Rainbow Mountain

Today I hiked up Rainbow Mountain. For a while, it looked like this wasn't going to work out: I woke up at 2:45 am for the 3 am pickup, then waited... and waited... and waited...

Around 3:45 the hostel started calling the tour company to see if they were on their way. No answer. They called other numbers. No answer.

Finally, around 4:15 I went back to bed. 5 minutes later, the tour guide showed up.

I was not the last to be picked up: it was close to 5 am before we finally left town. The tour guide was pleased that we were such a small group (13 people), since it meant we were able to get an earlier start than normal.

Still, the hike was definitely worth the early morning.



Many of the hills here are covered with terracing, from early agriculture.



There are alpacas everywhere.









Also, a few dogs at the top of the mountain:



(And birds, of course):



The views here are incredible.











This was a fantastic hike. It was a lot of work (the elevation ranges from 14-16,500 feet), but it was very fun, and worth every step.