Our South America Adventure - Day 6 Rainbow Mountain

We had our earliest start today. We left the hotel at 4am. After our long day yesterday, we started out today tired. Today we are scheduled to hike Mount Vinicunca to see Rainbow Mountain. To get there you have to drive for a couple of hours from Cusco. We would have liked to sleep on the drive, but between the bumpy and curving roads and the many speed bumps, it was quite difficult. 

As we neared the start of the hike we left the paved road and drove on a dirt road. We began to pass through the communities near the mountain. In one of these communities, our van was flagged down by a security person. Luis and our driver got out and had a heated conversation in Quechua. After what seemed like forever they allowed us to proceed. Luis had told us there could be issues and that we may need to pivot and do another hike. As we hiked Luis told us more about the issues. 

Here is a run-down. Rainbow Mountain has become popular in the last few years. This is because previously the rainbow feature was covered with ice and snow year-round. Due to global warming, the snow and ice have receded and this feature is visible. It is a harbinger of the challenges our world faces as global temperatures shift. I digress. When this feature became visible Peru was quick to market it as a top tourist attraction. However, the local communities did not want the ministry of culture and the government of Peru involved. They decided to do the work themselves. They bought a tractor and built roads. They built facilities and began charging a fee for visiting. Things were going quite well for these communities until the pandemic hit and tourism stopped. During this period there was a lot of corruption and money was embezzled. There was also a mining company that bought mineral rights in the area, only to have those rights overturned by groups concerned about the impact. Now the communities are fighting over the rights to the money and area in the courts. While the issue is being resolved the communities have mostly closed access to the site. Meanwhile, a community on the other side of the mountain has built access, but this is a long drive and a longer hike. In the end, Luis was able to negotiate and get us permission from the community to do this hike. He told us the key is to be respectful and to say "please" a lot. 

Before starting on the hike we pulled off near a small wooden building by the side of the road where two cooks who were with us whipped up a delicious hot breakfast. It was amazing what they could do with very limited equipment and supplies. It was one of the better breakfasts we have had in Peru. 

Once we were fed, we were ready to go. We drove up to the start of the hike to Mount Vinicunca. This hike starts out at over 15k feet in elevation. That is daunting because prior to this the highest I have ever hiked was a little over 14k feet and that is where the hike ended. The hike itself isn’t that long. It is around 3k kilometers, but at this elevation, it can be daunting. 

The majority of the hike is a fairly gentle incline until the last quarter mile when the trail goes mostly straight up. By this point, the air felt very thin and hiking was quite difficult. I was very glad Dan taught me how to breathe like a mountaineer - it helped immensely. The summit of the Mountain is just under 17k feet. At the top, the air was very thin.

We did this hike with Luis and an Italian couple. They did the Inca trail and then tacked on Rainbow Mountain. They were about our same age and we enjoyed getting to know them. We took the hike fairly slowly. Since all of us except for Luis were struggling to breath at this altitude. Luis is ~60, but having lived at this altitude for his whole life he showed no signs of struggle at all. It was impressive. While the hiking was difficult it helped that this area was absolutely stunning. The nearby mountains were picturesque and there were herds of alpacas all around us. Since this trail is mostly closed we did not see another person until we reached the summit. We had this marvelous place all to ourselves. 

It took us about 2 hours to get to the summit. At the summit we hung out and enjoyed the views. From the top, we could see some glaciers and of course Rainbow Mountain. This mountain has its distinctive color bands because of the many  natural minerals found in this area. There weren’t many people at the summit. Most of the people who hiked from the other side stopped down closer to rainbow mountain. That was fine with us because the views were much more spectacular from up above and we didn’t have to fight any crowds to take in a nice view or snap a picture. 

We stayed at the summit as long as we could, but it was cold and very windy. So we climbed down closer to Rainbow Mountain. There was a local guy with a couple of alpacas that he put sunglasses on. You could pay him for a picture with the llamas. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity so I gave him a few soles and took some pictures with the llamas. 

We hiked down much faster. I think we only stopped once briefly on the way down. It is much easier going downhill and losing altitude. 

We stopped for a hot lunch at the same shack by the side of the road. Amazingly the cooks put together another delicious feast. There was this mountain dog hanging out by the shack. He had a face like Tex. He was so happy to see us. He would run up to us and roll around. We shared some scraps from our meal with him. 

Once we were fed we headed back to Cusco and our hotel. Tonight we are staying at the Hotel Hacienda. We originally were planning to take a red eye flight to Buenos Aires tonight. It was a truly terrible flight. It would have had two stops and 7 hours of layovers. But there was a schedule change so we could change it for free. So on Monday night we changed our flight to leave on Friday morning. We will only get to Buenos Aires 6 hours later than we originally planned and we will be able to get a good nights sleep tonight. The only bummer was the Hilton Garden Inn was full so we found another hotel. The Hotel Hacienda was really nice too, and it was cheap. 

At the hotel, Alison showered and relaxed while I ventured out in search of food. I found a nearby place that had pizza and crepes to go. The pizza was pretty terrible, but the crepe was pretty good. 

Once we ate and filled out some paperwork we would need to get into Argentina we both crashed hard. It was a long day with the early start and the challenging hike. It was also a great day. 

Peru has been great. We would highly recommend it. The people are kind and helpful, the scenery is breathtaking, and the history is rich. It exceeded our expectations.