Vinicunca (or, the Rainbow Mountain)

Today we took a tour bus to the trailhead of Vinicunca, or Montaña de Siete Colores (Mountain of Seven Colors).  This is a recent addition to the tourist catalog in Cusco, only becoming popular in the past couple of years.  The pictures on all the tour guide billboards are obviously photoshopped by someone with knowledge only of the contrast slider, but it still looked like a fun trip.

Located about 60km SE of Cucso, it takes a 3 hour bus ride to get there.  Our taxi picked us up about 5:30 AM and took us to the bus.  After about an hour and 45 minutes, we stopped at a small place for a light breakfast.  We then re-boarded the bus for a terrifying ride up a narrow cowpath, with blind corners, steep drop-offs, rickety bridges, and brakes that sounded as if a pig was being murdered.  (I am reminded of the Parable of the Chariot Driver. A stagecoach company was hiring a driver, and asked each of the three candidates how close they can drive to the edge of a cliff. The first bragged he could get within a foot, while the second boasted he could drive within an inch of the edge.  The last cautioned that he stayed as far away as possible.  In the story the company hired the cautious driver; I’m pretty sure the others moved to Peru and got jobs in the tourist transportation sector.)

After over an hour, we finally we arrived at the trailhead, and were greeted with the view of a gorgeous alpine meadow, topped with a brilliant white glacier, and dotted with grazing alpacas.

The path starts at 4600m, which is already the highest altitude I have ever been at.  (For comparison, Cusco is at 3500m, and the Columbia Icefields in Alberta, which had previously been my highest altitude, is about 3000m).  Even though we have acclimatized to Cusco relatively well over the past three weeks, 4600m is another big jump.  Walking up even a small incline took time and a great deal of breathing.  Our guide explained that the entire trail is about 4km, and rises an additional 400m to the first viewpoint; at that point, you have the option of proceeding up a steep slope to reach the actual summit.

At the trailhead there are a bunch of locals clustered around the "Terminal de Caballos", or Horse Terminal, where they offered rides up part of the trail.  We, despite the pleading of the kids, of course opted for the good old fashioned two legged horse, as that is how we roll (and even if we had wanted a ride up, we had no money).

Parking lot and Horse Terminal

Once past the horses, we were greeted by a reasonably flat walk for the first couple of kms.  Due to the elevation, we had to keep things slow (the kids seemed to be hit especially hard, and were wanting to sit down even more than normal).

The flora in this area was very interesting, and not quite like anything else I have seen.  The majority of the greenery came from what appears to be a kind of moss, but with much smaller leaves than the mosses I am used to.  Interspersed with this was small clusters of grass, and lots of tiny plants and flowers.

A rainbow greeted us and the alpacas as we started the hike

High above the tree line, the majority of the vegetation was no more than a couple cm in height

Some flowers near the path

One of the few clusters of grasses

Soon, we noticed that the mountains started to gain some reddish hues.

The grazing alpacas didn't seem to care about the colors.

Near the first lookout point, the path started to be littered with what we called "Peruvian Inuksuk"

Definitely seeing some colors now - and not just talking the llama's earrings!

Pretty soon we get to the end of the horse trail, where things start to get steep.  We felt a bit of pity (but not too much) for the poor souls who rented a horse, only to find out later than the ride is only for the flat section!  By this time the kids are feeling pretty drained, from the effects of the altitude.



After a while we made it to the first viewpoint.  This gives a wonderful view of the seven colored mountain, as well as down the valley on the other side.

Monica and the kids decided that this was the end of the road for them.  The masochist in me determined that there was no way I was stopping now, just another 200m from the actual summit.  I began the slow climb up the rest of the peak.

Wide angle panoramas don't do this justice... in real life you can see so much more.

The effort was well worth it.  From the top, you could see all sorts of landscapes for miles in every direction.

Every single person of the hundreds of daily visitors does this exact same shot.  -1 for originality.

Official proof of the elevation: 5036m above sea level

Looking away from Rainbow Mountain

Even the puppies need a break sometimes...

Going down, I met up with Monica and the kids again, and took some more photos.

The traditionally-clad lady in the background was selling "chicharron de llama" - deep fried llama.  I have no idea how anyone could eat something that heavy at this elevation.  Even the thought of food made all of us feel ill.

The family posing with Valerio - our guide for the day

By now it was time to start heading back to bus, so as not to be left behind.  The way down was much easier than going up - which for me is not normal, since normally I prefer going up as it is easier on the knees.  The altitude really makes things which should be easy to be very difficult.

Looking down the valley toward the bus.  Again, panoramas just don't do this justice.

On the way down we needed to use the baño.  We are now used to bathrooms in Peru which do not have toilet seats (for some reason it seems every public use bathroom in the country has removed the seat).  However Maija was quite scarred upon seeing the contraption which she was expected to use here.  Terran was fine with it, though.

After more llamas, more alpacas, and a horse of the two legged variety, we finally arrived back at the bus, and headed back to the restaurant for a late lunch, and finally back to Cusco by about 6:00.

Despite everyone feeling very tired with a bit of a headache (probably due to a combination of altitude and insane bus drivers), all agreed that it was a wonderful trip to a gorgeous part of the world.