Horseriding on the Salkantay Trek, Peru

‘Keep to the mountainside!” shouted Guido. I soon saw why. A landslide had taken away some of the dirt trail. To my right was a drop of hundreds of metres. I didn’t dare look down; praying we wouldn’t meet a mule-train coming in the opposite direction, I focused on the view through Guapa’s pricked ears instead. She didn’t hesitate but calmly walked on.

Day four of the Salkantay Trek by horseback, and I had expected the going to be easy. It was the previous day that should have been the big one, crossing a notorious 4,600m pass. I was obviously going to have a few more heart-stopping moments before I got to relax with a pisco sour at the comfortable lodge that awaited.

We were to spend two nights at Soraypampa to give us a chance to acclimatise. I woke to the sound of birdsong and to tassel-eared llamas sauntering past my window. After breakfast, we mounted the horses and went a short distance along the trail before turning off up a hillside, passing cultivated patches and fruit trees, including the banana passionfruit, which is traditionally used in ceviche.

A narrow track led up a mountain, with steep drops to the side. We left the lush vegetation behind, passing giant cacti instead. The path then led out into a valley, where cattle, horses and mules grazed, pairs of Andean geese stood and a condor soared high overhead.

We tied the horses up, and hiked up the mountain to a beautiful glassy-green lake, where caracaras scavenged along the shoreline. In front of us was Humantay, largely obscured by cloud. “When the peak is clear like it is today, but you have clouds below, the locals say that the mountain has its poncho on,” revealed Guido.


We rode back down the way we came. “This is good practise for tomorrow,” said Guido. “Let the horse work out the best route down. Sit back. If it is really steep, you can always grab the back of the saddle with one hand.”

Wayra means wind and, appropriately enough, the wind whistled around outside as dusk fell and candles flickered – it was the perfect setting for ghost stories. We huddled around the log-burning stove as Guido told us how this area is considered haunted by spirits. Spaniards were attacked on the trail, but they wouldn’t be killed outright – that was considered too good for them. Instead they were tied to a boulder, and their guts split open for the condors to come and devour.


The locals don’t venture out at night because of fear of the spirits. “If you see one, you must not speak to it!” said Guido. “If a face appears at the window, it may be a spirit – or it could be a trekker who has lost their way!”

Outside, the sky had cleared. Stars twinkled furiously, the Milky Way clearly visible. Guido pointed out the ‘eyes of the llama’ in the Milky Way, which was known as the Celestial River to the Incas who believed that each star related to an animal.

We woke early, but not as early as some. Guido had correctly predicted there was little point getting to Machu Picchu for sunrise as it would be cloudy. Sure enough, when we arrived it was completely shrouded, hiding its secrets from us. But the sun gradually broke through, the mists shimmying to give tantalising glimpses. Finally, the full splendour and scale of the citadel was exposed. We marvelled at the skill and ingenuity, the craftmanship and the mysteries.

While entranced by the site, I couldn’t help but remember Guido’s constant reminders throughout our journey that you shouldn’t consider Machu Picchu in isolation. It was part of a whole network of sites, both manmade and natural. In the Inca world everything was interconnected and in alignment. You had to read the landscape, just as the Inca had.

I kept looking out at the surrounding mountains. “Which way is Mount Salkantay?” I asked Guido. He pointed exactly due south, but the view was obscured by heavy cloud. It struck me that Guapa would probably be heading over the Salkantay pass right now on her way back home –following in the steps of countless Inca from long ago.

Lyn Hughes travelled with Journey Latin America on Mountain Lodges of Peru’s Lodge to Lodge Ride.