Peru - Lares Trek
A few years back, I took on the challenge of doing the Lares Trek in Peru - not so well known as the Inca Trail, but every bit as beautiful and hard work! The trek is 33 kms long, and at one point you cross 4550 metres, sleeping 2 nights at around 3600 metres. I am by no means a fitness freak, so I knew that 3 days of trekking in high altitude may will be a challenge - and a challenge it was.
We started our trip with a few nights in Cuzco, to acclimatize to the altitude, before heading through the Sacred Valley to our starting point in the Andes for our 3 day trek - the Quechuan farmers live along the trek, kids run down to wave and say hello, all living a very basic lifestyle, but the joy in their faces is worth gold! We slept in tents (and yes it was very cold in the month of November - one night getting to minus 6), the food along the trek was fantastic and plentiful, and the Sherpas even cooked up Roasted Guinea Pig for breakfast on our last day before we headed towards Aguas Calientes.
It was also the most personally rewarding trip I have done so far - knowing I accomplished what I did, on day 2 suffering quite badly from altitude sickness with a couple of others on the trek, we kept each other going. One foot in front of the other, as we climbed to over 4500 metres.
I would recommend this trip to anyone looking for an adventure and wanting to experience something a little different.