Marcahuasi and Back Again: A Hiker's Tail by Caitlin Zandiego

Imagine that you are surrounded by a humid, chilly breeze and looking up at a gray sky. The air feels heavy and a myriad of smells, from savory food to motor oil, are upon you always. You are in Lima. Now imagine you take a crickety old combi (a small bus) through winding roads that hug the cliffs of the Andes Mountains. You arrive at the town of San Pedro, where the air is thin because of the high altitude, the sun is shining, and everything is covered in a layer of dust.

Peru is definitely a country with variety. Lima is surrounded by desert which progressively become mountains. The borders of Peru to the south and east are the beginnings of the Amazon while the north is filled with beaches. The radical differences are experienced without any of the conveniences we are used to such as heaters or air conditioners. As I experienced this weekend, sometimes all you can do is put on a few more layers of clothing.

My roommates and I all signed up to go to Marcahuasi with several Peruvians for camping and hiking, though at the time we definitely were ignorant of all that would entail. Marcahuasi is a mesita, a volcanic rock formation, on which ancient peoples built various posts for religious ceremonies. It also had the advantage of having several small lakes which captured the water and made brief habitation possible. It truly wouldn't be feasible to live up there without the support from the people of San Pedro, many of whom make a living from this popular tourist attraction.

We began our trip on Friday evening, arriving in a town 2 hours outside Lima. A majority of us slept under the stars, rising early with the sun. The following day we spent nearly 3 hours on the rented combi, twisting our way through the mountains. When we arrived in San Pedro, our backpacks and sleeping bags were loaded onto burros while we ate a very tasty lunch of chaufa, a rice and chicken dish that had a very unusual (for me) combination of spices. We began our trek up the mountain. The climb was difficult but mostly due to the elevation- higher than the climb to Machu Pichu apparently. After 3 hours of huffing and puffing our way up the mountain, we arrived at the Antiteatro: a flat surface surrounding by rocks to shelter us from the winds. At this point it was already 6 in the evening, so we had to set up our tents quickly and put on our night gear. I think my roommate Emma won the contest, having 6 layers of pants and shirts on to stay warm. Even with our growing resemblance to the Michelin Man, most of us were cold and went to bed very early. Not, however, before our food arrived via burro. That's right, mountain side delivery all the way from San Pedro. After we devoured our soup, we were off to bed in some incredibly tiny tents.

Sunday was the most challenging day for the entire group. Quite a few people were suffering from the altitude and couldn't join us on a hike to La Forteleza. This was a point about 1 hour away that had ancient tombs and a fort built on top of one of the highest rocks on Marcahuasi. The hike was exhausting for me, especially because we got lost on the way back to camp. After we finally returned and ate massive amounts of food, we started down the mountain. My major complaint about our guides comes from this last trek. They decided that it would be shorter and easier to go a different path down the mountain than we did ascending it. Not true. We ended up clinging to the sides of cliffs, trying to find solid rocks when the dirt beneath us gave way, and picking our way through fields of cacti attempting to find a path. After we finally made it to San Pedro, I was beyond exhausted but we still had a long combi ride to our camp for the night. Those were probably the most terrifying hours of my life. We were flying down the sides of the mountains in the absolute black of night down one-way gravel roads on cliffs that were hundreds of feet high. I was alternately saying prayers, trying breathing exercises, and thinking how much my mom would be freaking out were she in the bus. Once, there was a build up of cars because we met a bus coming from the opposite direction. Neither bus wanted to move, and only the appearance of several cars behind us made the bus from the other direction back up. We ended that night in a campground in which we spent a few nice hours lounging in the pool the following day.

Although I probably will not be taking a bus through the Andes anytime soon, I look forward now to exploring Peru more than ever. There are so many areas I want to experience, but maybe next time I'll try the beach. I think I deserve that.