Peru - Day 5: Lares Trek Day 1: Cusco – Huaran – Cancha Cancha

On Monday, June 17, 2024, we began the first day of our Lares Trek to Machu Picchu with SAM Travel Peru. Our route that day would take us from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to Huaran, where we would begin hiking toward the remote community of Cancha Cancha.

Cusco to Calca

Our guide picked us up from Union Hotel around 7:00am, and we began driving toward the Sacred Valley. Along the way, we stopped in Calca, a town located at an elevation of about 9,600 feet.

Mercado Modelo in Calca

While in Calca, we visited the local Mercado Modelo, a busy traditional market filled with vendors selling produce, food, household goods, and other everyday items. The market was colorful and tightly packed, giving us a glimpse into daily life in the Sacred Valley.

We spent about an hour walking through the market before getting back on the road and continuing toward the trailhead.

Beginning the Lares Trek

From Calca, we drove to the Sayhuapata trailhead, located at approximately 10,797 feet near Huaran. We began hiking around 10:30am, gradually gaining elevation as we made our way farther into the mountains toward Cancha Cancha.

This was our first real introduction to the landscape we would be hiking through over the next several days, with mountain scenery, valleys, and increasingly remote surroundings as we moved farther away from the road.

Cancha Cancha

Cancha Cancha, located at approximately 12,800 feet, is one of the more isolated traditional communities in the Lares Valley. There is no road leading directly to the village, and the community remained without electricity until relatively recently.

Reaching Cancha Cancha marked the end of our first day of hiking.

Evening at Camp

Once we arrived at camp, we got settled in and had dinner. While we were there, an adorable dog came over to visit us! As tempting as it was, we made sure not to feed it because we could tell it belonged to a nearby family. We didn’t want to encourage it to follow us farther along the trek and potentially end up too far from home.

After a long first day of hiking, we were all pretty exhausted and headed to bed early.