drive!” As young as he
looked, he was a good driver. Thirty minutes later we arrived. It was time to drop our bags off in our tents
and off to the hot springs. When we got back in the same bus (minus a few
people), we found a plug and plugged our own gringo music in. That started a dance party in the van and the
young driver to smile! Off to the hot springs! We arrived, paid, changed and got
right in. Not having a shower in days, this felt great. The hot springs were
more warm springs but it still was awesome.
When we were all done being warm in the warm springs, we all grabbed a
beer. After a few, the van was ready to go. We hopped back in and back to base
camp for dinner. Dinner wasn’t that great (surprise) but worked. Hawie and I
retired early but there were other tour groups there and the place had a big
bon fire and very loud music. Needless
to say, I don’t think many people slept well that night.
Day 4: A walk along the railroad tracks and then Aquas
Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu
Hot springs down, most the walking…done, now the last push.
This day is pretty uninteresting. Basically woke up (yay, last night in
tents!), ate breakfast, got into a small mini bus van thing, then hiked for 3
hours along the train tracks with all of our stuff. No horses today! After
three hours of hiking in the heat with all of our stuff, we arrived in Aquas
Calientes. The group was split between two hostels. First thing, a shower! We
all relaxed, took showers then Hawie, Simon and I went for coffee (it was
raining and a bit chilly). One of the
guys on our tour had done the zip-lining that day and then a bus took him to
Aquas Calientes. As we were drinking
coffee (we finally found somewhere that would make coffee as the power was
out), we saw the other guy from our group across the street waiving his arms and
yelling our names. Our guides didn’t tell him where the hostel was. Luckily he
saw us and we took him to our hostel. Poor guy.
We had a great dinner from a set menu at a restaurant in the town. Next
day was Machu Picchu. Off to bed early
as we had a 3 am wake up call waiting and 1.2 km of stairs awaiting the next
morning.
Day 5: The day we had all been waiting for…Machu Pichhu
As instructed we got up and were to follow the road down
through town to the gate of Machu Pichhu.
The morning did not start off so great. Hawie woke up sick with a very
sore throat. Being so early in the morning, nowhere was open. The hostel did sell Halls but the girl
refused to sell them to him. Hawie was pretty upset and angry. After the anger
subsided, we set down the road in the dark only to reach the gate at the
bottoms and find out it doesn’t even open til 5am! Thank you wonderful guides
once again for pertinent information. We
were supposed to meet our guides at the top for a guided tour at 6 am and the
hike up the billion gillion stairs was supposed to take an hour and half. Well
everyone was in the same boat. We cruised up the stairs and luckily it only
took us an hour. The entire group made it in time! Now for the guided tour. We
had an hour and half guided tour of Machu Pichhu. Seeing the place for the
first time was breath taking. You always
see it on TV and read about it in books and now we were finally here. We had
plenty of time after our guided tour to cruise around and also hike Machu
Pichhu Mountain. When we booked those
tickets with the travel agency, I thought it was Wannu Pichu which is the
mountain directly behind Machu Picchu.
Turns out it wasn’t. But that was okay. It was a great hike up more
stairs and we had great views. Hawie was felling really ill so he opted out and
just hiked part way up. Feeling the way
he did, he made the right decision. We
met back up with Hawie and then Hawie and I went to the Inca bridge, hiked
around some more, petted some llamas and looked for John and Hannah. We thought
about taking the bus down but it was super expensive at $10/person). I told Hawie he could take it down but he
refused and instead on hiking down the many stairs we had just come up hours
before. An hour and half later we reached our hostel after a long day of hiking
and experiencing macho Pichhu. It was
worth it! It was an awesome day even though Hawie didn’t feel good. We got back to our hostel around 3pm and
exhausted. Unfortunately because we booked the budge tour, we had the late
train at 9:50pm back to the Cusco. Luckily the hostel had couches and we were
so tired, we just napped on the couches.
Then we went to dinner and by that time, it was time to get the train.
The train which is super expensive was not that nice and super uncomfortable
ride. We made it! Now for the bus transfer.
Our guides told us there would be a person with a sign and our names on
it waiting for us when we got off the train to head to Cusco. We were
skeptical. But turns out, that was
probably one of the easiest parts of the trip.
There really was a guy waiting for us with our names on a sign! So we
all crammed in this mini van bus thing and off to Cusco we went. Luckily a guy wanted to get off and woke us
up. We realized where we were in Cusco
and also got off. It was now 1:30am and
thank goodness we had booked our rooms in advance at the hostel we stayed at
before we left. We were all knackered! We checked in, threw our stuff down and
passed out. An end to an incredible five day journey!
We were instructed to go to two offices on the Peruvian side
and stamp, stamp we were checked out of Peru. Next stop Bolivia. We walked
across the border into Bolivia where we approached a small building with a huge
sign…. IMMIGRATION!! We all lined up and after some confusion we got the
correct forms from a police officer. Our
friend John just got in line stamp, stamp and he was in no hustle no costs (he
is from the UK). Damn British ;)…. Mine was also not too hard. No extra forms.
Just the visa cost. I approached the counter and asked how much he told me 55 I
handed over a few bills. He looked at them intensely looking for any sign.
None. Phew. I got my visa stamp, stamp and I was in! John and I were cleared
and Lindsay was still busy filling out a lot more paperwork. She finally approached
the counter and he told her that she needed to go and make a copy of her
passport. So we ran across the street paid a few cents and ran back. The
American woman that helped us out was in front of her and it seemed that she
softened him up a bit because he seemed to be smiling and looking relaxed.
Lindsay’s turn I think her nervousness also helped her. For he smiled took the
money and stamp, stamp she was in. 
