I love rainbows with all my heart and I never believed that I would live to touch one!
On 26 of May, at 3.30 early in the morning, a group of friends from all over the world will meet. We are met in the front of Chaska Hotel in Pisac, Sacred Valley, Peru.

After 3 1/2hr in our private van we reached the trailhead in Quesoyoni for the horseback hike. At 4326 m or 14,180 ft, Quesiuno sector, Canchis (Puka Urqu) district, Cusco.

We ate a lovely breakfast (tea, coffee, milk, honey, oriental salad cooked by our Romanian friend Mirela). The salad was very attractive for tourists from another group and we were really glad to “ compartir”!
After breakfast we began a 3 hour horseback ride of breathtaking natural scenery! We were shocked by the amazing landscape. We saw condors, little birds, turquoise lakes, grazing alpacas, llamas and sheep. We followed the shepherd’s paths and we enjoyed our Quechua lessons from Inca descendants! The high altitude offered us a cocktail of headaches, nausea, accelerated heartbeats and for some of us panic attacks!

The trek was challenging for adults and even more for the children. Actually, I can say I am so proud of our 3 little warriors! Ana was alone on the back of the horse  and arrived first at the rest point. She waited  for almost one hour for us to reach her, while she happily chatted with her Peruvian guide. Aris was very brave on his horse and didn’t stop taking pictures all the way.  Carla was very sensitive to the high altitude but she kept chewing coca leaves and hipta and she made it to the top of the mountain with a smile on her face.

At 11 we finally reached majestic Vinicunca…the view was fantastic! Rainbow mountain has multicolored soil, the result of minerals found in the geothermal area.  From the top of the mountain you can see the Ausangate  ( The Andean worldview’s most important Sacred Mountain).

At 11.30 with the wind picking up and getting really strong and cold, the entire group followed the track back to Quesoyoni. Gabriel also went down with the kids, so here I am , just me , Lucio ( the chief of Chawaytiri community) and the beautiful, astonishing mountains!
Lucio had his magic moment of praying to Ausangate Sacred Mountain…it was like time stopped for a while…..I was overwhelmed with emotions.

After another 3 1/2 hours on horseback we arrived to the initial meeting point where the chef cooked us an incredible quinoa soup.
We arrived in Pisac around 8 pm, very tired but with the satisfaction of an incredible trip and the beautiful memories and photos.!

Info and tips:

– Rainbow Mountain, was included by National Geographic in “ One of 100 places you should visit before you die”
– The Mountain was kept secret for so long and is so well hidden that even most locals don’t know it exists
– The mountain requires serious dedication to get to as no information or infrastructure exists ( some of our friends didn’t reach the mountain because the peruvian  guide missed the way).
– Our big surprise was that on the way to the top we paid an entrance fee of 10 soles, and time to time you can find compost toilets very well guarded by locals ( 1 sole, pee fee!!!)
– At the meeting point in Quesoyoni, there is  small little kitchen ( we bought all the ingredients for the quinoa soup in Pisac, and we paid a fee for the Peruvian chef to cook for us). It was a delight to eat a hot lunch on the way back!
– What to take:
– trecking shoes
– sun protection cream
– sun hat
– water
– raincoat
– warm clothes ( onion style)
– coca leaves and hipta
– coca candies
– aguaymanto fruits and other
– cleaning papers
– Contact info for our trustful driver from Pisac: Jaime ( Chawaitiri community) – 947 418 633/ 931 540 815[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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