A couple of weekends ago I did a trek with some of my best friends in Cusco! It was a two-day trek through an area called Lares, which is at about 3700m (300m above Cusco) and about 3 hours away. We had an easy first day of simple walking through some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen – seriously felt as though we were walking through the set of the Lord of the Rings. Unbelievable mountains, crystal-clear rivers, alpine lakes, the works. We sat near rivers, hopped our way through incredibly boggy ground and laughed – a lot. We also collected some herbs that we were able to identify and made some of the best tea I’ve ever had that night – munia (which settles your stomach), mint, and eucalyptus were some of the herbs we collected. Munia is my favorite, but mint mixed with eucalyptus is incredible.
Bog hoppin’, with the help of my coaches! Made it through relatively clean… at least on this bog.
The scenery near the end of the first day.
That night we camped near a waterfall in a small valley between two huge mountains. There was a huge storm – powerful winds, lightening so bright we were sure it was striking right between our tents, thunder that was loud to begin with but echoed off the mountain walls, and so much rain that it began to invade our tents. I was pretty cold even in every jacket I brought, three pairs of socks, a sleeping bag that is made for weather as cold as -10*C, and borrowed gloves from my very generous friend, but I made it through the night well enough.
Our campsite in the morning, between several small farms. The river is probably double the size it was before the rain. We had the great pleasure of meeting a Quechua woman who lived in the valley and communicating with her despite our language barrier, and were surrounding by llamas, alpacas and horses at various times.
The second day we had to make a mountain pass that was about 4500m, so it was only about 500m above where we camped but at that altitude everything was hard for me. I was so physically exhausted and the mountains definitely play mental games with me; I was relatively convinced I could not physically do it, and my roommate was the only thing that kept me going most of the time. To make matters worse, it started to rain (more like a rain/hail combination) the last hour of the mountain pass – it was so high, and we got socked in by the clouds in the mountains. I was scared because I could see only maybe 30 feet in front of me, and I was the slowest one of the group so I was afraid of getting lost. There were several times where I couldn’t breathe because I was either crying or simply overwhelmed, but Charlotte was there every time and got me to the top.
The view from the top was so incredible; I have never seen anything like it. The huge mountains in the background were so humbling; I had simply struggled my way through a mountain pass, not even a foothill of the towering mountains covered in snow beyond. I am not sure why people think they conquer mountains – that experience was so incredibly humbling for me, I can’t ever imagine considering myself as a conquerer of it.
The group at the top of the mountain pass! From left to right: Derek, Charlotte, myself, Derrin (Derek’s friend from Canada) and Alex.
The rest of the day was very easy – a nice walk down through the valleys to a town called Patacancha, where we caught a taxi to Ollyantambo and then a bus home.
(Many pictures are from my good friend, Derek. Thanks Derek!)
Darby Takes Peru 