Peru - Day 9: Rainbow Mountain and back to Cusco
On Friday, June 21, 2024, my friends and I went to Rainbow Mountain!
Rainbow Mountain
A driver from SAM Travel Peru picked us up from Union Hotel around 4:00am for the drive toward Rainbow Mountain. About 90 minutes into the drive, we stopped at Casa Ausangate Museo Restaurant in Cusipata for breakfast. The restaurant is a common stopping point for travelers heading to and from Rainbow Mountain.
We spent about 30 minutes there before getting back on the road and continuing toward the trailhead.
We started hiking around 8:00am and reached the Rainbow Mountain viewpoint around 9:30am. Although the hike itself isn't especially long, the altitude makes it considerably more challenging. Vinicunca, better known as Rainbow Mountain, sits at more than 5,000 meters, or roughly 16,400 feet, above sea level.
Rainbow Mountain is known for the natural bands of red, yellow, green, and other colors that stretch across its slopes. The colors were formed over time by different mineral-rich sediments and oxidation, creating the striped appearance that made the mountain famous.
Unfortunately, it was snowing during our visit, which covered quite a bit of the mountain and made its famous colors much harder to see. Even though June falls during Peru's dry season, the elevation is so high that cold temperatures and snow are still possible.
I also learned something else while I was there: Rainbow Mountain isn't quite as intensely colorful in person as many of the photos online make it appear. The colors are definitely there, but I realized just how much saturation and other editing can be added to photos to make those colors look much more vibrant. With the snow and overcast skies during our visit, they were especially muted.
Even with the weather, we spent a little over an hour at the top taking photos, enjoying the views, and meeting some of the local alpacas. While I was disappointed that we didn't get the clear, colorful view I had hoped for, it was still a wonderful experience and I'm really glad we went.
We started making our way back down around 11:30am and returned to Casa Ausangate Museo Restaurant for lunch, arriving around 1:15pm. We left around 2:00pm and continued the drive back to Cusco, arriving at Union Hotel around 4:00pm.
Evening in Cusco
After freshening up at the hotel, we headed back out and spent a couple of hours wandering around Cusco.
At 7:00pm, we had dinner at Cicciolina, a restaurant in Cusco that combines Mediterranean and Andean influences. Since we were officially finished with the hiking portion of our trip, I finally allowed myself to try a pisco sour with dinner!
Dinner was so good and was a wonderful way to end the Cusco portion of our trip.
