Got altitude? Rainbow Mountain is taller than Mt McKinley. We had many days to adjust to the altitude and did take the meds and I drank coca tea and we had the coca candy. But still, we arent from here and altitude literally takes your breath away even if it doesnt make you sick. So we took the horses up as high as we could, and walked the last 40 minutes or so, which would have been 15 min in length if it werent for the pitch and needing to stop every few minutes to recover (even Macchu Pichu caused this phenomenon and at a notably lower altitude). The rainbow is based on the movement of glaciers which cleared off the top of this mountain face revealing these unbelieveable colors. Like the surface of the moon, there is no vegitation, just stone and dirt.
We left at 3:00am sharp for the mountain in pitch darkness and literally drove through side dirt roads and neighborhoods up a fairly newly constructed road. I thought for a bit this was just a ploy to abduct us as the scenery was so sparce and the night so quiet: we were first up the road something we would appreciate on the descent as people stopped our guide repeatedly asking for horses, breathless and weary.
The view was well worth the effort. Its amazing that the locals walk the horses in sandals up and down taking 4-6 trips a day. But apparently their physical make up is literally different after decades if adaption as I have commented on before. The locals have a superstition about black dogs that makes them the pet of choice and they are everywhere. Apparently, at the time of your death the dogs can carry your spirits across the river. No black dog, no one to carry your spirits.
We ended with a lovely lunch at a host house in the town outside of the mountain on the way back to cusco. Common fair is a chifa fried rice, beef or alpaca with onions and peppers, quinoa based crouquettes, a quina based seed juice among other items.
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