PERU

HUCHUY QOSQO, PERU. I liked my plan. My SALKANTAY and MACHU PICCHU MOUNTAIN adventure were to be my last five days, so I had about a full week to wheel and deal with over 100 tour guides to acclimatize at the CUSCO altitude of 3,399K (11,151’), so in day one you aren’t goanna do much.  I managed to walk the town, and being the shoulder season, tour operators were hungry. After 20 hours of travel time and breathing heavy I decided I wanted to do the HUCHUY QOSQO hike because my research had indicated that it was among the least traveled of any of the CUSCO hikes.

I typed my plan on Google translate and displayed it to the tour guides as I walked into each of their offices. It said simply – “HUCHUY QOSQO, una persona, sale mañana, 2 días.” (English translation “HUCHUY QOSQO, one person, leave tomorrow, 2 day”).  Most agencies said they don’t do HUCHUY QOSQO while others said it would have to be a private tour. I asked about the cost and the numbers were coming in between $300 and $500. If I could find a group that was already scheduled and join that group, the numbers would be far lower. Finally, a Guide office said $120. Her English was not very good, but my questions were getting answers. Am I staying in a tent? She said in broken English “let me make phone call”. She got someone on the phone and told me I would be staying in a lodge. This is perfect! I asked her if the person on the phone could speak English? She said yes and I asked if I could speak to him and she handed me the phone. I spoke to the gentleman for a while. He immediately went on explaining how beautiful and spectacular this hike would be for me. I asked if will my Guide could speak English. He said if you want English-speaking guide, it would be $150. I said will you be the guide? He said no it could be among various of my guides. I asked if their English would be as good as his and he said, “is good, is good, will be good”.  I agreed and gave the woman the cash. It was agreed that we would meet at my hotel at 7:30 the next morning so I could have breakfast at my restaurant that opened at seven.

The next morning, I headed out of the hotel at seven and found the guide already waiting. I invited him to breakfast and found that he could not understand me. We bantered back-and-forth and when he finally understood, he gladly accepted. It became immediately clear that this adventure would include our language barrier. His name was Elias and over breakfast we used Google Translate and made the decision that we would try not to use it so that I could help him learn English. He was very happy about this, and we struggled along with help from technology when needed.  He explained to me that he was 23 years old and had a degree in tourism from university.  His grandfather was a Spaniard while his grandmother was Peruvian. Apparently, he knew both languages well and this would come in handy as many of the natives that would encounter would speak Peruvian exclusively. Elias said it would be a 12k (7-8 mile) hike, but the big issue was the altitude. with altitude concerns from the 753m (2,470’) climb to 4411M (14,472’). But my AllTrails app showed a different starting point with an18K (11.2 mile) hike. This is a much tougher day than I wanted. But the guide can’t be wrong, can he?

We boarded a taxi and made our way through some very primitive Peruvian areas to a trailhead where our driver left us off. I checked my AllTrails app and found that it did not recognize our location. I figured there are many ways to accomplish this hike and various trails to do so. Besides, Elias had a route that would save about five miles. This cannot be an issue.  I have a guide! The weather was perfect! “Vamos!,” I called out.

After passing a small “Lagoon”, and over a ridge, we saw a farm with very primitive housing that bordered a rather large body of water. There were potato fields, sheep, Geese, and chickens, but no humans to be found. There was a very primitive road going to this farmhouse, but as we began walking it Elias cut to the right with no noticeable trail. We got to another High Point where a boundary line separated this farm from another farm with Llamas. Again, there were no humans.

Elias took us off to the right to another summit where we stopped to have lunch. Noticing that cell service was restored my AllTrails app told me that we had hiked about 5 1/2 miles. according to our plan, we should be well over halfway. I communicated this to Elias, and he said no. I looked closely at the app and had some serious questions about our direction. I looked Elias in the eye and said “Are we lost? “What is Lost?” He spoke. I typed “lost” in my Google app and it displayed “Perfdido”. Elias looked at me glumly. He explained that he’d only done this hike 6 years ago. I asked how many times, and he said, “Once”. Then he said, “but very cloudy”, he said, waving his hands in the air. “I think that way,” he pointed. My app told a different story. We would have to go about 90° to the right of where he was pointing. I convinced him to follow my direction and off we went. You can see by the screenshot of the map below, we were going off course to the right. I got us back to the trail which Elias would have taken us back to Cusco!

Unfortunately, that direction required that we climb another rather steep incline and, while I was already in tough shape, my adrenaline was pumping. Elias was embarrassed and profoundly apologetic. “So Sorry, So Sorry” he proclaimed. I was not about to let our situation get him down, so I remained positive and said “It is OK. Let us just get to the trail.” He offered to carry my pack, but I refused. My path took us through a herd of llamas and that was cool, but I must say the moment was tempered by our circumstances. Things got steeper and I slowed down once again. Elias insisted on grabbing my pack and I again refused and simply said let’s just get to the trail, not even sure how much of that he understood. I showed him my map and revealed my true thoughts. It was likely that upon reaching the trail I would choose to go left and back to CUSCO, rather than go right and achieving our goal.

Elias was quite worried and started asking questions like what is the furthest I ever hiked in one day? I said 40 Kilometers, but I was much younger then, placing a flat hand on my head then moving it forward and down, trying to express it with hand signals. Much of our communication included bantering back and forth and much was miscommunication. In many cases we pretended to understand one another when we both knew that we truly did not. Finally, we reached the trail and were both relieved. It was time to decide, and to me that meant doing the math. According to Elias I expected this to be a 12K (6-7 mile) day.

We had already done almost that and included much more climbing than expected. According to AllTrails, we were now about 1/3 of the way. He got us lost, not me. I found the trail, not him. He is 23 years old. Multiply that by three and you get 69 – I’m 68. From this point it was mostly downhill in either direction. Our packs were not that heavy, particularly mine, as we were staying in a lodge, so we did not carry a tent, sleeping, stove. Etc. Elias again pleaded with me to carry my pack, and that did it. We would proceed with him carrying my pack, that was small and light and easily set on top of his own.

Now in the correct direction we eventually got below timberline to a spectacular canyon where we passed through beautiful vegetation surrounded by a meandering stream. We came across 2 stone entrances built by INCANS 600 odd years ago. Our trail hugged the mountains edge and These stone entrances originally had a door and were perched in a way that their design blocked intruders. Interesting!

There was a very cool abandoned village and shortly after we encountered a mule and later his owner who was searching for him. Elias let him know where he was in their native Peruvian tongue, and soon after we encountered another Peruvian native woman working the fields with her two dogs. We gave her some bread and I gave her half of my lunch sandwich and a few soles for a few pictures. She smiled broadly throughout the encounter. As I have learned from my travels, those less fortunate financially tend to be the happiest I meet.

We finally arrived at our LODGE with our original plans to tour the HUCHUY QOSQO Incan Ruins the next morning. This is referred to as a “Hidden Gem” as very few visit it. Though getting there is arduous, the views, animal life, and wildflowers were spectacular! But even more awesome was joining the couple that own the LODGE. Not a word was understood between me and this wonderful couple, and honestly, verbal communication was not necessary. Waking up at THE LODGE at HUCHUY QOSQO, PERU was Amazing! Not surprisingly, the best places in the world typically require a degree of difficulty getting there. Honestly, the hospitality offered by the husband and wife who run THE LODGE is what stole my heart the most.

If you choose to go there, reversing what we experienced getting Down, you should also expect extreme difficulty. Either way, if you decide to come, expect it to be Grueling. For that reason, The 600 yr old INCAN RUINS of HUCHUY QOSQO is a special place visited by very few. followed by our tour of the ruins that was a virtual Incan Ghost Town, almost eerie as there was no one else there other than the ghosts of the ancestors that intentionally created this homestead extremely far from any type of easy access. My pics and videos tell the story best at this point. I end with a video of our final destination; PERU’S SACRED VALLEY. In the video below you’ll see I am exhausted. I quote the downhill drop as 366 M (1,200’). Its actually 640 M (2,100). Visited by most tourists that come to this area, I found PERU’S SACRED VALLEY overrated, offering nothing of interest to me.