[ENG]
This was the first trip I did with my husband when we were still dating, back in 2017.
Back in 2014 I went to study abroad to Spain and I met a guy from Peru named Alonso, he was one of the 4 roommates I lived with, we were both the same age, we were both latinos, we were both going to the same university and we were both part of the Erasmus group, so, naturally we became very close friends. After the exchange program was over, he went to Mexico to visit me. So it was my turn to visit him in Peru!
I told my husband (then boyfriend) about my desire to visit Peru and that we should do the trip together and he was immediately on board!
The Rainbow mountain was one of the places we were most excited to see in person, along with Machu Picchu, of course.
We toured several cities in Peru, until we reached Cusco, there, we decided to find a tour that would take us to see the Rainbow Mountain, at that time we had no idea of the existence of the Red Valley.
It was until the man who attended us at the tour agency told us that there was an alternate route to do the tour of the Rainbow Mountain that we heard, for the first time, about the existence of that place. The man showed us photos and a map of the tour and we got really excited, so we decided to do it.
The day of the tour we got up very early, we had been summoned at 4:00AM at the meeting point where the transport and tour guide were waiting for us. We were about 8 people in total as I recall.
The Rainbow Mountain or Vinicunca Mountain is located in the district of Pitumarca, 3 hours away from Cusco city, at an altitude of 5,200 meters above sea level and it's part of the Peruvian Andes.
Once we arrive to Pitumarca the car left us on the side of a road, the tour guide said that was where the trekking part of the tour was going to start.
I saw some local people with horses in the beginning of the trekking path, they were offering them for rent for the people that did't want or could't walk, but my husband and I decided to walk, we wanted to live the full experience! Later, I would realized it had been huge mistake!
We began walking. It is a long way uphill, some parts steeper than others, you definitely need to be in good physical condition and acclimatize to the altitude before doing this trail.
The more you go up, the more you feel the heaviness and lack of air due to the height. Halfway through, I couldn't stand it anymore and was looking for a horse that would save my life, and there it was, my hero! My husband decided to keep walking!
The horse took me to the foot of the Rainbow Mountain. Up there the pressure is heavier, each step I took cost me a lot of energy, I had to rest before taking another step. It was really demanding but the view was totally, definitely worth it!
We stayed at the top for a while, admiring the colors, the landscape and we were also able to see the top of the Ausangate, one of the highest mountains in Peru. We were taking it all in.
This is what we saw:
It was time to get back, going across the Red Valley, the second adventure of the day began.
The Red Valley takes its name from its colors, in majority red, thanks to the minerals in the soil.
We got to see a lot of llamas and alpaca along the way, it rained, snowed, and then it cleared up and it was super sunny, we experienced every season there! It was a 2.5 hours walk back to the car, approximately.
We were then taken to a local family's house for a delicious home-cooked meal, while we rested for a bit before making the return trip to Cusco.
It was one of the best experiences and landscapes that I have experienced in my life, also one of the most demanding and exhausting, but in the end it was COMPLETELY worth it!
It's been a long time since I've seen these photos I took on that incredible trip, I'm remembering and reliving everything thanks to this blog.
Let me know if you liked the photos, or if this blog was too long, if you think I should make them shorter, I'm new to this and your advice would be really helpful.
Thank you for reading!
All photos taken by me and my husband.
[ESP]
Este fue el primer viaje que hice con mi esposo cuando todavía éramos novios en el 2017.
En 2014 fui a estudiar a España y conocí a un chico de Perú llamado Alonso, era uno de los 4 roomies con los que vivía, ambos teníamos la misma edad, ambos éramos latinos, ambos íbamos a la misma universidad y ambos éramos parte del grupo Erasmus, así que, naturalmente, nos hicimos muy amigos. Después de que terminó el programa de intercambio, Alonso fue a México a visitarme. ¡Así que era mi turno de visitarlo en Perú!
Le dije a mi esposo (entonces novio) sobre mi deseo de visitar Perú y que deberíamos hacer el viaje juntos y ¡él estuvo inmediatamente a bordo!
La Montaña de los Siete Colores era uno de los lugares que más nos emocionaba conocer en persona al igual que Machu Picchu, por supuesto.
Recorrimos varias ciudades de Perú,hasta llegar a Cusco, ahí decidimos buscar un tour que nos llevara a conocer la Montaña de los 7 colores, en ese momento no teníamos ni idea de la existencia del Valle Rojo.
No fue hasta que el señor que nos atendió en la agencia de tours nos dijo que había una ruta alterna para hacer el recorrido de la montaña de colores, que escuchamos por primera vez la existencia de ese lugar, el señor nos enseño fotos y un mapa del recorrido y nos emocionamos mucho, así que decidimos hacerlo.
El día del tour nos levantamos muy temprano, nos habían citado a las 4 de la mañana en el punto de encuentro donde estaría la persona y el transporte que nos llevarían a hacer el recorrido. Éramos unas 8 personas en total según recuerdo.
La Montaña de los 7 colores o Montaña Vinicunca se encuentra ubicada en el distrito de Pitumarca, a 3 horas de la ciudad del Cusco, con una altitud de 5200 metros sobre el nivel del mar y forma parte de los Andes peruanos.
Una vez que llegamos a Pitumarca, el auto nos dejó a un lado del camino, el guía turístico dijo que allí iba a comenzar la caminata hacia la montaña.
Vi a unos lugareños con caballos al inicio del sendero de trekking, los estaban ofreciendo en renta para la gente que no quería o no podía caminar, pero mi esposo y yo decidimos caminar, ¡queríamos vivir la experiencia completa! Más tarde, me daría cuenta que había sido un error.
Así que empezamos a caminar. Es un camino largo de subida, algunas partes más empinadas que otras, definitivamente necesitas tener buena condición física y aclimatarte a la altura antes de hacer este recorrido.
Entre más vas subiendo más vas sintiendo la pesadez y la falta de aire por la altura. A la mitad del camino yo ya no aguantaba y estaba buscando un caballo que me salvara la vida, y ahí estaba, mi héroe. Mi esposo decidió seguir caminando!
Gracias a ese caballo llegué a los pies de la Montaña de los 7 Colores. Ahí arriba la presión se siente mucho más, cada paso que daba me costaba mucho, tenía que descansar un poco antes de dar el siguiente paso. Fue mu demandante pero la vista desde ahí vale demasiado la pena.
Nos quedamos un rato en la cima, admirando los colores, el paisaje y también pudimos ver la cima del Ausangate, una de las montañas más altas del Perú. Lo estábamos asimilando todo.
Esto es lo que vimos:
Era hora de regresar, cruzando el Valle Rojo, comenzaba la segunda aventura del día.
El Valle Rojo toma su nombre de sus colores, en su mayoría rojo, gracias a los minerales del suelo.
En el camino nos tocó ver muchas llamas y alpacas, también nos tocó que lloviera, nevara, granizara y luego que se despejara y que estuviera soleado, ¡Vivimos todas las estaciones ahí! Hicimos unas 2.5 horas de regreso al carro aproximadamente.
Después nos llevaron a comer comida casera deliciosa a casa de una familia local, mientras descansábamos un poco antes de hacer el viaje de regreso a Cusco.
Fue una de las mejores experiencias y paisajes que he experimentado en mi vida, también de las más demandantes y cansadas pero que al final valió COMPLETAMENTE la pena.
Hace mucho que no veía estas fotos que tomé en ese increíble viaje, todo lo estoy reviviendo gracias a este blog.
Háganme saber si les gustaron las fotos, o si se les hizo muy largo este blog, si creen que debería hacerlos más cortos, soy nueva en esto y me vendrían bien sus consejos para mejorar.
Gracias por leérme!
Todas las fotos fueron tomadas por mí, mi esposo tomó las fotos donde salgo yo.
Indeed Rainbow Mountain is something you don't see in many places in the world, and Peru is a very beautiful country, but this year it was quite hard to get there.
I've seen some vlogs about the place and I saw that it's quite hard to get there, either on foot from where minivans drop you off or with local horses.
Hello! Yes, Peru is really beautiful.
And I agree, it is very difficult to get to the rainbow mountain, the pressure of the altitude is really something else, I had to rent a horse otherwise I would not had been able to keep going!
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Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!Very nice presentation. Peru seems amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! Yes! Peru is really amazing! We fell in love with it!
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Beautiful pictures, the immensity and majesty of the mountains are simply beautiful and impressive.
Thank you so much! It was a magical experience! :)
Wow, those colors of those mountains look amazing, and for sure to see them live is a whole other thing, I really hope I will be able to visit Peru too sooner or later. Thanks for sharing @caravaneva and have a good day
Hello! Yes, hope you can visit Peru soon! It was a really magical and beautiful experience! Thank you for reading :)
Hi Eva, the rainbow-colored mountain and your views from the valleys look really nice. Especially the contract between the different colors of red and green.
Did they share anything with you on the geological processes that resulted in the existence of the rainbow-colored mountain?
Hello! Yes, the color contrast is really stunning! And I remember they told us it had to do with the different mineral weights, so that the heavier ones moved to the bottom and the lighter ones stood on top, forming those layers.
Cool, thanks for your answer :-)