Lares Valley Trek
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2006
1
15
24
Trip End
Jul 29, 2006
Aguas Calientes, Peru
Monday, July 17, 2006
We finished the Lares Valley trek this morning. I am so tired... my legs are just aching. But, since I have had a shower, I feel MUCH better than earlier, I guess. We had three people join our trek, from other GAP groups (people who booked too late to get permits for the Inca Trail). There was a couple from Florida, and a girl from New York. All of them were pretty nice, which made it somewhat sad when all three of them couldnīt continue, come the second morning. But more on that, in a minute!
After meeting our guide, Myra (a girl from Lima), we were bussed out to a rater remote village to start the trek. They had horsemen and a cook (and an assistant cook/porter) waiting for us, ready to load up. They packed up our stuff, and we took off from there.
Man, was it ever cold up in the mountains.
The trek started off hard, all uphill. I was happy that I was feeling much better than I had on the hike to La Mina in Huancavelica. I mean, not GREAT, but much better. The extra days at altitude must have helped; I think I had adjusted to it. We went at a pretty slow pace, up towards a pass at 4400 metres (200 metres higher than the highest pass on the Inca Trail). It was pretty gruelling, but we kept at it. The couple from Florida fell behind quickly, and the assistant guide stayed at the tail end of the group with them. We had lunch by a lake, to prepare for the pass. By that point, the girl from Florida got hit hard with altitude sickness, and started to puke every couple minutes (not pleasant... I felt bad for her). Her boyfriend wasnīt feeling too hot, either. After lunch, the horsemen took the sick girl along on one of the horses, because it probably wasnīt a good idea that she walk any further, and we headed for the pass.
Basically, it was super hard. It was harder than I had imagined (and we had all been warned that the first day was supposedly the most difficult). You have to go so slowly up the mountain... itīs almost ridiculous. But we did finally get to the pass, and holy crap, it was freezing up there (there were even snowflakes). It was so cold that my digital camera stopped working, and I couldnīt get a picture of the amazing view of the valley below (complete with lakes and rivers and greenish yellowish grassy fields). But, needless to say, it was pretty sweet.
The rest of that day was all downhill (which is just as hard as uphill, but in a different way). We descended for probably 4 hours or so, and eventually came upon our camp (already set up for us by the porters and horsemen), just outside a very rural village (population PROBABLY less than like 10, and the people spoke very little Spanish... only Quechua, their native language). Talk about isolation.
At this point, all three Americans were doing terrible. The girl from Florida was hurling, the girl from New York was hurling, and the guy was on the verge of hurling. They couldnīt keep down any food or drink, not even wild mint tea. They all went to be early, in hopes of feeling better in the morning. I ended up sharing a tent with the girl from New York, so I had to be super quiet when I went to bed after dinner.
A quick note about the food... it was AWESOME. We got a snack bag every day, and three big meals, all of which included a starter soup, and then a main course, all prepared by our cook in a tent. It was crazy, the things he could make, for the trek. We had stuff like rice, lomo saltado (beef with french fries), grains, pancakes, chocolate pudding, omelettes, fish... etc, etc, etc. Yum.
Anyway, the next morning, none of the three sick people were feeling better, and our guide decided that they should be sent back to the village of Lares, where they could catch a bus back to Ollantaytambo, and then head to Aguas Calientes later. We had a pass of 4700 metres that day (holy crap), and so they DEFINITELY would not be feeling better then.
Our guide changed our route for day 2 so that we could get further (we had a bus to catch the next day, so we had to be on time, for sure). This resulted in day two being hard than day one, because of the 4700 metre pass. And holy crap, was it hard. I donīt know if I can find the energy to really write out too many of the details except to say that the views were just amazing, my camera froze half the time or I was too tired to take many pictures, the pass was freezing cold, and the view was pretty much the best view Iīve ever seen. One of our group members got sick from the altitude at that point (she felt better after we descended, though). Our guide explained that the pass we had used (in which there was a large, wooden cross covered in ornate cloth, at the top), used to be part of a pilgrimmage, in which Peruvians would climb to the top, with a rock from the valley below, and add it to a pile of rocks there to make a wish or ask for something (so naturally, we did the same). But yeah... it took about 6 or 7 hours of hiking to get to the pass, but I guess the view was worth it.
The rest of the day was spent going down for another 2 hours. There really isnīt a path through the valley, you just kind of go wherever it works the best, and the way was pretty rocky and slippery and probably dangerous, but, what can you do?
Day three spent hiking down for about 4 or 5 hours, to the village of Urubamba, where we were met by our bus. We were sooooo dirty, and tired, but we had made it!
In retrospect, Iīm glad that we did the Lares Valley trek instead of the Inca Trail. We didnīt see a single other tourist, the entire time. None. Just local people, at times, and by local, I mean the kind of people who speak only Quechua, and dress in the traditional dress only (we brought along bread for the kids and coca leaves for the adults, and shared as we went along, which they appreciated). It was so quiet. 500 people per day start the Inca Trail, and I guess it wouldnīt have been any fun passing and getting pass by them, and fighting for camping spots.
The other thing was the 2nd pass, at 4700 metres. Thatīs 500 metres higher than the highest pass on the Inca Trail. The view was just amazing (and it was FREEZING).
And now, Aguas Calientes (took a train there). Tommorrow is Machu Picchu. Canīt think of anything else to write, Iīm tired and weīre going for dinner soon. Thank god...
More later!
