Salkantay Trek Walkthrough: Day 4 (Hidroelectrica – Aguas Calientas / Machu Picchu Pueblo)

Santa Teresa (1,550m) – Hidroelectrica ??? 

At this point, who cares what the elevation is?? It no longer begins with a 4 or a 3!!

The other couple that camped beside us the night before (who also hiked on their own) agreed to share a car with us to Hidroelectrica, where we would walk to Aguas Calientes (a.k.a Machu Picchu Pueblo). It was 40 soles for us, and the couple had paid the same.  The driver had picked us up at 7am (rest of the party-goers from the tour groups were sound asleep)

Hidroelectrica

The drive there was a short 45 mins – nothing too scenic, which meant that if we had chose to hike there it will probably not very exciting . We did pass the hydroelectric plants and can’t help feeling a bit sad to see nature turn industrial.

We stopped at the entrance with guards and had to show our passports and write down our names to get through to the train station.

We started walking from the train station along the tracks towards Aguas Calientes. This is a long hike of about two and a half hours – very flat and you do pass pretty scenic areas.  There will also be people walking along the way – mostly going in the opposite direction.  One train had passed us the entire hike.  So I wouldn’t say it was too dangerous, but definitely use caution.

There were a few scary steps on take where the tracks were above water and had large gaps in the middle.  We also passed several camp sites – one of which was “ECO” offering organic fruit. Pretty awesome.

At 10am, we finally reached AC.  We checked in at our hotel and took our first shower in 4 days!

I thought that AC was extremely touristy – to the point where the food didn’t even taste authentic and not to mention they sometimes add ridiculous tax charges on your meals.  We did like La boulangerie  – which is also ironic that a non-Peruvian restaurant seemed to have the best tasting food there.

Perhaps the adventure of the hike had dimmed the lights on the rest of the wonder of AC and Machu Picchu – but that meant we experienced something far greater than what we expected.. Even greater than one of the biggest wonders of the world!

This marks the end of the “Salkantay Trek” – though there is still a Day 5 that would include the hike at Machu Picchu. Which I will blog about next.  I would definitely recommend this hike to ANY adventure taker. I can’t speak to whether or not it’s better than the famed Inka Trail, but I also heard you couldn’t do that without a guide.

If you have an extra day – definitely do the Llactapacta route instead of going straight to Santa Teresa – I have heard that the route has great views. Hope the posts were helpful to whoever that may do the hike.  Stay tuned for more adventures as we plan to hit up more hikes in South America.