I woke up at 4am, feeling significantly better. Not 100% mind you, but good enough to start the trek. Our ride arrived at 5am, and we rode with our other trekkers (the couple from Denver, and 5 Irish) over dark, winding roads over the mountains and down into the next valley.
After successfully not hurling on the winding, bumpy roads, I was relieved when we finally arrived at the starting point. At which point our 10 porters/guides set up a table a continental breakfast of sorts?!? Yes a crew of 10 for the 9 of us. Kind of how I always imagined hiking Mt. Everest would be.
That equates to roughly 9,200 feet for those playing along at home. The hike was steadily uphill all morning into a narrowing valley. It was truly picturesque. Check out this video, the distant mountains and sky look like a painting.
I hung out in the back mostly. Exhausted. I hadn't eaten much in over 2 days, not to mention had mostly been laying in bed not moving. Certainly not preparing myself for the upcoming hike. As the morning went on, I felt steadily better.
The mountains were spectacular. The Andes is one of the newer mountain ranges of the world apparently, and whereas the Rocky Mountains generally top out around 14,000 feet, the Andes regularly push up into 19,000 feet and higher.
Although there isn't a ton of wildlife up in these altitudes, we did get to see some pretty cool stuff. Looking back, it's funny that we were excited to see llamas (by the end of the honeymoon it basically felt as exotic as seeing a dog), but these were the first we would encounter.
As my condition improved, we stopped for lunch. Rounding a giant boulder in a flat grassy area next to a stream, we came across a tent. Our tent. The porters and mules had gone on ahead (maybe calling them porters isn't correct since the mules were carrying everything, but I will use it as shorthand for cooks, tent guys, mule guys, etc) and set up our meal tent. We had a meal tent?!?
As someone who has never hiked with guides and porters before, it was surreal to arrive to a fully furnished meal tent, and separate portable toilet tent. There were place settings. Napkins. Metal napkin holders at the center of the table. And lunch was already being cooked. 3 courses later, I felt guilty about all the work I didn't have to do. But full. And happy.
For a little while.
As we set off, I regretted eating a normal sized meal, or even eating at all. My stomach was not happy with me, and I began to slow down, stubbornly refusing to let a mule carry my pack. 4 of us were carrying our own packs at this point, the other 5 had paid to have the mules do the work.
As someone who has never hiked with guides and porters before, it was surreal to arrive to a fully furnished meal tent, and separate portable toilet tent. There were place settings. Napkins. Metal napkin holders at the center of the table. And lunch was already being cooked. 3 courses later, I felt guilty about all the work I didn't have to do. But full. And happy.
For a little while.
As we set off, I regretted eating a normal sized meal, or even eating at all. My stomach was not happy with me, and I began to slow down, stubbornly refusing to let a mule carry my pack. 4 of us were carrying our own packs at this point, the other 5 had paid to have the mules do the work.
Every so often we'd come across a tiny little village. I don't know how they do it. Living up in the mountains where it was only possibly to grow one or two different crops (usually potatoes), miles from civilization. Granted, it was beautiful...I just couldn't fathom what they ate, and how frustrating it must be when you need to trade for things.
I kept expecting to round a corner and have the spectacular scenery take a short break, but it never happened. Each view was more striking than the last.
As the afternoon went on, I felt weaker and weaker. They held back a horse for me, in case I wasn't able to keep walking. But, I was able to compose myself for this picture, right before we arrived at camp.
As we came over the top of a small hill, our campsite came into view. Set in a wide flat area, half covered with stone rubble (I'm sure there is a better way to describe it), it was literally a beacon to me. I stumbled up, got in our tent (which was already set up for us of course), and promptly took a long nap.
It was fairly cold as I awoke, the sun disappearing from the mountains, and the wind whipping down through the valley. I had missed afternoon tea (which was at 4pm when we arrived, it was now 6), but thankfully had regained some of my appetite. The food was again amazing, although the fact that we had just hiked over 10 miles uphill probably had something to do with it.
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