We booked our trip through a travel group located in San Francisco Plaza, see the Cusco post for the location, for 70 soles each. Which included transportation there, breakfast, lunch, and transportation back. We had to pay 10 soles each to hike the mountain once there.

After getting altitude sickness on Taquile, an island on Lake Titicaca, we were nervous to do this hike. But figured we could go slow. Machu Picchu was only 7,972 feet and Montaña Machu Picchu was 10,111 and we did great, so we thought we’d go for it. We did try this natural altitude supplement, and we felt great hiking, so maybe it helped.

Our van finally picked us up just before 4am and we were off. We picked up a few more hikers and then switched to a large bus. About 8am we arrived in Hanchipacha for breakfast. We had tea, and bread with jam. We jumped back in the bus and were dropped off at the starting point, Kayrawiri, for Rainbow Mountain. At 8:45am we paid our 10 soles and set out. Our tour group offered walking sticks, I took one, John didn’t. I wouldn’t say it was necessary, but I didn’t mind having it. We went slow, and made it to the top after about 2.5 hours. We had some sleet on the way up, so were thankful for our layers, and hats and gloves.

We stayed at the top for about 30 min, hoping the clouds would clear. There were brief moments where you could see a little more.

We were really glad we did this trip. We hit rain on the way down and that was cold, a poncho would have been a better idea than our light jackets. Lunch was a delicious buffet although with the altitude we weren’t that hungry. We took 4 water bottles about 30oz each, and we drank only one while hiking. I’m sure on a hot day it would’ve been more.

We dozed on the bus ride back to Cusco, and grabbed a spicy guacamole burger from McDonald’s for dinner. We showered, and then fell into bed.