May 2nd, 2019
It was this day that caused the most anxiety. We would hike up and over Salkantay Pass which sits about 15,000 feet. It was also our longest day as it was 24 kilometers and with our breaks took about 12 hours before we reached the next camp. LUCKILY, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
I was too insecure to not take the altitude sickness medicine ahead of time in order to give myself the best chance at feeling good. Since we had taken it, it’s hard to say how I would have felt without it, but with it I didn’t feel any altitude effects aside from difficulty to catch my breath while hiking. I could stop and rest and find my breath, but as soon as I resumed walking, I would be breathing hard and feel my heart just pounding away. I worked at trying to slow my breathing and catch my breath WHILE exerting myself hiking up the steep incline. There was one point where I thought we must be very close to the top of the pass, and then I realized the trail went up the other side of this mountain. I looked up and could see many tiny people WAY up on a part of the mountain I still had to climb. One step at a time… and we finally made it to the top! The pass was incredible. Views just as stunning, if not more than in Patagonia.
The Andes are truly amazing. I see why the Incas thought of them as being very spiritual and powerful. You could feel Incan energy up there and as we rested taking it all in, I was filled with gratitude to have the opportunity to be in such an amazing environment. We stayed up there for a while. Our guide Nico was very knowledgeable and shared history that was in this special place. He talked to us about the Incas, their culture, their beliefs, and their language. We also did a special ceremony with coca leaves which involved us holding the leaves and shouting phrases in each direction into the surrounding mountains. We left the leaves we held as an offering. I was very grateful for our group and the experience we would have not had if we were hiking alone.
After our time on the pass we began to make the long descent down. It was a long way and my feet and tips of my toes were throbbing by the time we reached our next camp. What was really remarkable about the trail was the geographic diversity and the change in climate. On the second day we went from high altitude mountains and glaciers all the way down into the jungle and the Amazon rainforest. Although this hike was long, the volcano we climbed in Guatemala still has first place for the most difficult physical thing I have ever done.
We finally reached our camp and Brendan had a disappointing shower for 10 sols. It was supposed to be hot water, but it was actually a cold trickle. Tired and irritated, he made it to dinner and another great meal helped him relax so we became ready for bed relieved the most difficult part of the trek was behind us. This second camp was not as nice as the first one. We slept in open door wooden shelters and had no protection from the insects of the jungle. We had to kill several very ugly looking spiders before we crawled in our sleeping bags. They were big and black with bright colored patterns on their back that looked like you did not want to be bitten by. I crawled into my sleeping bag with my bug repellent stuff and zipped it completely up so the spiders hopefully couldn’t get in. I was again reminded that I don’t know how much of a “jungle” person I am. At this point, my sinuses were completely plugged up for the last three nights due to my head cold. It was hard to breath and made sleep difficult despite being exhausted from the hike. Luckily tomorrow we get to sleep in until 5:30am.