Rainbow Mountain, Peru

We saw up to 8 Black-faced Ibis on our ways up to Rainbow Mountain 

 In Cusco we booked a day trek for the following day to go and see Rainbow Mountain in the Augangate Region. The locals who live in the area knew about this colourful mountain but it was only discovered last year by a trekker. He put the word out about his kinda of discovery and now 100's of visitors a day make the climb of over 40000 mtrs to the top to see this amazing spectacle!

a

It can be hard life living in the City of Cusco!

  In the earlier hours of the next morning, 03.00, we were picked up from our digs and joined  folks on the same tour in a wagon. 100 km south east of Cusco later we arrived at a very small village called Cordillera Vilcanota, at the foot of the mountains and were ready for breakfast. An hour later we were back on the road and near to our destination, I pointed out the 8 Andean Ibis that were feeding close to the roadside!

Black-faced Ibis

The village where we had our breakfast

  Twenty minutes into our trek and we were told that we could go on horseback to Rainbow Mountain if we paid extra money. Anna and I at over 3000 mts were already dieing with the other folk from just walking a few minutes We took advantage of the horse and started making our ways to the main mountain.
  I worked with horses for nine years, and I'm talking somethin like 150 horses a day and this was my first time I've ever got in the saddle! I worked at one of the biggest stud farms in Europe and many times I was involved in foaling and braking them, but my main task was working in the fields However, I was working with racing horses and I didn't like what I saw. I'm not goin to go into great detail but horse racing is a very cruel sport, if you can call it a sport. Believe me it's all to do with money and not the welfare of the animal. We had a lot of 'celebrities' horses and this included the parasites, The Royal Family! They really don't give a danm about their horse unless it was making money for them!
  For Anna, she's used to getting on a horse and both of us made our ways through the mountains. The sun was warm and it was simply stunning as we went deeper into the valley!

I worked with horses for 9 years and never even attempted to get on one until now! I was working with racing horses and I can tell you that it was one of cruelest sports around, if you can call it a sport. It's all to do with money and not the welfare of the animal!!  I was a bit rusty in the saddle.....

While Anna was a natural!

White-winged Diuca Finch

On our ways up to Rainbow Mountain taking the Ausangate Trek with snow-capped peaks

  We had almost made it when we were told to get off the horse as the horse could not go any further. The few meters we had to walk to the top took us a good 30 minutes! I would take a couple of steps and then stop and get my breath back. We were at over 5000 mts and the air was getting thinner and thinner in every step we took. For me it felt like being back up near to the peak of the tenth highest mountain in the world, Annapurna South in the Himalayas, Nepal where I struggled to get my breath back. Like now, I was struggling but we made it to the point with 60 to 70 people and when the mist cleared, it was truly amazing site to see this painted landscape!

  

  

Unfortunately the sun had gone in on Rainbow Mountain

Making our ways back down where the breathing became a lot easier

  The horse ride back took nearly two hours and in the wagon we were returned to the same village mid-afternoon where we had our lunch and it was top notch! We followed a river cutting through the mountains where there were Torrent Ducks at close range and on the grass, more Andean Ibis. We were very very tired when we returned to Cusco at 20.00. We had no time to rest as we were catching the over-night double-decker at 22.00 on the Bolivian Hop!

Hiss Golden Messenger is an American folk music band, originating from Durham, North Carolina, led by MC Taylor.^[1] For the various recordings he is joined by a number of guest musicians.^[2] After releasing his earlier material on his own label, Taylor signed with Merge Records in 2014. In 2016 he released the album Heart Like a Levee and embarked on an international tour.