Today our team left the comforts of Wayra Lodge and hiked 6 miles and 3,000 ft down to the Colpa Lodge that sits in the cloud forest at 9,414 ft (2,870m). Cloud forests are found on mountains from 11,000-1,500 ft. in the tropics in areas that receive a lot of rain. Home to a huge range of life they are one of the worlds most diverse environments and include thousands of species of orchids and hundreds of birds. As we walked down through the cloud forest we saw lots of birds, plants and orchids while Salcantay and Humantay receded behind us. We also stopped at a local farmers home where he demonstrated a handcrafted cultivation tool and a workshedfull of tools and equipment used for the horse trains that bring food and goods from village to village. Our local guide, Javier is excellent at teaching us about the culture, flora and fauna of The Peruvian Andes.
At the Colpa lodge we were welcomed with hot towels and chicha morada, sweet cool purple fruit juice made from purple corn. Our cook and horse drivers demonstrated a fire roast of 5 different kinds of Peruvian corn and meats. We relaxed until our lunch feast was served. Most of us trie the local delicacy of roasted Guinea pig along with delicious mint sauce and sweet potatoes. Yum!
This evening we will have a Pisco Sour making demonstration with a lite dinner and most likely a soak in the hot tub looking out over the cloud forest…
Tomorrow we hike to the Lucma Lodge, down another 2,000ft. Stay tuned for updates on how our Pisco class goes 😉
-Anna Zajicek
