Beyond Rose

It took a lot of energy to continue onto to another hike. Honestly, we were only a pinch away from setting off to the next city, Tacna. But, that would result to missing two planned hikes. And I just couldn’t pass up two.

Rainbow Mountain, originally called Vinicunca, is Peru’s second most famous hike (after Machu Picchu). The elevation is higher than the previous Salkantay pass, Rainbow is @ 5,200 meters/17,100 ft. Thankfully, this hike is much shorter. The distance is about 7 km/4.35 miles. It starts of as a easy incline, transcends to a medium difficulty, then very hard.

It was wild, men and women were sprinting down the mountain with their horses to catch hikers who are struggling on the hike. The assist costs between 70 to 100 Peruvian soles. The price would vary depending on where you are at on the hike.

Woman spread out across Peru use a manta, a Peruvian traditional carrying cloth. During the hike, I spotted a woman sprinting utilizing her manta, hidden inside was a tiny baby. She quickly ran down the mountain to catch people at the beginning of the hike so that she could offer the higher priced horse ride. I was so shocked to see someone with a baby working hard physically. It also was a bit sad to see the llamas used as props for tourism— to be more specific photos. The llamas would be dressed up in bright colors, sunglasses, funky hat, etc.

Other than that, the hike was very pretty. It is known to see about 7 colors from the top.

“Formed by weathering, environmental conditions and sedimentary deposits over time, the mountain’s unique minerology created a marbling effect, with layered hues of gold, lavender, red and turquoise towering into the sky.”

cnbc.com/amp/2019/10/28/what-rainbow-mountain-in-peru-really-looks-like.html

In person, I thought that the colors wouldn’t appear as vibrant. It actually wasn’t as brown or “washed up” as I thought it would be. There are many photos to appear ridiculously photoshopped online and advertised. The two posted below was taken from my iPhone 12 Pro. And with a good, proper camera angle, we made it work with the crazy crowd.

Canon footage: