If you are a nature lover, challenges, then climbing the Humantay Lagoon will be one of the best experiences you will have and as a compensation you will be amazed by its stunning turquoise colour at high altitude and its spectacular surroundings. Don't put off for later something you can do today.
There are numerous reasons why one should visit the Humantay Lagoon, where it provides a fascinating and rewarding experience. This place of fantasy has an impressive natural beauty, as the colour of its waters is characterised by an intense turquoise and it is in the foothills of the Humantay snow-capped mountain.
Now, if you are interested in the world of mysticism, spirituality and learning more about the Inca culture, this is one of the sacred places that the Inca settlers had, that is why this place is characterised by being a hiking route to the Humantay Lagoon.
And if you want to disconnect from all the hustle and bustle of the city, your routine life, you can come here to connect with all that amazing landscape that frees you from stress and recharges you with energy to continue with your days, it definitely gives us an incredible view and that connection with all this ancient culture.
It is advisable to visit between May and September (dry season), when the days are sunnier and the view of the lagoon and the snow-capped Humantay is more visible, but here is my own recommendation.
If you want to see a greenish landscape, colourful flowers and a view covered with mist as if you were in the sky, if you like to see that landscape then you can travel between the months of October to November, there is little rain and some days are sunny, personally I like to have that view so I recommend it to you.
But, if you want some good photos, to have a clearer view of the landscape then go between the months of May to September, there is little rainfall and the scenery is pleasant, many of the visitors I have seen love the wonderful view that this natural attraction gives us.
I am excited, impatient to visit this great place, what strikes me is that it has turquoise water, we are ready to leave and start a new adventure.
In this case I will travel with the agency Tierra de los Andes, I could do it on my own, but there is a detail, there are not many cars that go to Humantay, and getting one would be more expensive; for this reason it is convenient to go with an agency, since they already have everything coordinated.
To go to the Humantay Lagoon we must leave Cusco very early, in this case the agency will pick me up at the hotel at about 4:00 in the morning and the estimated time to get to the village of Mollepata is two and a half hours, here we will make a stop and buy our entrance tickets to the Humantay Lagoon;
As we leave very early, it is still dark, but little by little the day is getting lighter and you can see a beautiful landscape, always surrounded by mountains and see from the chimneys of the houses a lot of smoke coming out, as many people are getting ready to go to work the land, their work, school and it is impressive to have these views.
We continue with the trip and as I told you, each place has something special, its landscapes are beautiful and always surrounded by mountains; the guide tells us that we are about to reach the first stop, but there are many uphill turns and the truth is that I almost got dizzy, I felt that it affected me a little those curves but so far resisting.
Before entering the village there is a booth where you pay your entrance to the Laguna Humantay the sum of 20 soles if you are a foreigner and if you are a national pay 10 soles, after paying enter the restaurant where we will take our breakfast buffet, there are a variety of dishes to be served.
After breakfast, we continue our route and head towards Soraypampa from where we start the hike to the lagoon itself. From this place we walk upwards, at the beginning it took us about 30 minutes to get to the middle point.
Now we will climb for 1 hour to an hour and a half, the truth will depend on your physical endurance because some people do it in less time, it is up to you the pace you put on the road. During all this route we will see beautiful landscapes surrounded by snow-capped mountains, we are practically climbing the Salkantay mountain which is a few km further on.
A piece of advice, if you are going to go to the Laguna Humantay you should have your trekking shoes, because the path is slippery and your feet will thank you for it. If you go in the rainy season always carry a poncho, your windbreaker, light but warm clothes, try not to carry too many things because on the way your backpack can get heavier and make your whole trip more difficult.
I'm a few metres away from reaching the lagoon, what a thrill, once in the place it's incredible to see all this fantasy place, it's somewhat improbable because in reality the colour of the water is turquoise and gives it an impressive aspect.
When you are here try not to vote for solid waste, keep it in a rubbish bag, now you should know that it is forbidden to get into the water, because from this lagoon goes to the people where the water is consumed, so it is important to take care of this nature reserve.
What you can do in this place is to take amazing pictures, admire the beauty of the water, after spending a good time in this paradisiacal place, now comes the hard part, descending all this way is more difficult than going up.
But I'm sure you will tell me that it should be easier, but from my perspective it is not easy to go down the mountain, this is where your legs must be strong to support the weight of your body; but this happens only at the beginning because remember that in the middle of the way everything is flat so there are no difficulties.
Por no ser cautelosos vi a algunos caerse, por eso al bajar debes de tener mucho cuidado, se siente como si el mismo camino te jalara hacia abajo en algunas ocasiones tuve que bajar corriendo, pero siempre con alma, si sienten que les falta la respiración párense, respiren oxígeno y sigan.
It is not essential that you are running, but don't do it for a long time just to take a deep breath and let go of all that tiredness, because if you rest for a long time your body will get cold, your legs will start to weaken and once again you will find it difficult to walk.
We are almost at the flat part of the road and you won't believe it, there was a lady roasting the meat, it was heart meat, it was really delicious. We continue our tour
We arrive in Soraypampa at the same point of departure, here the bus is waiting for us to take us back to the city of Cusco, but first we make a stop at the same restaurant where we had breakfast for lunch, it is also a buffet and they serve the type of food you want.
After that we go to the city of Cusco, the travel time it takes us to get back is two and a half hours. I leave happy, because it was an adventure, a feat to climb to that height, but I don't regret it because the beautiful view of Humantay calmed everything and filled me with a lot of strength to continue.
Once in Cusco, the bus drops us off at our hotel so that we can rest from the long journey, but it is a tiredness from a whole adventure in the Andes.
In this case we went to the Casa Salkantay Museo Restaurant where we had breakfast and lunch, everything was a buffet where they serve you a variety of dishes, everything was delicious, so I am not complaining.
