The Andean Trek

The LTR and I survived our five day Andean Trek. I have been trying to think of how to describe it. First of all, some basic facts:

We walked near 50 miles
Our lowest elevation reached was 4,800 feet.
Our highest elevation reached was nearly 15,000 feet.
(this should make the 50 miles sound more impressive ... most of the miles were vertical, either up or down...very little flat.)

¿How to describe the Andes?

Well, the word that comes to mind is diverse...in a single day we experienced wind driven snow on the rock-strewn mountain pass of Abu Salkantay, standing near two large glaciers, later descending through a highland plain and then cloud forest and camping that night in the Andean jungle. The nearest thing I can think of in the U.S. would be to combine the Sierra Nevadas with the high Rockies with a bit of Florida and Louisiana thrown in.

Our expidition was comprised of the LTR and I, a middle aged German couple, two Belgian girls, three German girls, a French couple, and another French "couple," though I use the word advisedly as although they were French and a couple none of us were sure how they fit together. The three german girls and the one non-strange French couple left the tour on the third day and the rest of us bonded much better after that.

Supporting us was our guide, Fernando, a horseman, two porters, a cook, a cook´s assistant and a nurse, and six horses. The horses carried all our stuff, plus the mess. I never would have imagined how we´d eat on the trail - hot food all three meals, which usually included la comida tipical de Peru of pòtatoes, rice and some type of meat. The chef, Percy, surprised us with a fresh baked cake on the third morning, which he cooked from scratch in a frying pan over the portable gas stove. It was incredible!

The most challenge part of the hike was the ascent up Abu Salkantay (Wild Mountain), from our base camp at Sura Pampa at elevation 11,400 feet. It was a three hour hike to the pass up to near 15,000 feet and it was guellingly steep. In fact theclimb is called De Monio or the demon. About 2/3 of the way up you enter a highland meadow the locals call "Headache Park" due to the thinness of the atmosphere.

I was the first of our group to reach Headache Park on foot (More on that in a moment) and I was headache-free. I was standing in this meadow, completely alone, with two glaciers on either side of me, wind blowing and snow falling. I felt like I was not only the only person in the world but also a profound sense of the mystical. The Incas considered Salkantay a sacred place and I understood why.

Altitude Sickness played a big role in the expidition. On the first day, both the LTR and one of the Belgian girls were stuggling for air so much that they fell way behind the group. I stayed with them, and at one point started carrying Latrish´s pack. About a half a mile before camp, we met up with Fernando, who had come back looking for us. It was dark by this point, and quite bleak. He gave both of them some medicine, and we began walking. Latrish was the worst off, and about 1/4 of a mile from camp one of the horsemen brought a horse for her. The LTR made it on his feet. That night we decided, at the suggestion of the guide, to get horse for Dave for the ascent to the pass. It was a hard decision, and the LTR was not happy about it, but I´m proud of him as he recognized the reality of the situation. Altitude sickness, like sea sickness, is nothing you can control. It plagued the LTR the rest of the trip, but he didn´t let it stop him from enjoying the trek. Coming down the pass from the top one girl collapsed and had to be given oxygen. She was fine after that.

The third night we camped in a small town and we had a large bonfire (the only one on the trek). A guitar was produced and the German man and I took turns butchering several songs. I did get the group singing along to "leaving on a jet plane" and "Let it Be." Needless to say, alcohol was flowing freely, again, an exception on the journey.

For some of the final parts of the trek we took a train for a short distance, and a troop truck up from the Ura Bomba river valley. By troop truck I mean a World War II like truck minus the canvass on the sides. It took us over bumpy unpaved roads on the edge of a cliff through the peruvian jungle. Everyone in our group was grinning ear to ear.

Final day was in Machu Picchu...it was amazing, both in therms of mountain views and the Inca architecture. No one really knows much about what Machu Picchu was...the Incas never kept records (they had not developed the written word) and the Spanish invaders never discovered it.

Those are the highlights --it was an amazing journey and I was thrilled the whole way.

I have a bunch of pictures and I took some notes during the Trek. I may set up a travel blog with pics and more commentary when I get home.