Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Salkantay Pass - Day 2 Part 2

We sat for a long time at the summit, enjoying the sights, congratulating each other, chit-chatting on what was waiting for us on the northwest side of Salkantay. It was hard to leave the perch i found myself sitting in. How can you just get up and turn your back on the most beautiful setting you have ever laid your eyes on knowing you will never be back to see it again? Well the time has come. "Ok guys, lets go, lets go" says Hubert, his patented "get off your lazy asses and lets go" quote. "No more chilling" he adds, trying to pick up the gringo slang. We slowly gather our packs and equipment and gather at the back end of the summit. As we begin the trek down the other side of the mountain we see that the clouds are rolling in. The first day and first half of the second day of our trek were spent on the west side of the Ande's, or the ocean side as the locals refer to it. The air here is constantly moving so cloud cover is usually non existent and it is often fairly dry when it is not the rainy season. The other side of the pass is another story. We are entering the sub tropic region of the Peruvian mountains. The environment is almost that of a rain forest. Clouds get stuck on the eastern side of the Andes as they can not pass over the high point of the mountains, thus creating the subtropic like atmosphere.

We start the decent high in the clouds. Visibility is only a few hundred yards at times, but the sights are still amazing. Our decent is slow and gradual, a complete opposite of what we just went through. One one side of the pass we climb just under 4,000 feet in a little over an hour. Our way down seems almost flat as we will descend 2,000 feet over the next 6 hours. We make our way down via a valley pass where glacier melt collects from hundreds off different runoffs on both sides of the valley. Waterfalls are everywhere, all rushing to the center of the valley where the glacier river races down the mountain, getting bigger and faster the further we descend. The cold air we experienced at the summit quickly turns into a humid heat. The further we get down the valley, the wetter the conditions get. Its not raining, and it probably has not rained all day, but you would have thought it had poured.

After about an hour and a half of descent we reach a flat part of the valley. I know we ha vent reached the bottom because there is NO way we just descended 7,000 feet. The river that was once rushing through the valley has now slowed down to an "upper Chattahoochee" roll, spreading its self out across the valley, creating a number of different streams cutting through the valley field. It reminds me of a scene from Alaska (that i have seen on TV) where a river has hundreds of "threads" cutting through a large field. Geography class taught me that once a river reaches its flat point it tends to spread and die out, soaking into the soil. (its amazing all the stuff i remember from Geography and Geology class, but how little i remember from my finance classes). We hike about another 30 minutes and we reach another descent. A drop off really. The river quickly rejoins and creates another powerful flow cutting a deep trench in the valley. Before we descend, we break to have lunch (FINALLY!!)

After lunch we begin the trek down. Another 3 hours and we will be at camp 2. Our descent from here is quite different. We are surrounded by lush vegetation and the sounds of animals (we haven't heard an animal the entire trip other then the horses and stray dogs). It is almost like we are in a rain forest. Come to think of it, we kind of are. Everything is wet. The trail has changed from dirt and lose rock to mud. Bugs are everywhere. God damn, the bugs are everywhere. And they are big and bad. Its almost like Atlanta in the dead of summer, but the bugs are three times the size and much more fierce. A mosquito bit in Atlanta is really no big deal. Here they welt up the size of a half dollar and itch like a sun of a bitch. Oh yea, and they can give you yellow fever. But the sights and sounds are amazing non the less.

We finally reach camp at the base of the mountain. Our camp is set up in a valley of three large mountains just north of three rivers joining to flow together toward the mighty Amazon. Tonight's camp is in a villagers yard....Is that what you call it? His land I guess is a better word. Its hard to imagine someone living so far from civilization, so far from a town that sold the bare necessities. But here we are. Hell, this dude even had working plumbing, although we think it works on strictly gravity and empties its self in the river below. where the hell else is it going to flow to? Tisk Tisk. We enjoy a great dinner prepared by our chef and indulge in some warm cervezas sold to us by the local land lord. After dinner he even builds us a little camp fire and for a moment we all almost felt like we were at home. Many stories were told around this small twig fire. Some funny, some embarrassing, most completely inappropriate, but all worth sharing. There is nothing like enjoying a few beers around a camp fire. It sets you in the euphoric state of mind where you have no care in the world. Beer, fire, friends. One of the best trifectas ever created.

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