Down by the riverside

On the 3rd day, we arrived at camp, tired and very dirty. There was a river nearby so we went for a dip. I washed my hair in that river behind me and it was absolutely freezing!!
It was a really fast-flowing river, very clear and very cold.

Down the mountain

The camera is no good at perceiving depth, but these dirt tracks were very steep, very slippy and very close to a very big drop! Another woman that I met recently did the same trek this week and sadly on the third day one of the horses that was carrying the bags slipped on one of these tracks and fell to the river below and died. I can really see how that can happen, we were slipping all over the place and we were scared we'd go over the edge because it was hard to stop yourself once you started slipping.




This photo doesn't really show how beautiful it was there, but it was really idyllic.



This was the scene of our second camp site and a welcome change to the night before, sun-drenched grassy planes framed by mountains with the sound of the river running nearby. Perfect! And to top it off the amazing staff that did everything but wipe our bums for us, had already prepared a vat of peach juice for when we arrived!


We shared our second campsite with a variety of animals, but the chicks and the pigs were my favourites.

They're spooning! Aaaaw!

This is a shot of the hot pools that we visited in the afternoon after we arrived at camp on the 2nd day. Two natural hot-springs that offer the most unexpected pleasure, that in the middle of nowhere (there were no roads till the 4th day of the trek) you might have what feels like a hot bath....heaven. This is the view of the hot springs from the hillside opposite as we left on day three.

Passed Salkantay and beyond

After passing by Salkantay we walked on towards the never-ending horizon. This surely has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The proof of this is that I was silent, I walked for hours on my own not saying a word. It was perfect in its isolation and I disappeared.



This was where we camped the first night. This shot was taken the morning of the second day just as we were about to set off again. We got up in the dark and as you can see the ground was frozen over. I've never been that cold. I looked like a Michelin woman with all my layers on, but still I was frozen through and through. I can well understand how pre-incan and the incan civilisations worshipped the sun, it really feels like its breathing life back into you and the landscape when it rises in the morning.

As we walked on the second day it only took about half an hour to go from desolate mountain-side to lush green valleys, flourescent butterflies and fast-flowing rivers. It's such a varied landscape; mountains, dirt tracks, jungle, valleys, hot-springs...the list goes on....



My poor hat served me well on this trek. Walking in the mid-day sun I never got burnt once becasue of my trusty hat. Unfortunately, the perils of being packed in a back-pack every day were too much for it in the end and when I returned to Cusco it passed away. May it rest in peace x

The mighty Salkantay

This is the might Salkantay Glacier. I have never seen anything so spectacular and dumbfounding in my life. It is magnificent. I sat at the foot of this glacier as big clouds of mist floated by and I couldn't say anything. There were deep rumblings as you could here mini-avalanches, like it was stretching and moaning. I felt very small and very unimportant. It was impossible to take a picture of that scene, but I have some others here that give you some idea.












At the Salkantay pass it is traditional to build a pile of rocks as an offering to the God of Salkantay and make a wish. The bigger the wish, the bigger the pile. The whole place is full of little stone molehills.



I reached the pass after a long, long climb uphill and did the lion pose for Jackie




This is my little pile of stones....I made a wish, but its a secret.

The first day

There ain't no sun getting anywhere near me!

This is where we stopped for lunch on the first day. After a punishing hike uphill for what seemed like 3 hours, but was probably one, we walked over a bump and discovered this scene.....mountains,a small pond, a table, already laid, bowls to wash our hands in and the lunch already waiting for us. Hot soup and then quite an amazing dish with trout stuffed with herbs....I still have no idea how these chefs managed to make such delicious food, so quickly, in the wilderness, incredible! It was so surreal though, I said at the time that it felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland, sat at the mad-hatters tea party.

The very beginning of the Salkantay Trek

This is the bus that took us from Cusco to Sorraybamba where we started the trek. This was the first in a series of three 'death-buses' that we would take as part of the trek. An old bus travelling on steep mountain passes that are the same width as the bus and made up of dust and rabble. The driver, seemingly oblivious to the dangerous road conditions, drives like he's on the M6.....very life affirming.

The very beginning of the walking....I'm smiling...that's becasue I don't realise that I have to climb up the big bugger behind me.
It's so incredibly beautiful out there. I've never been anywhere so humbling because the scale of it is beyond comprehension. I thought Snowdonia was big. It's a molehill!
This was not just a picture postcard place, this landscape, all the ay along the trek was so immense and so striking that it hits some kind of emotion, maybe awe or maybe something to do with mortality, I don't know, but it was much more than nice to look at.

The Sacred Valley

In my first week in Cusco I did a tour of the sacred valley. This is an area in the county of Cusco, connecting four or five different towns with winding roads, breathtaking views and traditional Quechua life right carrying on right under your nose.

These photos was taken by an old chapel in a place called Chincherro.







I was a bit sneaky taking the picture on the right...bnut I like it.











Views that make your jaw drop open, like standing in a postcard but ...bigger!



Very posed, but I still like it....traditional Quechua dress





Traditional Quechua house with cuy (guinea pigs) inside and our guide who spent the whole day defending Peru and the inca empire against the LIES of our guidebooks! Scary wee man!



Proof that I was there.....my brain needs this evidence otherwise I don't believe it