This morning, after a very short night, our tour bus/van picked us up at 3 AM for our tour to Rainbow Mountain. This is a relatively new discovery in the area, the mountain itself was covered by snow/ice up until 2013 so none of the colors were visible. That ice has since retreated and the magnificent colors were first discovered by the natives, and now by hoardes of tourists daily. We had booked the tour before the Machu Picchu/Choquequirao trek, and both of us were a little tired. We got to sleep on the bus, at least. Around 6 AM we stopped for a breakfast of pancakes, bananas, bread, juice, and tea before we continued onward to the trailhead of rainbow mountain.

Once we got to the  trailhead we could tell that spectacular landscapes were to come, and all different from the ones we had just got done travelling through by the Inca ruins. There were shades red, mixed in with grass, but also snowy peaks all around.

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The trail up to the mountain peak was relatively short distance wise, but still covered a decent amount of elevation (over 1000m) while traveling up the valley. It was a challenge on our tired legs!

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Once we got to the first “mirador” (loookout) for the mountain the trail split which caused a conundrum. Our guide said we didn’t have enough time to see both the Red Valley which lay a little further, AND rainbow mountain peak, so we had to go to the peak. Alejandro took this as a challenge and left his heavy pack with Cassie while he ran off to the valley. The views from there were definitely worth the effort.

While he was doing this Cassie trekked up the final push to the peak of Rainbow Mountain. Once you get there, the only expression you get is WOW. Alejandro finally joined her at the top (a bit breathless you could say) in time to feel the same awe. Definitely breathtaking colors and you can tell why the mountain got it’s name. (You can also see bits of the red valley in the distance in one of the pictures).

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The way back to the van was a bit easier but still involved the descent which took us some time. We were definitely happy to have woken up as early as we did, though, because now we saw the hoardes of tourists that make the the trekk up every day. It’s estimated that the mountain gets around 800-1000 visitors each day!

The van got us back to Cusco in time for us to walk down to the bus station, repack our bit packs as it had been a while, then board our overnight bus to Arequipa! Good night.