Cusco & Rainbow Mountain (Days 8-9)

Day 8 – Cusco - Rest Day!

Just a quick shot from yesterday looking back at Machu Picchu Mountain - we went to that tippy top

Our first rest day since we got here!  We slept until about 8am, had breakfast, and made our way out by 10:45.  Ironically, the Swiss couple was staying at the hotel right across the street from us and they walked out their front door at the exact moment we did so we had another chance to say goodbye.  Side note - we call that a "small world" encounter.  We were told that here, they say "The world is a handkerchief" (loose English translation) because handkerchiefs are small... 

Before Cusco, a bit about our hotel – we didn’t see much last night as we had to ring a doorbell and walked into a cold, dark, gothic enclosed courtyard area.  In the light, the hotel proved to be beautifully ornate.  We spoke to an employee who told us that it had been a bishop’s residence many years ago.  When the building was recently restored, the owner had tried to keep it as true to original as possible – that included stone steps, intricate and elaborate wood carvings, and moldings everywhere, and velvet furniture.  Everything was a bit uneven, so lots of tripping hazards, but overall, cool.  The employee took us to a few other empty rooms to show us the views from the balconies, which gave us the opportunity to see the neighborhood from above.

Hotel "lobby"

Our first stop today was the ChocoMuseo, where we signed up for a chocolate making class.  Twelve of us crammed around a table in our aprons and chef hats and learned about chocolate making.  We started with the beans, roasted them, learned how to say “I love you” to the beans in Quechuan (old Peruvian language), peeled the beans (harder than you’d think), then had a bean smashing contest to see who could turn it into paste the fastest (we came in second).  The pasty stuff was then combined into a bowl, and we made a weird tea out of it by pouring in boiling water, honey and chili powder.  Overall, it was tasty, but as we are not professional bean smashers, it was a bit chewy.  We took the rest of the paste and poured hot milk over it and added cinnamon and cloves.  Again, tasty, but the chunks sort of got stuck in your teeth. 

My chocolate making attire

Damon trying to shell cocoa beans.  Not very good at it.

Our chocolate lolly prize for a 2nd place bean smooshing contest

Thankfully, we did not actually make chocolate out of the crap smashed beans that we produced, but rather we were given professionally made chocolate and we each got to pour molds and decorate them with everything from M&Ms to Oreos to salt, marshmallows, peanuts, puffed quinoa, and more.  After class, we visited the chocolate making area – they called it a factory, but it was 3 small rooms where they make the chocolate, filled molds and wrapped the candy, which they sell in the store.

White chocolate is made of up zero actual chocolate

With chocolate cravings fulfilled, we wandered around Cusco exploring.  There are squares and churches every other block.  The main square is Plaza de Armas and walking through it means getting accosted by a million vendors.  We wandered up and down some of the small, narrow cobblestone streets where the vendor accosting was (only slightly) lessoned.  We made our way to the San Pedro market, an indoor/outdoor shopping area where you can buy anything – it seemed to be focused mainly on food – butchers, spices, tons of fruits and vegetables.  One thing I can say about Peru is that they have an abundance of amazing fruits and veges.

Cusco Street

One of the many churches on the square

Damon with his obligatory churro in front of San Pedro Market

One of MANY fruit/juice vendors

We headed back to the main plaza for lunch, picked up our now cooled chocolates, and headed back to the hotel for napping and relaxing.  There was a nice restaurant at the end of our block where we went for dinner and then headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  Big day tomorrow!

Day 9 – Rainbow Mountain

Our activity today is a hike to the Rainbow Mountain, aka la montana de siete colores (mountain of seven colors), made famous by Instagram and photoshop.  Rainbow Mountain is currently the 2^nd most visited tourist attraction after Machu Picchu, but it was only recently discovered when a glacier melted, revealing all the colors.  Tourism started in 2016.  Rainbow mountain ranks as a “difficult” hike even though it is only about 2.5 miles each way on a relatively flat trail with the last 20% of the hike with a steeper climb.  The challenge is that the hike starts at about a 15,000 foot elevation and ends just under 17,000 feet.  That is basically the same height as Everest base camp.  Hiking over 18,000 feet is considered dangerous without oxygen.  Needless to say, my 54-year-old moderately fit sea level living ass was completely freaked out.  I only slept about 3-4 hours and spent way too much time researching altitude sickness and death.  We woke up at 4:30 for a 5am pick up and I was very nervous.  Luckily, we had Luis and Luis again as our driver and tour guide.

We drove for about an hour and a half to a breakfast spot where we had a buffet breakfast in an open air restaurant.  Mornings in this area are cold – like 30’s cold – and another group had the only heater.  So, we sat in our winter gear while I drank hot tea and ate dry dollar pancakes.  Altitude and nervousness do impact appetite.  We left the restaurant and drove another hour on the “rough” road. 

The rough road is 38 kilometers of dirt mixed with rocks that runs through some small farming towns.  Parts of the drive were sad given the condition of how the people in these mountains live.  That was partially balanced by the beauty of the valley.  We got lucky with our tour because the mountain had been closed days earlier due to two villages fighting over the land rights to Rainbow Mountain and who gets  the tourist money.  Ultimately, they figured it out, but part of the agreement was that each village could charge a toll to the hundreds of tourist vehicles that used their road daily.  I was carefully monitoring the elevation and my breathing.  I felt okay by the time we got to the parking area, which seemed to be a good sign.

Luis had trekking poles for us and had oxygen in case of emergency.  We had an opportunity to use the toilets at the beginning of the trek – the toilets were 4-5 wooden port-o-potty type structures that had real porcelain toilets without seats or any flushing mechanism.  For one soles (about $.30), a woman would hand you a few squares of toilet paper and a receipt.  Yes, they do give receipts for the toilet.  Then she would run to a giant water container with a bucket and pour a bucket of water into the toilet, and let gravity do its work.  It was an interesting operation, but the toilets were not that bad all things considered.

We started the trek with a very short hike up a steep hill and we immediately felt it.  Luis used this opportunity to introduce us to his magic lung expanding potion – some concoction of fermented flowers.  He poured a little into our hands, we rubbed our hands together, cupped our hands over our nose and mouth, and then inhaled deeply 3-4 times.  The first one was a doozy.  It was like inhaling 100 proof eucalyptus and made us both cough, but the short-term effect was awesome.

Our motto on the hike was slow and steady.  We walked at a relatively consistent (slow) pace for a while, stopping now and then to catch our breath or de-layer as the temps started to climb.  Damon was doing great and was able to carry on a conversation with Luis.  I was entirely focused on breathing and putting one foot in front of another.  We could see the summit in the distance, and we could see the “ants” as Luis called them making the final trek to the top.  Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, this mountain is popular.  On average, they expect several thousand people a day to visit, so there were always people around.

Looking backward toward the start point

The valley we hiked next to was beautiful

For the less fit or less adventurous, the locals would take people up 80% of the mountain on a horse for $12.  There were men, women and children walking horses for the 2-mile journey.  Almost all were wearing traditional Peruvian outfits.  Some were in sandals and others had hiking boots on.  The women wore elaborate skirts and intricately woven hats.  The men were often in colorful vests and hats.  Once they dropped people at the top, they RAN back down the mountain to pick up another fare.  No joke, we were lapped by one guy about six times.

Horse lane and people lane.  Our destination, the small-ish pointy peak right in the middle.

As we hiked up, there were 2 pit stop areas with more rustic toilets and people selling their wares.  We were so concerned about bringing snacks with us, never occurred to us that we could pick up pringles and a Twix bar on the side of a mountain 15,000 feet up being sold by a Peruvian woman who made a stand/wind shelter out of rocks.  Also at the pit stops were picture opportunities – little kids with llamas (or alpacas, we still can’t tell the difference) all dolled up with sunglasses and other decorations.  For a small tip, we could take pictures with the llamapacas.

Llamapaca with shades

The closer we got to the summit, the more frequently I had to stop to catch my breath.  Sometimes, I could only go about 10-20 steps at a time because, of course, that last 20% was more damn stone steps. 

"Ants" on the hill.  Lots and lots of people.  We took steps (of course) to the left)

First real peek at the colors - not quite to the first viewing platform

The lower viewing platform was absolutely packed with people and some idiots with drones.  We thought it hilarious when an eagle targeted one of the drones for a takedown.  Many people stopped at the first viewing platform, but we had to go to the top top – another 50 feet up more stone steps and steep loosely packed sandy dirt.  It was worth it.  Not only from an accomplishment standpoint, but the view was indescribable and neither I nor my pictures nor Instagram can do it the justice it deserves.

One of my many many stops to catch my breath

Crowds at the lower platform

Breaking from the crowds, going higher

Rainbow Mountain was formed when different minerals (iron, copper & many others) erupted through the sea floor millions of years ago to create different colored layers.  To the naked eye, they were red, green, grey, yellowish, & blueish.  The lines are very distinct.  But the full beauty lies in a 360-degree view of the area.  Rainbow mountain is flanked by the Red Valley where the mountains are a bright rust color.  Then there is the valley with lush green colors.  Keep turning and you have more of the Andes Mountain range – black mountains and glaciers where the sun cannot reach them.  Keep turning for more mountains and glaciers and snowy peaks.  Absolutely breathtaking.  We were told that we were standing on the highest hikeable summit in the entire Andes Mountain range, so that was kind of cool. 

When you have a skilled photographer who can use your bodies to block almost everyone out!

Proof we made it to the summit (you had to hold the sign up) with some decorative llamapacas in the background

View in the other direction - snowy peak behind us

It was cold and windy at the top, so after taking about 600 pictures, we headed back.  The hike down was much easier and my heart was not exploding out of my chest, although we did still stop a few times to snack and take more pictures.  The locals were now running people back down the mountain and not to brag, but most of the passengers (both men and women) were way younger than me.  I’m feeling pretty good about us completing the whole hike on our own.  Luis was waiting for us, and we got back in the car for the hour drive back down the rough road.  Side note – not to diminish from our accomplishment, but it was a bit frustrating when we found dogs and llamapacas at the summit.  But, I guess they live at that altitude so running up and down is not that big of a deal…

Horses waiting for riders back down; typical dress for women

We stopped at our breakfast spot for lunch and with the weather much nicer during the day, we enjoyed fantastic views from the outside deck.  We made it back to the hotel about 4:30, showered, and went out for an early dinner.  And yes, we crashed into another sleep of the dead.  Our last night in Cusco.  Headed to our next adventure tomorrow.  Thankfully, Rainbow Mountain was our last major hiking experience because I am truly weary to the bone.

Lunch spot

Enjoying our first (well-deserved) Pisco Sours