Rainbow Mountain Peru, also
known as Vinicunca is a undiscovered land full of wildly desert landscapes,
snowcapped glaciated peaks, herds of alpaca, and pristine beauty.
During this journey you will be in between two different ecosystem the Andean grass land called
puna and the janca ecosystem in the proximity of the glacears.There will be
some flora and fauna during this journey to the sacred mountain of
vinicunca.Among the species that you can see will be the river gull,Andean
cacara and puna ibis, Andean flickers and several kind of finches like
plumbeous sierra finch and the Peruvian sierra finch among them.as well some flora like ichu
vegetation from the grain family ,many succulent close to the glaciers and many
musses and chilcas from the asters family.
Throughout your journey you will pass through a vibrant green valley with the impressive
Ausangate Mountain towering in the distance. You will experience firsthand how
locals live in the mountains and even see them hard at work. As you get closer
to the Rainbow Mountain you will begin to see the first signs of the colored
minerals that formed the painted hills. Your guide will explain what makes up
the existence of the Rainbow Mountain, and finally with one last push you will
hike or ride the mules or horses up to a vantage point that gives you a 360
degree view of the beautiful landscape that makes up the sacred land. You have
made it to the ultimate destination- The painted hills hidden deep in the
Andes. Our way back will be by the same trail down to the beginning where hot
drinks, dinning tent and a warn meal will be waiting for you after your
challenge to this magnificent scenery. Then we will continue to the beginning
of the river trip where we will camp along the river. Time for happy hours and
then a good dinner. Sleep well with the sounds of the river looking forward for
a great river trip.
The Ausangate snow peaks considered sacred in the Andean world. Is one of the highest mountains in
Peru. Supposes to fertilize the Pachamama or Mother earth, been a masculine
symbol of the Andean religion, traditions and myths.
OVERVIEW:
Duration: Full Day
4am- 6pm
Distance: 15km/
9.3miles
Optional 10 km/6.5
Elevation: 4300m
(14,200ft) - 5035m (16,520ft)
Difficulty:
moderate/difficult
THE GREAT URUBAMBA
RIVER/RAFTING CLASS III- IV
The Great Urubamba River in Peru is a partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River. It rises
in the Andes to the southeast of Cusco, near the border of the Puno region, in
a place called “La Raya Pass”, which at 4338 meters; it lies between the
snowcapped Chimboya that rises to 5489 meters and the Mosaya snow peak, at 5400
meters. Here, at its origin, it is called the sacred Vilcanota River. Another
main source of water for this sacred river is the snowcapped mountain Ausangate
that rises to 6384 meters. As it flows in the Sacred Valley between Pisac and
Ollantaytambo the river is called the Willcamayu or “Sacred River of the
Incas”. It flows north-northeast for about 724 kilometers before joining the
great Apurimac River to form the Ucayali River. Together they join the Marañon
River and the Napo River to form the Great Amazon River near Iquitos in the
north part of Perú.
River rafting:
Vilcanota,Chuquicahuana section:
After two hours drive we reach a town called LLocllora. Late afternoon we will arrive to the
camp near the river to enjoy hotdrinks and some rum,fire for the night and
agood sleep near the sounds of the water of the sacred river vilcanota. After ,
we reach a town called LLocllora where we get up for breakfast and for
preparations, safety instructions and to gather our equipment and gear for the
rafting trip. Because this is a challenging section, we will meet up with our
“Safety Kayak” who will accompany us along this section. For the first 3,30
minutes , we will be in a variety of class I, II, III, IV rapids, over a
distance of 30 kilometers. Our first class III rapid is called “the
Introduction” which is good training for the main rapids coming ahead. After
that, we pass the class III+ rapid called “the Curve”, and then we will
continue through easy class I and class II rapids. After a rest in a spot with
great views of the Vilcanota Mountain range, we will run the canyon, enjoying a
section with two class III+ rapids, called “the Train of Waves” and “the
Knife”. Further down the canyon we will run three class IV rapids.Because our
first class IV rapid is difficult, we will stop to scout the rapid and assess
the conditions. Continuing down the river, we will run “the Butterfly” rapid, a
class IV with technical conditions, then “the Bridge” rapid, also a class IV..
We will take a break in another spot with beautiful views of the Vilcanota mountain range and
prepare for the next challenging section. “The Big Waves” is a large class IV
rapid that is over 100 meters long with big, continual waves. Later, we will
have two great class III+ rapids until we reach a flat section. The rest of the
day is class I and class II rapids. Along the way, we enjoy excellent
opportunities to see some of the flora and fauna of the Inter Andean valleys.
+ then we will
float for a while in class I;II rapids with incredible scenery of the vilcanota
mountain range. With great variety of flora and fauna such a Andean gull, black
phoebes and giants hummingbirds.as well we will be
paddling in grass land and Andean scrub bush vegetation with tress like pepper
corn and tanning.as well chachacomos and
queñas which is part of our native forest “the Introduction” rapid, which is
class III. From there we go through a section of class II rapids until we reach
Cusipata Canyon, which has class III rapids.
We continue through
sections with some waves and some flat sections of class I and class II rapids,
then more class II rapids. All along, we will be enjoying beautiful views of
the Vilcanota Mountain range and the flora and fauna of the Andean forest. We
take-out at a beautiful spot change into dry clothes and have a picnic lunch.
Our drive back to Cusco is about one hour and a half
Included
We Provide and
Include: Itinerary transport round trip from Cusco-Licensed,C;P;R,SWISS WATER
RESCUE COURSES Bilingual, history and naturalist Tour Guides-All Itinerary
Meals, including vegetarian & snacks, Safety orientation and River
Equipment , optional activities-First Aid kit and Oxygen-Tour specific,-Dining
tent, Cook & Services. Emergency phone, Safety Kayak. Portable toilet.
Pictures and video optional.
