2014_09_19 Trek Day 3 - Salkantay to Wayra Lodge

THAT was the hardest thing I have ever done.  How’s that for an opening statement?  

This was the day they we hall have been looking forward to with a degree of anticipation/dread ever since we saw the itinerary.  Let’s awl for 9 hours from 12.690 feet to the Salkantay Pass 15,213 feet and then back d o w n to the Wayra Lodge at 12,812 feet.  We’re not gutting any younger you know.  Throw in Connie flat on her back for the 2 days prior and me with my second bout of altitude sickness .  Wondering if we would be able to do it was high on my mind.

Luckily, after a good night’s sleep (the previous night I hardly slept at all we were up REAL early (5:30) to guarantee that we had a chance to finish before dark!  Had a kind of rushed breakfast the 6 “slow” walkers (us) assembled outside with Ricardo as our guide for the start at 6:45.  The other 6 “fast” walkers got to sleep a bit more and left around 8.00.  We're going up there!

We had a horseman following us with the 911 horses (in an emergency you could ride one of the 2 horses.  He also carried extra water and anything that we wanted him to carry for us during the trip. I think his name is S Stanislav.

The day cooperated with clear skies so we had magnificent views for both Mount Salkanty and Mount Humanty for almost the entire day!  Most of the time the clouds come in and block your view.  Here is Mount Salkantay right in front of us.

We headed slowly upwards on really rocky paths (more on that later) until we reached Salkanty Pampa where a family has a small house and a place to sell souvenirs.  I bought what will become a keychain when we get home, a woven string with a ball of multi-colored wool at the base.  We attached it to our backpack for decoration and good luck. Connie and Bobi did a coca ceremony asking the mountain for permission to allow us to finish the trek.  Crumbled up the coca leaves and tossed them to the 4 winds.

We eventually got to the hardest part - a series of 14 switchbacks that went up quite steeply.  It was so hard for me to catch my breath at that altitude that I pretty much tried to walk 20 steps and stop to breath.  Mostly doubled over at the waist.  Yes, it was that hard.  The only thing to combat the high altitude was water - LOTS of water.  I think I had 4 liters over the day.

After the switchbacks we had to climb ONLY another 482 feet to the Salkantay Pass.  It was real hard - at that altitude you are struggling. I had to give the 911 horse my backpack for the last little bit up.  

Here are Connie and I at the Salkantay Pass - we did it!

Here is all six of us at the pass.

Now we started d o w n on trails that were covered with stones in varying sizes.  You really had to concentrate where you were putting your feet down on every step.  After what seemed forever we arrived at Icuhpata where there are permanent tents set up and chefs are there to prepare your “lunch”  I think we got there around 3:00 and nobody was really too hungry.  We sat inside in some low rider chairs and I for one was almost falling asleep every 2 minutes or so.  We had some really delicious cream of corn soup and a little bit of pasta.  Connie had earlier joked that because we got there so late it might be “No soup for you”.  They had 2 really nice bathroom tents that the girls were glad to use.  The boys had been using the bathroom rocks all day!

The final push to Wayra Lodge (Huayraccmachy in Quechwa) was again “only” 987 feet down but it seemed to take forever.  You could see the lodge off in the distance all the time and it seemed to never get closer!  Connie twisted her ankle on one of those stones I was talking about and was really mad.  She is so careful that it pissed her off.  She was able to walk it off but I am sure it will be sore in the morning.

Finally, after ELEVEN HOURS we got to the lodge a few minutes before it was totally dark.  I am sure that we set the record for the slowest walk to Wayra!  Rich Rediker said he wanted a plaque and Connie said that they must admire our fortitude.  We were all pretty proud of ourselves to have done it without having to ride a horse.  The thing is:  WE DID IT!.

We were shown to our room and dinner was set back a bit to allow ourselves to recover a bit.  Connie an I lay down on the bed and after a few seconds we knew we had to get up or that was it for the night.  We made it to the jacuzzi where we took a soak for a while in a really hot tub.  Little did we realize because it was dark but the jacuzzi is open to the sky and there are incredible views of the mountains around the lodge.

Had a nice dinner and the guides had the staff prepare 2 birthday cakes for 2 of the fast walkers.  Halla and J were celebrating their birthdays and we had great fun singing to them in English, Spanish and Arabic (Halla is from Jordan) so she sang to herself to let us hear what it sounds like in Arabic!  Pretty cool!

We had a briefing about tomorrow’s day - we get to sleep in a bit with a 9:00 departure down into the cloud forest with warming temps.  The day will only be a 4 hour trek - almost all of it downhill to Colpa Lodge.  Orchids are the star of the show at Colpa Lodge.