Day 2: The Salkantay Pass, the big day

Well what can I say…it was a bloody long way. 

The alarm goes off at 5.15AM and we wake to beautiful morning sunshine and a good hearty breakfast to prepare us for our long trek, if you can call 1/2 an egg and a slice of bread hearty! We all set off very excited with fantastic views of Salkantay and the surrounding mountains….but let’s just say, the views and the ‘spirit’ did not last for long. We were expecting a fairly difficult ascent to an altitude of 4600m, but what we weren’t expecting was snow 😂 and despite our efforts of being prepared for all eventualities after hiring snazzy-gear from a shop in Cusco, conditions were rather challenging and rather frustrating given that the rain prediction for June is 0mm! As a result, I can’t tell you what the mountains looked like, because we didn’t see them 😳 but what we did get was cold, soaking wet and just a little tired after 20km of trudging up and down what we think was a mountain! Tristan also got what looked like trench-foot from his ‘waterproof’ hire shoes and was utterly ‘broken’ after a massive day. We encouraged both boys on the trek with the promise of a nice warm shower in the luxury accommodation at the end but in reality, the accommodation was a  basic wooden shack with just a trickle of luke -warm water 😳 and only a cold damp room to dry off our soaking wet clothes.

Let’s just say, not the best start to the 5-dayer but we ‘survived’, the 20km walk and live in hope for better weather tomorrow!