Day Six - 4630

// August 2nd - Salkantay Pass // Altitude 4630 m // Out of the travel journal //

"You will go back as a different person. Leave worries, pain and negativity behind. Let us pray to the mountains."
Salkantay. Humantay. Tucarhuay. Urubamba.
The four sacred mountains that surrounded us. At an altitude of 4630 m, we blew our coca leaves that would be a gift for the Pachamama, while turning into the direction of each mountain.
Then we thanked the four mountains, before placing the leaves and the rocks that we picked, building a cairn.

We reached the top around 9.30 am, after about 3.5 h of hiking. It was hard, a very steep, challenging hike, over frozen waterfalls, rocks, slipping - but never falling - over and over again.
And it was freezing cold, especially after a night with maybe 2 hours of sleep before. Our cold feet just didn't let us sleep. I was wearing three pairs of socks in the night, and ended up even putting my gloves over my feet and wrapping my scarf around it.

But already on the way to the top we were rewarded with so many amazing views. The Salkantay, in the distance at first, which glowed in a mystical pink in the early morning light. We walked about two hours before the first sunrays started to warm our faces.
And when we finally reached the top, the highest point of our trail, I felt so incredibly lucky, happy, incredible. I was so overwhelmed.

After the last people of our group got there we sat down with our guide to learn about the mountains surrounding us, Cusco and the Inka culture, before we held the little ceremony.

Down to our lunch place wasn't hard at all, and again we had this beautiful landscape around us.
From about 3900 m and after a few hours of hiking we started the descent, into the jungle.

After about two more hours it got harder, too, it was tough on our knees.
We pushed through, until we reached our camp for the night, another three hours, in total 22 km for this day. Going from 4600 to 2900 m the sudden change of altitude made quite a few people sick. I also started feeling uneasy, but I took some medicine so hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

The views of the landscapes today were unforgettable.
The mountains, so high, you feel so unimportant, your worries or mistakes pointless. And I was proud that I kept pushing myself, even though I feel like I didn't completely reach my limit yet.
We saw amazing, wonderful pictures that nature painted for us.

At some point two porters passed us, playing Madonna's "Like a virgin" on their portable speakers. And then - silence again. For a long time. And despite traveling in a group I felt alone with my thoughts, content.

I'm so grateful that I'm experiencing this.