Tag Archives: mountain

Rainbow Mountain, a.k.a. Winicunca

September 9, 2018 – September 11, 2018

In the streets of Cusco we had seen advertisements for tours to Rainbow Mountain, or, Winicunca to use the local name,  but I couldn’t find anything in our slightly out-of-date guide book about the hike.  As it turns out, the multi-hued mountain was covered under a layer of ice until recently.  With the changing climate, the ice has now disappeared, revealing striped, rainbow like slopes, and the locals soon figured out that tourists would pay to hike to such a magical place. Interestingly, most of the tourists were Peruvian, possibly captivated by the natural representation of the age old Incan rainbow flag.

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Precarious Roads, Sleeping at Altitude, and Cajamarca.

August 12, 2018 – August 15, 2018

We started mid afternoon on a 296 kilometre drive that Google Maps estimated would take us 6 hours and 41 minutes.  We knew we would not make it all the way, but we wanted to get some kilometres under our belts.  The maps showed the road as a main highway in Peru, so while we knew it would be slow going in the mountains, we were not concerned with road conditions.  What we ended up on was one of the most beautiful drives of our trip so far, but also one of the most stressful.

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Kuelap, the Most Important Ruins You’ve Maybe Never Heard of…..

August 12, 2018 – August 15, 2018

The Chachapoyas (Cloud People) began building the fortified city of Kuelap in the 6th century AD, 600 to 900 years before Machu Picchu.  The walls surround an area of 584 metres by 110 metres, and reach heights of up to 20 metres.  Inside are the ruins of circular homesteads and temples.  The setting for this is the top of a remote mountain, 3,100 metres above sea level (about 700 metres higher than Machu Picchu), in northern Peru, providing incredible views of the surrounding valleys.  So why have you maybe never heard of Kuelap?  Well, until recently it was very difficult to get to, but a recent investment in a cable car has opened up the site, which some claim to be as important as the more famous Machu Picchu.

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Chimborazo, Leather and Banos.

July 27, 2018 – July 30, 2018

We decided to head back inland.  Surprisingly, given that we were at sea level and not very far from the equator, it was cool in Puerto Lopez (the cold humboldt current from the south moderates the coastal temperature), and we were anxious to get back to the mountains.  We headed towards MtChimborazo.

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