Day 454 – Cusco to Soraypampa

Salkantay Trek: Begins

We woke up super early today and finalised the packing for our departure on a 5 day trip to Machu Picchu. We had booked a modified Salkantay Trek with our previous hostel, Carlos Guest House the day before. Our scheduled pick up was at 4.40am at our current accommodation, Cusco International Hostal. 

A guide arrived at 5pm to collect us. We had to walk with him to the San Blas Church since the street was too narrow for the pick up van. The sun was already up by this time. The van was only half full. The next few hours involved driving around Cusco to pick up more people, before we left towards the start of the Salkantay Trek.

Mollepata

We arrived at the town of Mollepata at 7.30am for breakfast. The restaurant food was decent and affordable. The guide also collected cash for the Mollepata Touristic Ticket. Breakfast and the tourist ticket are not included in the tour.

At the table, as we talked to the other tourists, of which there were a lot of, we found out that there was a mix of 5 day and 4 day tours. After breakfast, we got back into the van to go to the trek’s starting point. 

Marcocasa

The van stopped in Marcocasa, which is at the end of a dirt road with a few huts. As the vans were unloaded, we could use the basic bathrooms. Our group was spread over two vans. After several minutes, we met our two guides. The four and five days groups would be hiking together until the 4th day. We would be following the 4 day itinerary, which we had modified to have more time in Machu Picchu.

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After an introduction by the main guide, we left Marcocasa at 9.40am to begin the hike. The views were nice with all the greenery and valleys around. However, it was tough going at such a high altitude around 3,000m above sea level. 

Soraypampa

Along the way, we made heaps of stops as the guides kept giving us information. The number of stops felt like overkill to us, but it would be good for people that are not properly acclimatised. That being said we still found hiking difficult at times. 

Due to the uphill incline, we didn’t talk too much with anyone. Once the ground flattened out a little we started chatting with the others. After a few hours, we were hiking through several camp sites. Some of them included domes that would be nice to stay in. 

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Our campsite was on the other end of the Soraypampa camping grounds, which felt painful to walk to, but will make it easier for us tomorrow. 

The hike took our group 3 hours. After dropping off our bags in a common area, we were treated to lunch. The food was surprisingly delicious and there was plenty to go around!

After lunch, we were allocated tents. Some of the group had to have 3 people in the tent, but it was typically 2 people per tent. When it came to us, we were told to move to a different area with a different group, since there wasn’t enough tents. The bathroom at the camp site is shared with several other groups but has the normal flushing toilet which was an unexpected relief. No showers.

Humantay Lake

After chilling for a while, we all went on an extra hike to Humantay Lake. Our camp site was slightly over 3,900m and the lake was 4,250m above sea level. Despite only having a 350m elevation, it took took us around 1 hour to reach the lake. It was steep in sections.

However, once we reached the lake it was all worth it. The scenery is amazing.

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After an hour at the top, our main guide came and gave us information about the lake and answered questions.

We were back at the camp site at 5pm. Typically it’s easier to go down hill, but at times the ground was very steep that we had to concentrate to prevent tumbling down.  

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Since the group had different speeds, we got separated into a smaller group. This small group reached the camp site but we quickly realised that it was the wrong one. After asking around, we were one camp over. In our correct camp site, the cooks provided us with coca tea. This was was followed by dinner.

We had an early night as everyone was exhausted from the hike. We also have another early start tomorrow.

Travelled November 2019

Expenses and Transport

• Tour – Salkantay (5 days / 4 nights) with optional Montana Mountain – 600 PEN (~$282 AUD) per person with Carlos Guest House
• Boleto Turistico Mollepata – 10 PEN (~$5 AUD) per person