The Salkantay Trek: Day 4

More rain.

Day 4: This was by far the easiest day. Though we were all exhausted by now, including the tour guide, who had begun to lose interest in us, spending more time with his colleagues and leaving us behind for several paces or falling back to other groups, we muddled our way farther into the valley. At one point, Ana, the Scotswoman whom I befriended, and I got lost on an adjoining trail that dead ended. Losing 30 minutes, we fell behind, but corrected our path and soon found our tour guide waiting for us with his ‘buddies’ down at the bank of the Vilcabamba. Irritated, we continued on, but he told us as we approached a conspicuous looking set of mountains that they were in fact Machu Picchu and Wianah Picchu. I was ecstatic.

Rio Vilcabamba

First sighting

After lunch, we said goodbye to our cook, who had consistently made us very palatable meals given the rustic conditions, and continued on our way, now following the train tracks to Augas Calientes. The rain started again, but I was undeterred. I was in paradise. I took in the sights, smells, sounds as I continued walking, running on a good lunch and sheer will. I described to Ana a little about the biology, but at that time she had grown impatient and irritable with the weather and the distance we had yet to travel. I witnessed a raccoon-sized mammal cross the tracks and grew excited. I looked it up later to discover it was an agoati.

As night drew in, we approached the city. The mist moved like ancient ghosts across the vegetated mountainsides. I caught glimpses of the sacred city to my right before we headed into the city. We stayed in comfortable hostels that night and ate well at a local restaurant.