Trek Day 2

So we skipped the first leg of our Trek because we spent a day in the village, which was fine with me-- we had a lot of walking to do. Before we started the trek we ate a breakfast which was actually pretty small. This day we walked up Salkanty Pass. Salkanty is a very large mountin in Peru and is part of the Andes. It is so steep and rugged that no person has ever climbed to the top. The pass was 4600m or about 15,000 ft. That is pretty high up, actually it is higher up then Mt. Rainer, the tallest mountain in the continental United States. As we climbed it got colder and colder because of the altitude. Also it became harder and harder to breath because the air got thinner and thinner.

You all know that I am not the most athletic person or the most fit person, so this was rather hard for me, but, I did it. I made it up Salkanty pass! It was quite the acomplishment. It took close to 5 hours to get up the mountain and then another 4 or so hours down. In between our cooks made us lunch in a flat portion of the mountain. It was actually really hard to go down as well because it was so steep. The views were quite impressive though. It was interesting to see the changes in climate and vegitation as we came down from the very cold tundra top of the pass to the Cusco rainforest below.

After more than 8 hours of really difficult treking, we reached our campsite, where I ate some popcorn for a snack and skipped dinner for 10 hours of sleep.