Upis, Ausangate

The Ausangate Mountain and its surroundings are definitely magical places. Pacchanta and The Seven Lakes are undoubtedly physic portals to the mystical spirits of this mountain or “Apu.” However, something had not been clear to me when we last visited Ausangate on The Seven Lakes tour. The Ausangate’s shape I had in my mind, the one you get when you direct your gaze to the southeast of Cusco city, was not the same picture I got when we made this tour. Here is where our adventure is born.

Upis

is a small town with few inhabitants that like Pacchanta, is also located at the feet of the Apu Ausangate, on the other side though. There, one is able to find camping spaces offered by the locals, some of them with thermal baths, similar to the ones in Pacchata, albeit a bit smaller. To get there we joined the travel group Puriq Wayra, a group of young people who dare to venture and discover the most remote places of our region led by Cuchiwato, the character known for his famous adventure TikTok videos.

We departed

from the bus stop for Ocongate, close to the Cusco ‘Coliseo Cerrado.’ This bus took us to Tinke, the town where we took a particular taxi that would take us to the populated centre of Upis. Once there, we started walking to the camping place, at the feet of the Ausangate, a walk that took us close to two hours and a half and arrived at the twilight.

Once at the campsite,

we set our tents and some of us decided to enjoy the only hot tub there. The water was literally boiling, I had never been to hotter water than this. We played some games while enjoying little rum and other spiritual drinks. However, the most impressive scene came when I rose my eyes to the sky and presenced the beautiful and shining Milky Way projecting on the horizon the imposing Ausangate, what a breathtaking experience! I felt blessed of being there and thanked for everything I was living so far. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any pictures of that scene because I didn’t have a professional camera.

The following day,

I woke up pretty early, I didn’t want to miss the unique morning of being there. The weather was freezing but full of energy. After approximately an hour, we got ready to depart towards Upiscocha, the lake formed by the melted ice of the Ausangate and our final destination.

After an hour of walking,

we arrived at the promised place, what a beauty! There, was standing the imposing Ausangate which snow gives birth to this beautiful lake. I dared to swim in its freezing waters, of course not before asking for the Apu’s permission. I also stacked my own stones pyramid which makes me remember our search for our internal equilibrium as well as our connection with nature and the universe. We’re all one.

Couldn’t wait to stay longer, but we had to leave, if not I was going to end up the next morning totally frozen and singing ‘let it go, let it go!’ with a carrot as a nose. So we returned to the campsite and immediately left back home.

All in all,

after a long beautiful day full of deep experiences and unique energy we left Upiscocha and Ausangate feeling totally blessed and with a great desire to return. I finally could see the Ausangate as I used to see it from the city where I live. Now I direct my gaze to the Ausangate and immediately remember this unique experience that I wish everybody!