Special Feature - Choquequirao Hike!

Since I had so many photos from our hiking trip, I decided to just put them in a separate post! Check out the other post for the full weekly update.

Hike Summary

Choquequirao is a set of Incan ruins (similar to Machu Picchu) that is only accessible by a 2 day hike one way. It is fairly difficult, although it is not super remote as there are villages along the trail. However, due to the difficult access, it is much less busy and controlled than Machu Picchu which is why we decided to go explore these ruins instead.

Day 1:

To start, we took a collectivo (shared taxi) from Cusco to another town about 5 hours away, however we asked the driver to drop us at the side of the highway about 3/4 of the way.

Next, we got a taxi from the highway about 2 hours in to the trailhead. In this taxi, we met this amazing Peruvian couple, Franco and Yoana. They didn't speak english at all, so we had to communicate only using broken spanish and hand signals. 

We stayed the night at these nice huts at the trailhead which had some stunning views of the valley below. 

Day 2:

We started hiking at 5am, and were immediately rewarded with some stunning views of a massive valley (which we had to go across). The Andes have a very different feel from the Rocky Mountains, so it was neat getting to see some different looking mountains!

There were also lots of cacti and huge spikey plants! Our new friend Franco knew a ton about the local plants, especially which ones were edible. He kept picking random plants and handing them to us, saying "comida, comida!", meaning "food, food!". 

We stopped at the first village for a quick breakfast before continuing. 

The hike for the day was across a valley, about 16km total. The brutal part was the elevation change; we had to go almost 2000m down, and then back up the other side! As the afternoon sun came out, the climb up began to wear on us.

On the way up, Franco found us some passionfruit in the forest that we had for a quick snack!

Finally, we arrived at Marampata, the village where we were staying the night. 

Day 3:

The day started super early again with some breakfast, then we set off for the ruins.

The ruins were magical in the morning fog. It truly felt like a "city in the clouds". 

We spent the day exploring the ruins, and checking out the different views.

Then, we hiked back to the same village for the night to rest before our hike back. 

Day 4:

We were up early again for our hike back. It was a long day of hiking back across the valley. 

Once we got back to the trailhead, we had to find our way back to Cusco. We found a different couple who had already hailed a taxi to the next village, so we hopped in with them. 

This was one of the craziest drives, we were on a tiny dirt road cut into the side of a mountain. The taxi driver had brought his friend, so when he discovered he had 4 passengers instead of 2, his friend just hopped in the trunk. The driver had to pull a U turn on this mountain road, so with a cliff drop behind him, he would start to reverse until his friend in the trunk started yelling. Then he would pull forward a bit, and repeat. It was about a 7 or 9 point turn and each time he backed up I thought for sure we were going off the cliff. 

Then, as we pulled into the next village, the taxi driver rolled down the window and started yelling to this guy who was sitting in a park. They had a quick conversation, then he turned to us and said that the guy in the park would take us to the next village. So, we grabbed our bags and hopped in with him. 

As we were driving, our new driver made a quick phone call, and then he told us that he got his brother who was in the next town to drive us back to Cusco. However, after a few minutes his brother called back and said he changed his mind. Instead, the driver took us to this other guy he knew who would take us to Cusco. So, we grabbed our bags again, strapped them to the roof of a third car, and hopped in for the final leg of the journey. 

We got back in Cusco around dinnertime, ready to sleep. However, we decided to quickly go and find some food, so I threw on some socks and crocs, and we went out. As we were on the way back to the hostel to sleep (literally 1 block away), our new friends Franco and Yoana texted, inivting us for drinks. "We will just go quickly to say bye", we said. 

Turns out Franco and Yoana were at a local salsa club with live music. This wasn't a tourist spot, everything was in Spanish and everyone there were locals. They got us drinks and tried to teach us to dance. Cam is really good at salsa. I am not. Thankfully Yoana was a very patient partner/teacher as she slowly showed me the steps. And so, after getting up at 4:50am, hiking for 8 hours, and 3 different car rides, I found myself completely exhausted but having fun salsa dancing past midnight with our new friends. In my socks and crocs.