Rain, rain, rain! Day 3 of Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

All night it poured! Putting the waterproof claim of our tent to the ultimate test. And it passed with flying colors! By morning it has cleared up and looks to be a nice day. The rain last night had me dreaming of landslides. In the dream, the tent was starting to slide. Luckily I was agile enough to get up, unzip the door to the tent, and get out...even grabbing my bag along the way....before it fell off the side of the mountain :)

Today is going to be a pretty easy day. Just 4 hours of hiking. We wake up at 6am this morning as we don't need to get such an early start. Since we are lower today and it is nice out, I decide to wear shorts for the hike....which I'll come to regret later! Today most of the hike is downhill or flat. I am not going to complain about downhill (much...) because it is a TON easier than the switchbacks and steep uphill, but I'm pretty certain I am going to slip and therefore move very carefully through the downhill...unlike my hiking partners :) We hike down about 45 minutes and come to a river crossing. Shortly after that is a rest area.

 The rest area we stopped at. Chickens and dogs intermingling :)

After the river crossing, the rest of the trek today is pretty flat. We arrive at Playa, the town where our campsite is, at midafternoon. It is sunny and warm....perfect relaxing weather! I wish I had a deck of cards right now, though!

 A past landslide we had to hike through!

 Yep...this is why shorts were a bad idea. Tons of mosquito looking bites. Oh well.

 Silver used to be mined through this part of the hike. You can still see some silver in the dirt.

Turkey at one of the rest stops we stop at. I really want a picture, but am nervous to get this close to him!