By: Tamar GloubermanWhen Brian asked me to price out flights to Lima, I was pretty excited. After all, who wouldn’t want their boss to send them on a last minute trip to Peru? Especially when the trip involves trekking the little-known Salkantay Trail, which passes by spectacular glaciers, emerald green lakes, and cloud forests on the way to Peru’s most famous sight: Machu Picchu. But I’d be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t disheartened. You see, the first trip I worked for ROAM began with a rappel down a 100’ waterfall, and that was only the beginning of the excitement. In my trips and years that followed at ROAM I often experienced a lack of sleep and a lack of showers, but never a lack of adventure. Now I was faced with a trip that would entail several days of walking interrupted by stays at luxury backcountry lodges. A nice vacation definitely, but a ROAM style adventure? I wasn’t sure. It all seemed so easy. Was ROAM getting too soft?
I needn’t have worried.
I arrived in Cusco on a Sunday, and was contacted by Miguel, our Peruvian guide, who informed me the farmers in the Sacred Valley were planning a strike. He said if we left early Monday morning – after the guests had arrived – we’d have time to see most of the sights on the itinerary for that day, plus squeeze in a visit to the ruins of Ollyantaytambo. We’d then spend Tuesday close to the hotel and by Wednesday, the strike would be over, allowing us to return to Cusco before starting our trek on Thursday morning. The plan seemed simple enough.
Monday morning: the plane the guests were booked on was canceled.
When they arrived, several hours late, we hit the road and saw some great stuff, but we were too late to drive to Ollyantaytambo. So, after the strike began on Tuesday morning, we walked there. The 8 km stroll proved to be an interesting way to see the Sacred Valley, as well as a good introductory lesson in rustic road block construction. Ollyantaytambo is a pretty little town, and the surrounding ruins were almost deserted due to the strike. Walking back to the hotel late that afternoon, we marveled at how much the roadblocks had grown, and wondered how they would be cleared by the next morning.
They weren’t. However, we were told the roads would probably be cleared by the afternoon. We went for a hike.
When we returned, the roads were still blocked. We enjoyed a leisurely late-lunch. Later, after the guests had left the dining room, Miguel and I had a chat. Phone calls ensued. By nightfall, Hector arrived. Hector is a driver who won’t soon be forgotten. He made our soccer-mom-style mini-van seem like the Batmobile. As we snuck through alleys with the headlights off, I wondered if, perhaps, I’d been overly insistent on leaving. Perhaps another night at our luxurious and safe hotel wouldn’t have been such a bad option. But soon, we were caught up in the excitement of last second swerving around rock piles. We crossed a bridge mainly used for pedestrians, barely fitting under the maximum height bar, and blatantly pretending not to notice the maximum weight sign.
We twisted our way up unpaved mountain roads, stopping for the rare vehicle traveling in the opposite direction, so that the drivers could inform each other of what was in store. We met a frantic family – strikers had hurled rocks at their car. They warned us not to continue, but we did, assuring them they would encounter no such problems going the other way. We passed through the area they had warned us about without incident and continued on for quite a distance, until we arrived at a roadblock that couldn’t be swerved around. In seconds we were out of the van, enthusiastically rolling boulders. I should add that, based on what little information we had, we actually agreed with the farmers - who recently lost their rights to free water - but sometimes, the excitement of adventure gets in the way of politics. Then we heard voices. People were yelling at us from the shadows. My knowledge of the Quechua language consists of less than a dozen words, but even I could tell they were threatening us. We quickly piled back into the van, having cleared enough rocks for Hector to navigate through. The yelling continued. Hector stopped and stuck his head out the window. I don’t know what he said, but the yelling ceased and no rocks were thrown.
The following day we trekked to the first lodge. As the views changed from the patchwork of farmlands to the glaciers of Humantay and Salkantay, we saw the lodge nestled in a beautiful valley. The staff greeted us with mugs of coca tea. Locals say the tea helps with altitude sickness. I don’t know whether or not that’s true, but we all drank it and no one got sick. After our tea we had a lesson in Pisco Sour making. It’s the most popular cocktail in Peru and that combined with a hot tub and the high altitude can make stiff muscles, or most any other problem, quickly disappear.
We were at 12 700’. The plan was to spend two nights at that lodge adjusting to the altitude. During our acclimatization period we hiked to a beautiful turquoise lake at the foot of the Humantay Glacier. From there we left the trail behind, hiking up to a nearby ridge with an incredible view. I’ve been spoiled in my life when it comes to beautiful alpine scenery, but I was still awed by the rugged splendor that surrounded us.
We rose early the next morning. I don’t know how many hours it took, but it seemed like every turn was more beautiful. We came around a corner and Miguel pointed up the trail to the left, where we could see almost to the highest point. He then suggested we hike up to our right. Always ready for a bit of off-trail adventure, we agreed. After a steep climb and a scramble along the rather sharp ridgeline we reached a point where we could see the main trail again, which was when we realized we were looking down at the highest point on the pass. After all the worry about getting to 15,300’, we’d surpassed it without even realizing it. We built celebrational cairns and took photos until some bad weather started closing in on us. There’s something great about being high up in the Andes, off the trail, and being sleeted on. I’ve never seen or read Alive, but I still found myself thinking about it.
We made it down to the trail, took some photos at a sign marking the altitude and started back down. An hour later, we were happily eating wine-poached pears by the side of the trail.
The following days took us through several incredible bio-zones. Along the way we heard of another strike being planned. We were told it wouldn’t affect us and we carried on. On the last day of the trek, we hiked the Llactapata Trail. From a high point on the trail we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu – it was incredible. After that our plan was to hike to the valley and take a half hour train ride to Aguas Caliente - the town at the base of Machu Picchu. We were enjoying a leisurely descent down the steep mountainside, when Freddy, the assistant chef, met us with news: the strike was starting a day early. The train would not be running. We’d have to walk the rest of the way. We picked up the pace.
During the trip, Jeff, Tammy, Louise and I had spoken about how great it was to trek the Salkantay Trail as opposed to the Inca Trail. The Salkantay has a broader range of scenery, gets you higher up, and while 500 people a day start off on the Inca Trail, on the Salkantay we only saw a handful of other trekkers. To us, the only advantage of the Inca Trail, was the fact that you could walk right to Machu Picchu, instead of having to take a train for the last leg. And now here we were walking to Aguas Caliente - not quite Machu Picchu, but close enough. We arrived in the dark, with tired feet and grinning faces.
Machu Picchu was more incredible than I ever expected. It was relatively quiet due to the strike and we got to hike Waynapichu – the mountain that looms over Machu Picchu. It’s a special hike; up steep stairs the Incas built hundreds of years ago –long before there was any kind of building code regulating stair height. As I took in the spectacular view, it occurred to me and that even with trailside poached pears and nightly chocolates on our pillows, this ROAM trip had once again proved to be a real adventure.To see a photo album of this trip, click here
Other Recent ROAM Trips In Brief
This Spring saw several exciting trips to Ecuador and the Galapagos; lots of good biking, hiking, surfing and snorkeling with sea lions, turtles and sharks. Brian led ROAM’s inaugural Route of the Sun trip along Ecuador’s coast. Many of the participants say they enjoyed it even more than
the Galapagos. I haven’t done that exact trip, but I did love spending time on the Ecuador coast; people are friendly and the combination of warm water, beach breaks and no crowds, makes for a great place to learn to surf.The river trip season is off to a good start: everyone had a great time on the year’s first Chilko trip. Due to high water, our regular take-out no longer had an eddy, so Brian found a new take-out. This new spot led to Mark practicing his row-like-hell skills (luckily after so many Klinaklini trips those skills are solid), and to Brian practicing his backing-a-heavy-trailer-down-a-steep-hill-in-a-full-skid skills (those skills also proved to be solid as ever.)
As I write this we have trips out on the Firth and a Chilko and there are a whole variety of trips planned for the summer, so check back here soon for more ROAM news.
