¡TravelSickness!

This is the fifth and final part in a five-part series documenting our journey trekking the Salktantay Trek, from Mollepata to Aguas Calientes and eventually reaching Machu Picchu…

Day 5: Lucmabamba – Aguas Calientes

Start: 07:15 – Lucmabamba (2,250m)
POI: 10:30 – Pass (2,800m)
POI: 11:00 – Llactapata (2,500m)
POI: 14:45 – Hidro Electrica (2,050m)
End: 19:00 – Aguas Calientes (2,250m)

Summary: About a three hour, steep uphill trail along a beautiful Inca footpath to reach another pass at 2,900 meters, before descending slightly to the Inca ruins of Llactapata. From Llactapata, it was an even steeper descent to the river before reaching Hidro Electrica. From there it was a relatively easy (flat) and beautiful walk along the train tracks to reach Aguas Calientes, our final destination of the trek.

This day started way too early with rain waking us in our leaky tent not long after midnight. By 05:30 when it became light outside, we were wet enough and awake enough that we had to get up… We found some shelter under an overhang by the school, hung the sleeping bags to dry a little and had some breakfast.

After breakfast, I went to put my shoe on again and there was another very unwelcome surprise waiting for me: I felt the most painful sting just on the tip of my naked toe. I screamed and threw the shoe to the ground and was more than a little astonished to see a little brown scorpion come crawling out. Lena immediately started screaming and crying, and insisted that we go to the hospital. I tried to play it off like it was nothing, but honestly it hurt like hell! It put even the most painful yellow-jacket or hornet sting to shame. Soon my whole foot was quite numb and my toe was on fire. I was having trouble walking. Lena mentioned again the collectivo to Santa Teresa, but I still wasn’t ready to give up. By that point, she was more than ready to get out of the woods!

I took some photos of the scorpion for posterity sake (this was my first scorpion sting after all!) and caught it in a plastic bottle so if my foot started to turn black the paramedics could at least make a positive ID of the creature. I was later able to show him to some friendly locals who confirmed that yes, scorpions are dangerous (they sting), but that there was no danger of my foot falling off (or death) as was Lena’s concern.

07:15 – Lucmabamba: Everything packed (wet) we starting again on the trail, me hobbling slowly. Unfortunately, the trail from Lucmabamba to Llactapata began to climb. Not only did it climb, but it kept climbing, and then got steeper. After four days of walking, and a mostly sleepless night, this was really bad news. Our legs had already taken such a beating, I wasn’t sure if they could take it.

The trail itself was beautiful and followed an old Inca footpath, beautifully terraced and carved from the hillside. It was nice and wide, with occasional steps, winding around the edge of the mountain, giving great views of the Santa Teresa River valley. The higher we went, the more lush and moist the forest became; filled with thick vegetation and mossy trees. We had to stop to rest often and kept hoping the pass would appear around each curve. I was getting worried because I could tell if it didn’t come soon, Lena would really lost it.

10:30 – The Pass: Finally, after more than three hours of constant uphill struggle, the trail turned to the east and leveled slightly. We came into a very thick, mossy forest and after another 20 minutes began to descend again. Suddenly on the left side of the trail through a hole in the canopy, the ancient city of Machu Picchu came into view across the valley. This was a huge surprise and just the momentum we needed to push further to Llactapata.

11:00 – Llactapata: At that point, I remember turning a corner in the trail and saying something like, “I think I see a house through the trees.” We came around a bend and into a grassy meadow- We had walked directly into the ruins, and framed perfectly in the empty stone doorway was Machu Picchu, high in the mountains on the other side of the valley! It was beautiful, and such and unexpected view… We were all alone there experiencing these ancient sites in a way I think few visitors ever do.

We ate lunch on the grass of the terrace in front of the ruins and marveled at the spectacular view for a while, before continuing down the trail towards La Hidro Electrica where we hoped to catch the train to Aguas Calientes. The trail down was steep and slipery. As steep as the trail up had been, this one was even worse. The farther we went, the steeper it became, plunging into endless zig-zags down towards the river below.

14:45 – Hidro Electrica: We finally made it down to the river after about two hours. Another 20 minutes from the bridge brought us to the Hidro Electrica, and we were pretty relived to find that the train was there waiting. We had just about a half hour before the train was scheduled to leave that would take us to Aguas Calientes and save us the last three hours of walking. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the station, there was another surprise: Instead of $8, the tickets were $18 which would have really broken the budget. After some debate as to weather we would have to walk after all, I finally decided that we would just splurge and treat ourselves to a nice train ride. After 5 days of walking, we were tired and we needed it.

So I went back to the ticket counter, money in hand ready to buy the tickets, but was instead in for yet another unpleasant surprise: Now I was being told that ticket sales stop 1/2 hour before the train is scheduled to leave! This was one very important fact that they had simply neglected to inform us about when we arrived about 45 minutes before the departure, and then stood around discussing it like idiots for 15 minutes only to find out it was now too late! To make matters even more frustrating, we found out that there was actually another train leaving later that afternoon, however for some not understood reason (by either us OR the Peruvians), this train was for Peruvian Nationals ONLY and did not take tourists. Usually Peruvians are pretty quick to take money for just about anything (especially from two stranded gringos) but for some reason there was no budging on this one: We would have to walk the last 9 kilometers down the tracks to Aguas Calientes.

The walk was grueling, tiring, and towards the end- really painful. It really finished off our already tired legs and nearly broke my back. On fresh legs it wouldn’t have been so bad, but in our condition it was really torture. If we had been able to appreciate it (we weren’t!), the trail itself is beautiful. It follows the Vilcanota River through lush tropical forest and towering green mountain peaks. At several points along the trail there ware views of Machu Picchu and other ancient ruins on the mountain tops. At the moment, we scarcely noticed them- We were intent only on arriving to Aguas and (with some luck) having a hot shower that night.

19:00 – Aguas Calientes: We finally did arrive after more than three hours, well after dark, completely worn out and broken. Torwards the end, we had been stopping every 15 minutes or so, our backs were in so much pain… We arrived in sort of an exhausted delirium, found a cheap hotel, and were lucky enough to have a semi-warm shower before falling into a very deep sleep.

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Aguas Calientes, Andes, Hidro Electrica, Hike, Hiking, Llactapata, Mountain, Peru, Salkantay, South America, Trek, Trekking