Are you a trekking lover, do you like to live unique experiences, do high altitude treks, then walking to the Montaña de 7 colores will be a real adventure; also tell you that this site is the second most visited place after Machu Picchu.
Before travelling to any destination, you should always have additional information or at least know theoretically about the place, so I leave you with this travel guide that will help you and give you an idea of what the mountain of colours is like, how far away it is and what things you can or cannot take with you.
Later I will detail the route I will take, where you can have breakfast and lunch, on this occasion I am travelling with the tourism agency Tierra de los Andes.
This natural beauty is one of the attractions that we must visit, it is considered as one of the most requested trekking by the travellers, what calls the attention is to see the variety of colours that it has such as red, yellow, ochre, purple, green, pink, blue among other colours that can be seen, but they are not very visible.
Along the way we will see some incredible landscapes, we will be closer to the snowy peak because we will be climbing over 5,000 meters and you must be well to get to the top;
To visit the seven-coloured mountain you can do it in the dry season, which is between the months of May and November, during these months we can visit this natural attraction without worries.
But keep in mind that between the months of September, October and November there is little rainfall in the city, but not every day;
As I said at the beginning it is the most requested trekking, in this case I will tell you all about my trekking journey to the mountain of Vinicunca or Rainbow Mountain, from the city of Cusco.
Today I had to get up very early to go to the colourful mountain, for which we will be picked up at 4 am at the Plaza Regocijo a few steps from the Plaza Mayor, we are expecting some friends who will also go with us;
Once we are all together we head for the mountain, the trip takes about 4 hours, before we get to the start of the trek we stop at Cusipata for breakfast. What we were given for breakfast was toast, scrambled egg, jam, butter, you decide what to take because there are options of coffee, tea or coca tea that helps with altitude sickness.
After breakfast we continue our journey which takes us another hour to reach the village from where the trekking starts; but first you should know that we pay an entrance fee of 15 soles, and for foreign tourists it costs 25 soles.
We get ready to start the trekking, the guide gives us some camphor water, a water that will help us to breathe better during the trek. If you think you can't climb the whole mountain you can rent a horse, this has an additional cost and is between 60 to 70 soles, but it won't take you up to the mountain itself only to the lower part and from there you have to climb that steep part to get to the top of the mountain.
We continue with our trekking, after smelling some of that magic water we start our walk which will take about an hour and a half, depending on our physical endurance you can arrive earlier, but it is advisable to go calmly and not run, you can get dizzy and feel the effects of altitude sickness.
Along the way we can see a landscape with a view of the Nevada Ausangate (the highest in Cusco), the road is flat which makes our journey easier; every kilometre there are toilets so don't worry, they also sell coca candy, lemon and boiled water so you can drink mate and not be hurt by the altitude.
I forgot, for the climb just carry what you need in your backpack: a cap, water, sun block, your camera and if you want some snacks, your warm clothes and your windbreaker jacket; this will make your trip easier, especially for the steep part of the climb.
We already walked for about 50 minutes before we reached the steep part or the base of the coloured mountain, of course we stopped at every place as soon as we felt tired, but we rested for about 10 minutes in this part to climb with a lot of energy this last part.
As I climbed I could see many people climbing, some resting and unfortunately others were affected by the altitude because we are climbing to 5,000 metres, children, young people and adults all climbing with the energy of being able to reach the top.
We are already climbing the most difficult part, every step is an odyssey hahaha…in my case it was a little difficult, I was short of breath, but everything was calm and quiet, just like the rest of the way we did it with security and tranquility; it was very close to arrive and we were all excited to get there…a few more minutes and I'm already at the top.
Minutes later, we are finally at the top although we still need a little more to get a good photo, but we are already there, as soon as I saw it I was surprised by the variety of colours it has and it is not the only mountain.
We climbed higher and from this viewpoint you can see better this natural attraction the Montaña de Siete Colores or Vinicunca, beyond the Red Valley (red mountain); that's not all you get a spectacular view of a red mountain and beyond colours...wow this place is incredible...so climbing all that was worth it, seeing the snow up close, feeling that cold air that enters all over your body; but I will keep this place as one of my favourite destinations.
After enjoying all the scenery, I went down to the part where some local ladies were selling alpaca chicharrón accompanied by their local potato; the truth is that I really liked it, the taste is delicious, it is like a combination of pork, guinea pig or chicken, the truth is something unique that I could try and I recommend it to you. You must accompany it with your mate de muña which has an additional cost, this so that the fat does not hurt you.
After taking several photos and feeling the happiness of being in one of the famous mountains, seeing its different colours, feeling short of breath hahaha…it was worth it. After living all this experience now we have to descend, it is easy, but you have to be careful not to fall.
Our return from all this route took us another hour and a half to get back to the start, we came back calmer but all dusty, and to get into the car we had to clean our shoes and trousers.
It is almost two o'clock in the afternoon and we go for lunch at the same restaurant where we had breakfast. Lunch is a buffet, in this case it was a quinoa soup, yellow rice accompanied by roast beef and salad, the food is tasty, I'm not complaining.
After lunch, we returned to Cusco which took us about three hours, as I was travelling in September, it started to rain on the way to the city, imagine if it rained in the mountains…nooo…thank goodness it was on the road otherwise I would have been sad.
Once in Cusco the bus left us at our hotel. The whole journey was quiet, the hike was very tiring and most of us were resting, but as I said it was worth it to see all that beauty;
If you want to go to this natural attraction, I recommend that you hire the services of a tourist agency, in my case I travelled with Tierra de los Andes who provided me with all the services and comforts, the guide was a very kind person and told us several stories along the way.
You can also do it on your own, but it is a bit more expensive, and there is no private transport that goes there, only tourist agencies go there.
