5 days/4 nights
15 people in our group. 3 French brothers-Jeremey, David, Nicholas. 1 couple from Scotland and England-Guy and Ethna. 1 couple from Italy and Austrailia-Sonia and Ken. 1 Australian girl-Evelyn. 1 guy from England-Roman. 1 guy from Ireland-Paul. 1 guy from Isreal-Zohar. 1 guy from Spain-Juan. and 3 Americans-Dale, Leah and I.
So amazing! At any given time we were all communicating in either French, Spanish, or English and we had such great conversation and laughs! There was truly a strong bond created as a result of the difficulties of the trail and the joy of companionship. I hope to meet up with some of them as I continue my travels and I hope also to keep in contact with them through my life, they are some truly remarkable people. It was the best part of my trip, making new friends, which is saying a lot since I saw one of the new 7 wonders of the world!
This blog will be partitioned as it will be so long...
Day 1
We get up at 4 am to catch a 3 hour bus ride to our starting point. From there we hike about 4 hours to our lunch point through picturesque mountain landscapes and river flows from melting snow. At lunch we see our day 2 destination (huge mountain covered in snow) and we kinda groan in expectation of the arduous journey. After lunch we hike another 3 hours to our night camp. It is absolutely freezing in the camp as it is right underneath the 2 towering mountains, umantay and salkantay--i estimate probably about 25-30 degrees F, if that. Yet the beauty of the nearby mountains and the fellowship of the group sustains us enough to not get totally discouraged. In every article of clothing that i brought I tent it up with a 56 year old american from california, we have some good chats about ohio sports before falling into a most uncomfortable sleep (believe it or not my body was warm, but the cold air entering my throat was enough to keep me tossing and turning all night).
observations. our two guides, miguel and juan are really cool. they have a lot of cultural history and background to share as well as a very genuine friendship to offer. additionally, we have a team of about 10 mules carrying all our gear, with 4 porters and 2 cooks in tow. we are quite an entourage. the porters and cooks wear only sandals and a vest in this frigid, uninhabitable climate. wowee. they are hardened to the mountain and her ferocity.
we passed a hotel at the end of our 7 hour trek, a hotel! complete with jacuzzi and more... it was absurd but im sure some westerners would pay the price (i think like $150) but only to miss out on the extraordinary experience of the trek! word has it that cameron diaz stayed there in the end of june... all for now, am heading to chile either tonight or tomorrow morn, will write about the other days asap.
love
So amazing! At any given time we were all communicating in either French, Spanish, or English and we had such great conversation and laughs! There was truly a strong bond created as a result of the difficulties of the trail and the joy of companionship. I hope to meet up with some of them as I continue my travels and I hope also to keep in contact with them through my life, they are some truly remarkable people. It was the best part of my trip, making new friends, which is saying a lot since I saw one of the new 7 wonders of the world!
This blog will be partitioned as it will be so long...
Day 1
We get up at 4 am to catch a 3 hour bus ride to our starting point. From there we hike about 4 hours to our lunch point through picturesque mountain landscapes and river flows from melting snow. At lunch we see our day 2 destination (huge mountain covered in snow) and we kinda groan in expectation of the arduous journey. After lunch we hike another 3 hours to our night camp. It is absolutely freezing in the camp as it is right underneath the 2 towering mountains, umantay and salkantay--i estimate probably about 25-30 degrees F, if that. Yet the beauty of the nearby mountains and the fellowship of the group sustains us enough to not get totally discouraged. In every article of clothing that i brought I tent it up with a 56 year old american from california, we have some good chats about ohio sports before falling into a most uncomfortable sleep (believe it or not my body was warm, but the cold air entering my throat was enough to keep me tossing and turning all night).
observations. our two guides, miguel and juan are really cool. they have a lot of cultural history and background to share as well as a very genuine friendship to offer. additionally, we have a team of about 10 mules carrying all our gear, with 4 porters and 2 cooks in tow. we are quite an entourage. the porters and cooks wear only sandals and a vest in this frigid, uninhabitable climate. wowee. they are hardened to the mountain and her ferocity.
we passed a hotel at the end of our 7 hour trek, a hotel! complete with jacuzzi and more... it was absurd but im sure some westerners would pay the price (i think like $150) but only to miss out on the extraordinary experience of the trek! word has it that cameron diaz stayed there in the end of june... all for now, am heading to chile either tonight or tomorrow morn, will write about the other days asap.
love
posted by dk at 7:00 PM
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