Honestly the next couple of days of our trip were entirely in service of getting to and hiking up to see Rainbow Mountain. I feel it necessary to include excessive details, but you do not need to feel it necessary to read them. The Rainbow Mountain hike is on April 23 if you’re looking to jump ahead.
April 22 – Getting there …
The short version of this day is that we took our tourist van back to Arequipa, hopped a one-hour turbulent flight to Cusco, ate dinner, went to bed. Because, of course, tomorrow we get up at 4:15 (again!) to head out.
Today is the last day of my favourite driver of the trip, who’s name I forget. George, maybe? I’ll call him George. Because we were retracing our steps, we didn’t make many stops heading back to Arequipa, except at the same little pitstop cafe with the market. I felt MUCH better this time around, although I still ordered a Coca/Muna tea because it’s just so good. I also had more tolerance for browsing the market and so Jeff and I picked up a couple of nice alpaca shawls, although we would discover a “cashmere” tag on Jeff’s once we got home.
The most excitement on the trip back was when a vicuña darted out in front of the van. George SLAMMED on the brakes, we all slammed into the seats in front of us, and the vicuña wandered off unharmed. After a round of applause for George, we asked what would have happened if he’d actually hit it? Turns out, we were in a national park at that moment, and so he would have had to call the police to come and investigate, and he would probably have ended up being assessed as “at fault” and getting fined. We did ask the obvious next question and yes, outside the national park, you can run them over all you like for free.
April 23 Rainbow Mountain
4:15 BEEP BEEP BEEP and it’s another alarm clock wake-up. A restless half-night sleep is not the way to start your 5000 m high Rainbow Mountain hike, but I took comfort in the fact that we had a 4 hour bus ride when I presumed we could get a bit more sleep. Well, that didn’t pan out at all on account of the insane roads. Here was where the speed bump navigating really came into play (zoom up to a speed bump as fast as possible, slam on the brakes, bounce over, and repeat). Where there were no speed bumps, there were cattle guards and potholes. We got a break at 6:30 am when we stopped for a buffet breakfast.
After breakfast we were back on the road for another couple of hours, this time zigzagging our way 1500 m up the mountainside over roads that rivalled the County for their state of disrepair. But still we managed some great views along the way.
Some quick background on Rainbow Mountain (known as Vinicunca in Peru) before we embark on the hike.
The round trip hike I’m told is about 6-7 km. It starts at an elevation of 4700 m and finishes at either 4970 m or 5012 m (about 17,000 ft) depending on which viewing level you want to stop at. The elevation is not to be taken lightly. We have been at around 3600 m for 3 days now and at times as high as 5000 m and even so it’s easy to get winded or dizzy fairly quickly. For reference, Everest base camp sits at 5300 m. The sun is also not to be taken lightly, and even though it was very overcast, we lathered on the sunscreen.
Before starting on the hike, our guide, Lois ((?)), gave us all a bit of fluoride water, which you rub in your hands and then inhale (it’s beautiful!). This is tactic number 4 for dealing with the altitude after 1) acclimatising, 2) drinking coca tea, and 3) taking drugs.
As for the hike itself….
I read a few reviews in advance of the hike, and reviewers have alleged that without the elevation it is an “easy hike” and is a “flat sandy path until the final ascent”. These are lies, and I swear to god I am going to track these people down and punch them in the mouth. The hike was actually very hilly, undulating several times until we neared the end at which point it turned into a 3-way switchback across a pretty steep mountain face (important to note: this part is not the final ascent). This lower part of the hike at elevation was gruelling, taking a medium difficulty hike and turning it into an extremely difficult hike with a very real possibility of getting elevation sickness. There were horses and mopeds to carry people up who didn’t think they could make it, and a medical tent at the trailhead. We walked so slowly that my Apple Watch kept asking if I was “pausing” my walk. Why don’t you just suck it, Apple Watch. Let’s see you hike this thing.
Once you reach the top of the switchback, you are rewarded with an unexpectedly stunning closeup view of Vinicunca. It’s behind you at first and so some of us (me) needed to be told to turn around.
Aside for the Snack Friends: Think the Duomo from our patio in Florence.
At this lookout, we were at 4970 m and there is an optional additional peak that you can scale, this part more like a Grouse Grind staircase. It was very foggy with minimal chance of actually seeing anything but I’m not hiking my way to 30 m shy of 5000 and not continuing on! Funny, this section was more physically gruelling but didn’t seem to affect me as much elevation-wise. Ten minutes up and we were officially at an altitude of 5012 m!
The mountain is striated with bands of colours, like (you guessed it) a rainbow. The colours come from the following mineral deposits:
- Pink – red clay, mud, and sand
- White – quartz and sandstone
- Red – iron / oxidised clay from the Upper Tertiary period
- Green – clays rich in ferro magnesian
- Brown – mixture of rock with magnesium from the Quaternary period
- Mustard – sandstones rich in sulphurous minerals
- Lavender – mix of volcanic ash, marlstone, and manganese
One not-so-wonderful note about Vinicunca is that it used to be covered by a glacier, but that melted away in 2013. Humans suck so much.
Then it was the 4 hour trip back to Cusco, with another stop at the same restaurant for a lunch buffet.
April 24 – Cusco and a rare FREE DAY
Queue the overexcitement … Not only do we have a free day to sleep as long as we want and do whatever we choose in Cusco, we are leaving laundry with the hotel. Luxurious!
We spent our free day in Cusco doing what any good tourist would do – visiting churches and shopping.
First stop: Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun, was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. Then the Spanish came, stripped all the gold, knocked a bunch of it down, and built a Catholic Church on the remains. Bad news for the Spanish,though. Peru has had several major earthquakes in this area (I mean, the Andes mountains had to come from something!) and while the Incas seemed to understand and appreciate the power of earthquakes, the Spanish sadly did not. After a major earthquake in the 1600s, the Spanish constructions collapsed, but the ingenious Inca structures held. The Spanish rebuilt the church, and then in 1950 an earthquake happened again – and once again, goodbye Spanish church. Shame.
The Inca built walls that are slightly inclined and taper towards the top, from stone blocks carved with such precision that no mortar was used to hold the blocks together. And yet they withstood both major earthquakes. If only the Spanish thought to ask why they were designed in this way.
The Inca construction is even more amazing. First, they carved these stone blocks using carving tools that were also made from stone. Second, when touring the temple, it’s possible to differentiate between original Inca walls and reconstructions because the reconstructions all use cement or mortar. We just can’t build walls like the Inca could 500 years ago.
Cusco turns out to also be a shopping mecca, with stores and shops ranging from total junk to mid range quality products ideally priced to high end stores selling the previously mentioned $4,000 vicuña clothing. We did buy a few alpaca items from the mid-range stores, including a lovely embroidered pashmina. There also seems to be regular entertainment in the town squares – dancing and music – although it could also be because it’s Friday.
Jeff and I veered off from the group inn order to pay a visit to the highly desired Irish pub (“the highest fully Irish owned pub in the world”) and had a couple of pints of Peruvian beer. For lunch I had a latte and a very large piece of chocolate cake. I have no idea what I’m doing food-wise anymore.
Paul and Vanessa left us in Cusco, and so the 4 of us found our way to an intriguing looking restaurant and sought out a quiet corner only to find ourselves right next to some live music. After an initial panic this turned out to be quite lovely, a one-man-band playing a few popular (i.e. touristy) tunes on a guitar and a pan flute. For dinner, after avoiding it for several days, I finally tried alpaca which sadly was delicious.
One final thought about Cusco, and Peru frankly, is the stellar job they do with outdoor wiring.
