Ausangate Trek with Rainbow Mountain
3 Days / 2 Nights

Another highlight of booking with Alpaca Expeditions is getting top equipment and probably the best food you will eat while in Peru.

Equipment

Every camping tour includes a spacious four-person tent that will be shared by only two people so you can spread out a bit. These are Eureka Timberline’s all-season tents. Our rentals are top of the line: Black Diamond Adjustable Walking Sticks and Thermarest Luxury Air Matts. Sleeping Bags rented from us are mummy-style down bags, and rated for 15C and liners are always included.

For more information on our equipment, CLICK HERE.

Food

Every trek includes a chef trained in culinary school. They have learned the skills of mountain cooking, which will amaze you. You will enjoy a full breakfast, lunch and dinner served hot and tasty. We also include Happy Hour with snacks and some hot tea before dinner. The key to feeling good on a trek like this is eating well and staying hydrated.

Meals are all served family-style – large plates for everyone to take what they like. And all food restrictions are honored. No matter if you are vegetarian or gluten-free, you will always be well fed.

Water

Alpaca Expeditions will provide water at every meal. We will boil, filter, and cool all water before distributing it to our clients to ensure that it’s healthy for drinking. Because of this process, you do need to provide water for yourself the first morning of your trek. We won’t have a chance to get you clean water until lunch on Day 1.

Always begin your hike with 2-3 liters of water – so make sure you have a large enough water bottle or camelback to store this.

For more information on our Food & Water, CLICK HERE. 

EQP & Food content will appear here.

Our Ausangate treks include a combination of porters and horsemen to help carry all the needed equipment and bags. We also include an extra emergency horse that can be used at any time if you need a break from hiking.

Our porters, who we lovingly call the Green Machine, are the pride and joy of our company and what separates us from others. Dedicated to making a difference in their lives and their family’s lives, Alpaca Expeditions is rewarded by having the hardest working team in the mountains.

Alpaca Expeditions Porters:

Raul Ccolque Ccolque, the owner & general manager of Alpaca Expeditions, worked as a porter from 2000 to 2003. While he saw some companies treating their porters better than others, he felt there was not enough done for them and their families. We could not have a company without our porters, and because of that, we want them to be part of our family. We want to know them, listen to them, and follow through on our promise to make their lives better.

Our porters range from 18 years old until 55 and come from different villages in the Cusco region. We employ approximately 250 porters from the following communities:

• Comunidad Wakatinku 25 porters, located at 3800 meters
• Comunidad Llullucha 20 porters, located at 3700 meters
• Comunidad Choquekancha 25 porters , located at 3400 meters.
• Comunidad Pumapunko $ 25 porters located at 3700 meters
• Comunidad Kachin 25 porters located at 3700 meters
• Comunidad Anparaes 25 porters located at 3500 meters

Quechua is their main language and farming is their main economic activity. Being a porter is a second income for them.

Our Promise to Our Porters:

We clearly understand that we would not be successful without our team of porters. They have promised us that they will continually work hard to make sure each trekker has a magical journey. In return, we made a promise to them that we will do what we can to make this difficult job a little less daunting.

As we explained earlier, most of our porters live in a village outside of Cusco – typically 2 to 4 hours away. We cover all entrance fees (45 soles – $15 US per porter) and transportation to and from the trek for our porters, separate from their salary. They are paid promptly after the trek eliminating the need to travel back to Cusco before heading home. Unfortunately, this is not common. They receive better wages, health insurance, and all their equipment for free, including amazing food to eat. We make sure they have a comfortable bed and a nice room to sleep in before (and after if needed) the trek instead of sleeping on the floor. We visit the communities they live in and provide needed supplies to their families, like toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and books for students.

This is just the beginning for us and we are always looking for ways to do more.

How much does the Alpaca Expeditions Porter Carry?

While the government allows each porter to carry up to 25kg, we keep our limit at 20kg. Each porter will carry up to 15kg from the company and 5kg of their stuff. The reason why it´s so important to keep your duffel light and not exceed our allowed 7kg. You will see other companies carrying more than the allotted weight – we will not allow our porters to carry this burden.

Keeping them Comfortable

Every year Alpaca Expeditions provides a new sleeping bag and sleeping pad for each porter. Our jackets are all lined and warm, and the boots that we provide are all waterproof.

What do the Porters Eat?

Our porters will eat the very same amazing meals you have. Our chef buys enough food to cook for all our trekkers and porters and makes enough for everyone to be full at the end of the day. We serve large portions, and none of it is wasted. Whatever is left over after you and our team eats will go directly back home to the families of the team for them to enjoy themselves.

Helping Their Families

All our porters are Quechua language speakers who come from farming villages. They take advantage of the seasons to grow their crops, and Alpaca Expeditions helps them in many ways to keep growing their community. In education, health, and culture. We have different ongoing projects and hope to add many more. Some of the projects we have completed or continue doing are: Every three months, we take a kit of toiletries to Wakantinku elementary school for 204 Quechua speaking children. They range from 3 – 12 years old from kindergarten to 6th grade. When we arrived at this village for the first time a few years ago, kids had trouble keeping up with daily hygiene. We make sure they always have toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and hand sanitizer.

We planted more than 3,000 native trees, Queuña (Andean Polylepis), in the community of Wakatinku to reforest their village. This tree will be more sustainable than others they have used and will eventually be a fertilizer for their village to help grow more grass for their Alpacas, which are the most common and typical animals located at this village.

We covered the 2015 salary of a full-time teacher in the High School of Wakatinku to teach math, art, and English. This teacher has done great work and helped to graduate the first class from the village. We plan to continue this sponsorship and supply another year’s salary.
Every February, we invite our porters and their families to come with us to visit Machu Picchu. Last year we went with families from Wakawasi village, a community we visit on the Lares Trek. It was their first time in the ruins. We plan on doing this trip every February with new families to help them enjoy their history.
In October 2015, we helped celebrate the end of the school year with 17 students and their parents and some of our porters for a trip through the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. This 2-day trip followed the same itinerary that our clients enjoy.

Often our clients have asked how they can help. Some Alpaca Expeditions trekkers raised money back at home to buy some computers to donate to a local village. We matched their donation and went together to donate four computers to the school in Wakatinku village for the kids to enjoy. Being their first time donating computers, this was something new. We know it is hard for 204 students to use four computers. That is why we have provided computers in 2019.
To help celebrate the anniversary of Llulucha village this last July, we booked and provided transpiration for a local band, Alicia de Acomayo, to play. It was a great party for everyone to enjoy.

We are working with a local clinic in Cusco to provide dental care and provide skin examinations for the children of each of our porter’s villages.
We have recently bought land in Cusco that is currently being constructed to create dormitory classrooms and teaching kitchens for our team. We created this for our porters outside of Cusco to have a place to sleep before their treks. We will have free English, computer, and cooking classes for any member of our team and their family to use. We are excited about this big project.
Those are just some of the projects we have done and continue to do. We are a small local company here in Cusco, who promises to be as dedicated to our team as they are to us. We are lucky enough to have the best porters in the region, and we feel it´s necessary to make sure they are healthy, stable, and capable of providing for their families the best life possible.

THE GREEN MACHINE

Porters & Horsemen content will appear here.