Our guide, Sabino, picks us up from our hostel at 5:30am. We are going to drive 2 hours to the town of Mollepata and then begin our trek to Machu Picchu via the Salkantay Trail. It is one of the "backdoor" trails to MP. The main Inca trail has a waiting list of about 8 months to get on. This trip sounds better to me anyway, 4 days of hiking and camping and then viewing Machu Picchu on the 5th.
Back to day 1. Sabino speaks English pretty well and even notes Mr. Bean as his favorite movie haha! After a quick breakfast we start on the hike. We will go about 7 hours today. The neat thing about this trip is that we have a guide, a cook, and a mule to carry our equipment. Pretty sweet deal!
Today's elevation starts a little lower than what Cusco was, but by the end of the day we will be at about 3800 meters (13,000ish feet). Most of the walk this morning is up hill. Probably about an hour into the hike Sabino comments that I sweat a lot. Nice huh?! Oh well, at least it keeps me cool :) Lucky we brought some extra water this morning, because I am drinking like a camel! Towards 1pm, clouds start coming in and it looks like it will rain. Luckily, we get to our lunch spot, which is covered, before the rain starts. Although it is nearly summer in Peru, it is also the rainy season. So rain is pretty common. Lunch is good...soup, rice, meat, garlic bread...way more food than I am used to during camping! After lunch we put on our rain coats and ponchos and get ready to set out for the afternoon. It will be a shorter hike to the campsite, with very little uphill.
Maggie and I in our rain gear. The rain stops about 5 minutes into our afternoon hike. Pretty good timing! What great views on this trek. I have songs from the Sound of Music running through my head. The scenery reminds me of the end of the movie when the Von Trapps were escaping into Switzerland. And then I see some snow-capped mountains and immediately Bette Midler's "From a Distance" starts playing...for the next 2 hours. Oh joy! Along the way we also run into various animals...pigs, chickens, horses, etc.
We arrive at our campsite for the night about 4pm. I am ready for a nap! Sabino tells us "happy hour" will be at 5:30. Hot chocolate and popcorn!!! After happy hour, we have another great, big meal. By 8pm I go to bed....a LONG day. Maggie stays up a little while longer and tries to tell Sabino jokes. It's pretty entertaining to listen to, because I don't think he gets any of them! :)
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