Today is going to be a long day. We
get up at the same time as usual and wait patiently for the arrival of
the group of tourists coming from Cuzco with whom we'll visit the 7 colors
mountain. After our breakfast, we board the minivan for a little over an hour of zigzag in the mountains. We cross a lot of small villages and the mountain is very beautiful. The parking where we arrive is already occupied by twenty vehicles and others are arriving. The guide gives some tips on how to manage the altitude, we're still at more than 4000m high and we will go up to 5200m. The hike should last at least 1.5 hours according to the guide. There are a lot of locals who offer tourists to take them on
horseback, the path is steep and not everyone is acclimated to the
altitude.
The
hike is very pretty, we walk rather fast and soon we're at the head of
our group, no wonder given our physical condition and our
acclimatization of several months. We arrive at the level of the mountain in 7 colors after 1h25 of walking. We
are pleasantly surprised by the surrounding valley: it's also very
beautiful, we didn't expect to see anything else pretty than the
colorful mountain. We enjoy the landscape while waiting for the rest of the group before going back down.
We arrive at the restaurant from where we left at 14:40. The
meal is nearly ready, we take advantage of every minute to pack
our stuffs, we must at all costs get closer to Cuzco before sunset,
otherwise tomorrow would be really hard. The meal is very good. After that we quickly thank our host before riding our bikes heading for Cuzco.
We're well on our way and manage to get past the village we planned to stop. After 35km and at sunset, we reach the village of Quiquijana where we find a unattractive hotel, but with a brand new room and clean sheets, it's not bad.
