Lares

Ollantaytambo is in a valley, the Sacred Valley, populated with ruins and scrubby trees. The climate here is moderate, similar to the bay with cold, foggy mornings, bright, sunny afternoons and crisp, clear nights. Pleasant in its familiarity. Lares is the next valley over and it is hot, damp, burgeoning with life and home to thermal baths. It can take 6 hours on combi and bus through Ollanta to Urubamba to Calca and finally Lares. Or you can hike 8 hours from Patancancha, over the pass and through the valley to the baths. We opted to hike.

Waking up at 5am to the sound of rain was nice yet ominous because at 2800 meters, in Ollantaytambo, rain is simply rain, but at 4600 meters, the pass to Lares, rain is snow. Ana Maria, mi mamita Peruana, forewarned me about snow and I even retreating to my bed for some quality book time but the thermal baths and challenge of the hike won out. Our group of nine left Patacancha under a soft rain and headed up the mountain towards the snow line. We crossed the snow line about an hour after starting and it became painfully apparent that none of us had properly prepared for snow. Everyone was in sneakers and a few were without rain gear. Luckily we had oja de coca, plastic bags to wrap our socks in and plenty of encouragement from to make it through.

Amidst the falling snow and our freezing toes we walked through beautiful scenery. Sighting brown, white, black and red alpacas and llamas on the hillside against the freshly snow covered hillside with their pivoting ears and cute faces was fantastic. It was spectacular. We worked our way up skinny llama trails until the herds of alpaca and llama flanked as we hiked and they ruminated happily amongst the rain and snow. A cluster of houses surrounded by sheep and barking dogs greeted us at 2 hours in. The land around the houses was dotted with mysterious dark circles that looked like a giant polka dot blanket on the mountainside. Perfect for stepping into to avoid a bit of snow, it turned out that these were urine stains from the llama herds. Awesome.

The snow descending heavily as we kept climbing. Happily sucking on coca leaves and rocking out to Lady Gaga to stave off the cold and wet, I took the lead on the hill. Looking back at the human chain behind me, dark little figures trekking in the snow, and then gazing upward at the pass and thinking, this is amazing. Cresting the pass first I celebrated with a little "I made it to the pass first" happy dance. Everyone made it up ok, we took a group photo, drank some water, chewed more oja de coca and started down the mountain.

Going down was treacherous compared with ascending. The transitioning from snow and rocks to mud to wet grass was rough. One of us fell about 20 times, everyone fell at least once and luckily all without any serious injuries. The landscape shifted from snow covered mountains to eucalyptus trees and bushes as we descended into the valley. Passing by houses, giggling children and vicious, territorial dogs we strolled towards Lares in rain soaked and mud stained clothes. Once the hot springs were sighted it seemed that each volunteer spontaneously beamed with joy. Thoroughly soaking our bodies in slightly scalding sulfurous water worked wonders for easing tight muscles after that hike. After a night in Lares with a good meal, hard beds and much laughter in the hotel we boarded a bus the next morning to return home.