Ausangate

When B and I arrived in Cusco we were planning on taking a week out to hike the Salkantay trail up to Machu Picchu. At the SAE Club, someone told us to wait a few days and their guide would come in and try to set up a trip with us. He came with some amazing recommendations, so we stuck around town for a few more days so we could talk to him. It so happened that when we got to the SAE club that Thursday, another couple was waiting for him as well. They had beend oing some research and had it in their minds to go to Ausengate, one of the Inca´s most sacred mountains, over 17,000 ft. high,in the Andes. I´d never heard of it, but it sounded like an amazing trek and Brad and I were on board.
We took a bus with our guide, Miguel, 5 hours to the town of Tinke, where we met the horsema, Alberto, and cook, Domingo (luxery camping:). They remained with us the next 5 days, strapping our supplies to the pack horses every day, setting up the kitchen tent for our meals, and making sure we had everything we needed.
¨Warm clothes! You need warm clothes!¨Miguel kept telling us before we left, but that first day, hiking the easiest part of our trek up the green rolling hills, we were in t-shirts and I had to roll up my pants to stay cool. Though the trail that first day wouldn´t be considered particularly hard, every step uphill left us winded from the altitude.

The trail went like this: We follow a trail that winds around the majestic Ausangate, through the remote little alpaca ranches run by Quechuan families. We have 4 passes to hike up, each one leading us into a new mountain terrain.

We stop for lunch, and Domingo has set up shot next to an old mudbrick house and it cooking up astorm, Alberto has set up a table and chairs for us and it helping Alberto, cahtting in Quechua and listening to the local radio station (the both keep little radios around their necks the whole trip-as do all the locals, listening to the local music and Cusco news)
After lunch the weather turns from blue skies to grey and it begins to hail, then snow! We are prepared for the cold and wet and bundle into our snow pants and jackets, hiking silently through the snow.
Everyday the weather is the same. We get up in the morning, hike under blue skies and fantastic views, and then after lunch, bundle up as it begins to snow. The horses don´t seem to mind though they wander off and Alberto has to go running after them through the snow in his rubber sandals (he wore them in rain, snow and hail, never took them off, and NEVER got cold!)
Miguel knew a lot of the history around the Ausengate, and was full of stories and information. The mountain itself is the most sacred mountain of 3, to the Incas. It was said to carry a lot of power, and it is truly a beautiful sight ot behold, jagged black peaks blanketed with snow and ice that carves deep pools and rivers into the grasslands. The alpacas roam here, the llamas prefer to stay higher up on the mountains, and we see little viscachas (andean rabbits) and once we even see a herd of vucunas (deer related to alpacas) eating grass above us on the hill.
Every pass we make is a triumph as the altitude makes breathing so hard. I´m out of shape and find myself huffing and weazing up hte mountains, only to forget about the pain as a view of hte next emerald valley splashed with aquamarine lakes opens before me. The nights are icy, but Miguel knows this area well and provides us with some awesome equipment...including, probably the best of them all...the ¨Sh@#! ter Tent¨as we called it - a little tent covering a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom...which saved us having to bare it all in the snow!
We´re lucky to have been paired up with Mike and Marisa-the other couple- because they don´t complain, tough out the hard parts, and relish the beautiful scenery as much as we do! They are also pretty hilarious, and in our diliriousness from the hiking and altitude we crack up a lot.
It was pretty spectacular...Peru has surprised me in so many ways. There is so much diversity in it´s land and people, from the driest deserts, to the highest montains, to rainforest, and canyons...Next stop...Machu Picchu!!