The Lares Valley Trek

We have just had an amazing 3 days on our trek. Unlike the Inca trail which uses porters, our trek used the Lares valley horsemen & their steads instead, meaning our total party was only 10. It consisted of the 5 trekkers, our fabulous guide Domingo, Elgar the cook, & 3 horsemen.

We left Cusco at around 6:30am on Monday & drove for an hour or so to a small town called Calca. Here we got some breakfast in the market, & also picked up pencils, marbles, hair-ties, & small round flat-breads to give to the kids along the way, & bags of coca leaves for the adults. We then drove another couple of hours along a very scenic high mountain pass to Lares village where we enjoyed a soak in the natural hot springs for a couple of hours before lunch. Lunch was incredible! It was our first experience of the food on the trek, & it was very very impressive. Lunch & dinner were invariably 3 or 4 courses. We'd have a starter (avocado salad being the best of them), then soup, followed by a meat & rice course, then dessert. The cook did an amazing job in his camp kitchen. After lunch on the first day we left the dining tent to find a tarpaulin laid out with 6 mattresses. It was siesta time! After an hours nap we finally started walking. We did just over 3 hours on the first day, starting off with a gentle up-hill gradient, & getting progressively steeper. Along the way we would pass tiny Andean villages consisting of a handful of stone houses with thatched roofs. We would give out our bits & pieces as we went. As we approached our first campsite an amazing mist rolled quickly into the valley, overtaking us just as we reached camp. Our first campsite was 4100m (for comparison, the highest mountain in the UK is just over 1000m). It was pretty chilly up that high, & Will & I both appreciated our down jackets, which were the envy of our fellow 3 trekkers who didn't have them!

The next morning we were woken at 7am by one of the horsemen bringing coca tea to our tent. This tea is everywhere in Peru. It is meant to have a whole list of benefits, with the most important being to help with altitude sickness & upset stomachs. The local people chew the leaves, which didn't interest me at all. By chewing the leaves you get a much greater narcotic effect, & can walk harder & faster for longer. You do however test positive for cocaine for up to a month afterwards! Little wonder then that it's illegal to take coca leaves outside Peru...

The second day was a full day of walking, & almost straight away we were into some serious uphill! It took us about 3 & a half hours to reach the top of our pass at 4675m. The stunning mountain scenery helped compensate for the burn in the legs & the lungs. Once we reached the top we did just under an hour downhill before stopping for lunch. Despite packing up camp & starting a fair while behind us, the horsemen always overtook us, & have the kitchen/dining tent & toilet tent set up for us at lunchtime, & the whole camp set up when we arrive in the evening. One of the horsemen then returns after unloading his horse, & walks behind the group as back-up in case anyone is struggling. As tempting as it was at times, I managed to get by without needing it! After lunch it was another 3 hours or so downhill.

The second nights camp was a lovely spot next to the river. We enjoyed a campfire before another early night.

Our third & final day involved another 3 hours or so hours downhill, deeper into the valley. This was very pleasant walking, mostly along the river. We reached the village of Huaran where our minibus was waiting for us. At this stage we said goodbye to our cook & horsemen. We then drove an hour or so to Ollantaytambo where we had lunch in a local restaurant. We had a couple of hours free time in the town, so Will & I decided to explore the impressive & extensive ruins. At Ollantaytambo we said adios to Domingo, who was returning to Cusco for another tour, & we boarded the train for our trip to Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu picchu. Nancy, our new guide for the last part of the trip met us at the station & took us to our hotel. We went out for dinner as a group, then Will & I enjoyed our first hot shower for 3 days, before crashing, ready for a very early start the next morning. Machu Picchu!!!