Sacred Colorful Mountains

Day 1: Full day tour

We will pick you up between 04:30 hrs. – 05:00 hrs. Then we are going to set out in a 3 hours drive through the South Valley until we get Cusipata community where we are going to stop for breakfast. After breakfast, we continue for around 40 to 50 minutes more to the trek´s checkpoint (4,850 m / 15,912 ft). The Tour Guide briefs you there about the following route and makes an offering for the mountains. In this way, you get ready to start hiking. The following route takes us around 1 hour until we reach Viñicunca (the Rainbow Mountain) measuring 5,020 m.a.s.l. On the way, we can observe the multitudes of lamas and alpacas. These gorgeous and awesome animals are a mercy for shepherds because of providing warm fiber which they process in beautiful colorful costumes. Also, we pass by stunning gorges leading to the highest parts while being surrounded by snowy peaks (e.g. Ausangate of 6,385 m/20948 ft). For that reason, we can watch landscape changes. Most importantly, a variety of colors of the Rainbow Mountain (5,020 m /16,466 ft). We arrive at the mountain between 10 and 10:30 am. The Guide explains to us here about its orthography, ecosystem, and causes of its colors. He/she takes you also to a viewpoint in order to take the most beautiful pictures of the colorful mountain and to see wonderful landscapes of over 5,000 meters in height. After that, we start our return hike. In the end, we return to Llaqtoc where our vehicle awaits us. Before we get on it, we enjoy our box lunch. Then, we ride back to the city of Cusco.