After a 4 hour drive from Cusco, we were finally at the starting place just outside of Cachora. We ate a quick picnic lunch, and then we were off. There were a total of 5 of us in the group. One married couple (Kerryn and Ben) and three solo travelers (Emilie, Brad, and me).
NOTE: Click on each picture to see a larger image.
We couldn't have been more than 10 minutes into the hike when we heard a bunch of birds making noise. After getting a bit closer, we discovered a flock of green parakeets. We joked with our guide Arturo that we expected to see amazing wildlife every five minutes. He looked a bit worried until he realized we were joking.
The first couple of kilometers were fairly easy along a gravel road. There were a few gradual inclines, but essentially it was pretty flat.
We followed the road until we reached the newly constructed building at this curve. It will eventually be a ranger/passport check point for this trek.
After passing the house, the road turned more into a dirt and gravel trail that hugged the side of the mountain.
Then it began to descend towards the Apurimac River.
While we were hiking, the staff cleaned up our lunch and loaded up the mules. Here they finally caught up to us (and then passed us so they could set up the campsite).
Along the way, we were treated to gorgeous views of snow capped mountains.
The trail continued to hug the side of the mountain and descend. You can see the Apurimac River at the bottom of the canyon.
As we descended into the canyon, it got hotter and drier and the vegetation sparser.
Looking at the trail ahead of us. Luckily we took the bigger trail in the picture and not the steep set of switchbacks. We would do trails similar to those later.
With the switchbacks, we frequently got views that looked like we would fall off the end of the trail.
But the trail always turned and we never fell off.
Finally we reached camp near Chikisca. The crew was already there and had our tents set up and waiting for us. My knee was throbbing from the descent, so I took about 600 mg of ibuprofen a few minutes before tea time.
We all sat down to enjoy tea. I was famished and ate a bit too much of the wontons, popcorn and cookies.
My stomach was feeling a bit upset, so I took a short nap between tea and dinner. Still feeling overly full, I barely ate any dinner and had to add another layer of fleece because I was feeling chilled. Immediately after dinner, I ran to the bathroom and promptly threw up everything I ate. Not fun! For the rest of the night, I wore a path into the ground between my tent and the bathrooms, getting sick from one end or the other all night long.
Hiking Stats:
Distance: 16 km / 9.9 miles
Duration: 5 hours
Elevation gain: 250m / 820'
Elevation loss: 1200m / 3,936'
Camping at 1950m / 6,398'
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