Salkantay Trek: Day 2

9/22/09 – 4:30am. Mt. Salkantay Base Camp. We wake up to Washington ripping open the door of our tent. Bissente, the chef,  pours us two steaming hot cups of tea. The scalding mug is a nice defense against the frigid mountain air rushing into our tent. It is common to drink coca tea while trekking in Peru not only because it gives you energy, but also because it helps with altitude sickness. Despite the potential benefits, I take one sip, almost gag and dump the rest out next to the tent. It tastes god awful. I looks and tastes like murky rain water scooped straight from a gutter, leaves and all, which is not my…uh…er…cup of tea.

At breakfast we continue last night´s discussion of who will actually climb Mt. Salkantay and who will chicken out and take a horse. Before bed, Washington scared half the group to death, describing how difficult, steep, long, blah, blah, blah the trail is and how the group won´t wait for people who fall behind. I don´t know about everyone else, but I didn´t come all the way to Peru to half ass the trek. Half the group, however, decides to throw down 100 soles (33 dollars) to catch a ride on a horse. Mike considers taking a horse since he had trouble the day before, but with a bit of jokes and chiding he musters up the strength to hike it.

We gather our gear and prepare for the varying climates ahead. The morning is brisk, the top of the mountain will be cold and the afternoon will warm up as we descend into jungle.

Some take horses…

The first mile is always the hardest. We steadily approach the mountain pass in a large group. It increasingly becomes harder to breath.

After about an hour we come to the hard part – a series of steep switchbacks. The group thins out and I maintain a pace of hiking two switchbacks, quick break and then continuing. Mike falls to the back of the pack as I watch him slowly traverse the mountain from above.

Passing lakes of cool glacial water…

Breathing is difficult and the temperature is dropping, but it doesn´t matter. Our bodies are exerting so much energy I could have worn a t-shirt and been hot. Towards the top, I can only continue for a few steps at a time before needing a quick rest.

There are a few longer breaks too.

Awwww yeaaaaaa! We make it to the top. Quite a motley crew – our group consists of people from Denmark, Spain, Poland, Brazil, France, England and, of course, the US. The asshole guy standing next to me in the pink shirt wasn´t even in our group, but jumped in our picture. He continued to randomly appear at break points for the remainder of our trek.

We descend the mountain and break for lunch in an open valley. Below is a picture of our chef, Bissente. After chowing down we all lay along the bank of the stream, resting our eyes, soaking our swollen feet and taking a siesta.

There are some things that can´t be put into words. The feeling of serenity, peace and isolation of the Salkantay trail is one of those things. The photos can do the talking.

A few more grueling hours and we finally make it to the campsite.

Before we eat dinner I play Philippa in backgammon, win and keep the title of Backgammon World Champion. There is a little shack next to our campsite that has one beer for sale. Marie buys it and shares it with all of us. After two days of hardcore trekking, feelings of self accomplishment mix with beer and create euphoria.

Later we kick back, lay in the grass, tired but happy, and doze off gazing into the horizon.

Up Next: Monkey Party!