03 Jun 2022
First off, the first 2 days of the Salkantay trek are the prettiest and most interesting, in my opinion. I'd done a full Salkantay trek in 2015 and only wanted to go back to Soraypampa, Humantay Lake and Salkantay pass. They were all as special and beautiful as they were in my memory. The camps have grown quite a bit, with many glamping options; in 2015 there were only the thatched huts over tents. We were acclimatizing for a 7-day Ausangate trek, so getting to 15,200 was going to be helpful.
Our guide Jose Luis was a lovely person and adept hiking guide. We had a great time at Humantay and he didn't mind us walking up to both ridges to see the lake and glacier from above. We had a great time at Salkantay pass too.
The food was quite good and they were able to meet a vegan and gluten free diet. We did not get trots on or after the trip, which is a sign of a clean kitchen.
However, there were a few things...
1. Our transportation was a tiny Hyundai with an InDriver (Peru's version of Uber). We were 5 people - my friend and I, a solo traveler, our guide and our driver, crammed into a compact car for 4hrs each way on windy mountain roads with KN-95 masks on. We swapped out the middle seat every couple hours (the guide sat up front), but it was extremely uncomfortable.
2. Our sky dome, while very cool, was filthy. We used our sleeping bags and pads on top of the beds, which smelled bad, and someone had had diarrhea on the mat in the bathroom, which was not changed even after we reported it. We tiptoed around it and did not use the bathroom because it was gross. There was also a giant pile of horse poo on the walkway to our dome, and during our 24hr stay there, no one cleaned it up, so we had to go around it onto the grass, including by headlamp at night.
3. After our hike up to the pass, we came back and packed quickly, being told we needed to leave before a checkpoint/construction area was closed. Then our InDriver went AWOL for an hour and a half, and we ended up getting stuck behind the checkpoint for 2hrs. I understand South America operates on a different time frame, but the whole "hurry up and wait" business felt disrespectful. Once we got on the road, the driver drove unsafely (fast, swerving, narrowly avoiding collision) to try to make up the time, as one of us had a briefing for a different tour at 6pm, which they missed despite the speeding.
Though the food was good, the guide was pleasant company, the scenery was gorgeous and the sky dome is a great concept, I would not recommend this outfit, due to the potential safety issues I stated above (driving and biohazards).