Filicki

We had an early departure from Cusco to catch our 8am flight to Arequipa. Our home for the next 4 nights was in the Colca Canyon, about 3 hours from Arequipa and a small resort called Puqio. Puqio had a private car waiting for us at the airport complete with pillows and blankets for the 3 hour drive. We stopped after about an hour for a bathroom break and our guide, Gonzalo, brought us a hot tea with muña, cocoa, and Pitahaya (dragon fruit) to help with altitude as we were about to go over the pass with an elevation over 16,000 feet. We were going to stop to see views of the mountains, volcanos and animals but it was snowing when crossed so we just kept going.  Puqio was very small with only 8 guest rooms (4 of which were tents) and a main living/dining room.  Our room was modeled after an African safari tent (complete with indoor/outdoor shower and an outdoor tub) and while it was spacious it was a little tight after we unpacked our duffles prepared for a 5-week trip.  W...

Day 0 - We had a brief meeting in Cusco where we learned about our trip and met the other hikers in our group. Our guide was named Ian. He spoke excellent English was jovial and full of energy. There were two other couples traveling together and one other man.  Day 1- hike to Salkantay Lodge The van picked us up from our hotel in Cusco around 8am and we headed to an ancient archeological site called Killarumiyoq. It was a really large site, but Ian just took us to see the three highlights. Old Incan cave with drawings on the wall Killarumiyoo  Templo de la Fertilidad We then had lunch at a local farm and then were dropped off at our first trailhead. We hiked up a road for a short distance and then up through a field. It was cool with lots of cloud cover but we did see a few glimpses of the glaciers First glimpse of Mt Humantay As Peru is just coming out of rainy season, there have been a lot of mudslides and the Fire and Rescue team was scheduled to take us over a section of t...