26 June: Rainbow Valley

We arranged the night before with our driver to go to Rainbow Mountain which first opened to tourists in 2016. Before that it had been covered in layers of snow and ice.

Initially we debated whether we would be too tired to go, but we were really glad that we made the push to get there.  

Our driver picked us up again from the top of the steps. We left quite early for this 4 hour drive, partially because we had to catch a plane back to Lima in the afternoon and partially with the hope of avoiding some of the tours. Although we spent more time in the car than on the mountain, the drive itself was quite beautiful.

Our hike up Rainbow Mountain involved the highest altitude yet--about 17,000 feet. (to put this in perspective, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states is 14,500 feet; Mt Everest Base Camp in 17,600 feet) The walk was quite easy after the more strenuous days we had already done--only 7 km of which only the end was a steep climb. The summit was extremely cold and windy, more biting and bitterly cold than what we experienced on the Salkantay trek.

from the end of the trail looking back

We walked up to the main area and took pictures with all the alpacas that were hanging out in various places. 

some people took horses to near the end of the trail--ending right before the more difficult upward climb

Then we walked over to the back of the mountain, the Red Valley.

We had to pay 10 soles at the parking lot, then another 10 when we decided to take the trail over the mountain, and finally another 10 once we were on the other side of the mountain. Apparently all of this is private land with multiple parties getting their cut. The first part was completely worth doing, and the Red Valley was worth seeing since we were already there, but wouldn't be worth a separate trip.

When we got back to Cusco, we ate at Organika one last time:



Our flight to Lima left at 7 PM and arrived after 10. Initially they said that it was be much later so we went back to the airport lounge. Then we checked it about a half hour before they said and discovered that it was leaving in 3 minutes, so we rushed out and were one of the last people to make the plane. 

We stayed at the hotel Holiday Inn in Lima which had free shuttle service. We were told that the free shuttle might take a very long time and that we could hire a taxi. After less than 5 minutes the Holiday Inn driver found us and drove us to the hotel which was across the street and which we could have easily walked to had we known where it was.  It was lovely to have unlimited hot water shower with good pressure and good mattresses.