Lares Trek

I have to be honest and say that after the Colca Canyon trek I was a little "apprehensive" about doing the Lares trek. Would my legs and body be able to handle the grueling task of a 42 km trek??? How could I manage without proper toilets or showers for 3 days????
A few days before the trek we attended our group meeting which was designed to explain the trek to us, meet our fellow trekkers and meet our guides. We were a group of 11 people and our guide introduced himself to us as "Puma". He went over the schedule and explained to us in detail all that would be happening over the next few days. Puma told us that we would be known as "the family".... and over the entire trek that is exactly what he referred to us as.

Over the next 3 days the Lares Trek did not dissapoint. We started this trek not having a clue what to expect, but everything we experienced and saw will be remembered for the rest of my life. We were so small compared to the huge mountains continuing as far as the eye could see. We never once crossed the path of another trekking group, it was as if the "family" were the only people on earth... except the groups of Alpaca´s or LLama´s that we would pass grazing in the grass. Sometimes in the distance we could see the children running up the mountains to come and greet us. During the trek we able to meet local Andean children and see the villages where they lived and went to school. Meeting the children was an amazing experience, we brought crayons to give to them. Their faces would light up with a priceless smile, something that will never be forgotten.

The staff that accompanied us on the trek consisted of 1 guide (Puma), 1 assistant guide, 1 cook, 1 assistant cook, 1 general assisstant and 4 horsemen (including the emergency mule that followed us the entire journey) Without them it would have been impossible, the staff would set up and take down our tents and the mules would carry our belongings and food. Everyday the staff would stay at the camp sites after we left to clean up then "wizz" by us on the trek to get to the next site in time to set up or prepare food.

"COCA POWER"
Coca is used by the local people to make the altitude easier on the body. People drink it as tea, or chew on it. So on our first day as promised our trusted local guide Puma demonstrated for us how coca is correctly chewed.
"Pick out about 5 good leaves and fold in half. Rip off the stem with your
teeth and chew up the leaves then place it in the side of your mouth. Now
repeat until your cheeks are full. Then add a little of the catalyst into the
pile inside your cheek! When the numbness goes away, Repeat!"

Anytime we would start to do a high pass we would stop to do "coca power" which supposably helped us climb the steep passes.
NOTE: Cataylist was black gummy paste that was made of ash of many different things. Tasted like DIRT and was gross!


"THE FAMILY"
We were so lucky to have the diverse group of people that we did on our trek. At the briefing when Puma called us a "family" we looked aound at each other, 11 strangers not knowing what to expect over the next few days. But during our trek we truly did become "the family" as Puma had predicted. I think after a life changing experience like trekking 42kms through the mountains and experiencing what we did together there is no other outcome than to become a "family."

**special thanks to my fellow slow trekker Paz, having someone to bring up the rear with was so helpful and without her encouragement I probably wouldn´t have conquered Huayna Picchu at Macchu Picchu.

Day 1:
Depart Cusco at 5:20am by private bus to Calca (a local market) No other gringo´s there other than us. Puma told us to buy bags of coca with catalyst and any other produce that we wanted as snacks for the trek. We ate at a VERY local stall for breakfast, and drank some coca tea. By bus we drove to Quishuariani where the trek began!!!!

We walked over our first pass of 4200m (13850ft)which would be the 2nd highest for the entire trek. We passed by a lagoon and entire time snow capped mountains were in the distance. The scenery was spectacular and it was hard to take it all in. (Imagine Frodo and the hobbits walking through Middle Earth) After arriving at Cuncani we ate our lunch then walked to our camp site at Vicabamba where we ate a delicious dinner and spent our first night!

Day 2:
After a cold night spent in tents we were awoken to our assisstant guide and cook offering us tea in our tents. (Nice way to wake up!) We knew that today would be the toughest day of the entire trek with 2 passes of 4100m (13500 ft) and 4500m (14850ft) Thanks to Coca Power we were able to complete the passes safe and sound, though I must admit that the 2nd pass was pretty difficult. The air is thin due to the high altitude which makes it difficult to catch your breath. What normally would be easy to do, becomes so much more difficult with the altitude. We were fortunate that day to get invited into a local Andean women´s home to see how she lives. She had plenty of loose guinea pigs in her house, when one gets fat it becomes dinner! This was a great experience because we were able to get a glimpse into a life that we would normally know nothing about. After thanking her with some coca leaves, we continued with our trek. That night we set up camp at Ipsaycocha

Day 3:
After our morning tea in the tent... we got out to find a covering of frost on the ground and our tents. Brrrrr! After a nice hearty breakfast we started our 3rd day of the trek, knowing that it would be the shortest of all the other days! After only 2 hours we reached Patacancha where we took a bus to Ollantaytambo where we ate lunch then took a train to Aguas Calientes to our hotel. (With HOT showers and a BED) How wonderful!!!!

~Nicola

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Machu Picchu & the Lares Trek