Week #10
July 29, 20:28
Just crawled in my -15 degrees Celcius sleeping bag, wearing my warm hiking socks, runners leggings (in which I even go running when it’s freezing), mike’s long sleeve and my Peruvian sweater made of alpaca wool. We are at 4200 meter high at the first camp, in the middle of the Andes with views of snowcap mountains. In the night it can get -8C, according to our briefing. So let’s hope I stay warm during the night. We arrived here around 14:00, quite early. So we spend the afternoon laying in the sun, enjoying the view and talking to each other. We are only a group of six people and most of us kinda already knew each other, so that’s super nice. Also, my stomach is getting a little bit upset, which might be because of the altitude. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get any worse. Cause I reallyyy don’t want to leave this tent in the middle of the cold night, to go find a natural toilet in the dark.
July 30, 20:18
Mike and I joked about me needing to shit my pants in the mountains, when not feeling well. And it nearly happened today. It wasn’t as funny. Although I might have had the most insane view on my natural toilet, I would have preferred to feel better.
So yeah it did get worse. During almost the whole hike I felt bad. Stomach problems, nausea and a massive headache. But it was still a really nice hike and super beautiful, so I enjoyed it, despite it all. We went up to 5080 meters, which probably explains my sickness. Now I just hope for a good night rest so I will hopefully feel better tomorrow.
July 31, 14:26
We just arrived at our camp for today. Alex, Julia, Chris and I went to the ‘first’ lake, close to the camp, where we each choose our own little spot for some alone time. It’s funny cause you think when you go hiking you have a lot of time to think about your life, but here I am so focused on the hike itself that I don’t really think at all. (Which is good to practice mindfulness I guess.) Although I did notice one thing, and that’s that I miss Mike. I miss our talks and how good I feel when I am with him. I didn’t expect this at all, cause I love my solo adventures and being on my own. But he might be one of the very few people that I would prefer to be together with over being alone. And the other people are family or friends for so long that they feel like family, so… yeah.
Anyways I still have a very bad headache and my stomach problems are not over, but it’s ten times better than yesterday, so it’s a win for me. Now I am enjoying the view and looking at the stream of water that goes from the snow on top of the mountains into the lake in front of me, into the waterfall behind me. Crazy to think that all the water streaming down these mountains come from here. This is where it all starts.
16:04
We just walked to a viewpoint and this is absolutely insane! From here we can see ‘our’ lake next to snow top mountains, another lake with crazy waterfalls, a panoramic view of the Andes and the snowy top of the highest mountain of Peru, Huascaran! Just crazy! Is doesn’t even look real! This makes all the effort definitely worth it! Insane!
August 1, 11:44
Back in Huaraz! God, I am TIRED. My body is physically so exhausted, I don’t think I have ever felt this way. This morning we got woken up at 3:30 with cocoa tea, to start our hike a little past 4:30 to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain next to us. It was a difficult one hour climb to 5000 meters, in the dark. Of course I wasn’t prepared so I didn’t have a headlight. Which was part of the difficulty. But luckily Chris, who sometimes works as a guide in the mountains in France, took the lead. He shined his headlight behind him so I could see and ensured we took enough little breaks, so I wouldn’t feel as bad as last time hiking this high. So very grateful for his help. And the view was a million times worth it. Just amazing to see the colours of the sky changing while having a 360 panoramic view. Absolutely a moment I will never forget. BUT also really really happy to be back, cause this whole trekking was wayyyy harder than I thought it was gonna be.
August 2, 11:28
We got invited to go rock climbing today. Can you imagine? Me neither, so I politely declined. My body needs a day of rest, desperately. I did look at possible trekkings to do when in Cusco. Cause even tho this was one of the hardest things I have ever done, in hindsight it was also a lot of fun. Soooo, I will definitely do it again. And I think it’s gonna be the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu.
August 3, 17:00
Today I said goodbye and normally I can handle those quite well, but this time was a bit harder. I loved spending time again with Alex and Julia, especially during the trekking. It felt like we got even closer during this time than the whole month in Ecuador. Funny how that goes. Really shows that it’s more the quality that matters than the quantity of time you spend together.
We had our last lunch together, cause tonight they are going to the coast of Peru en tomorrow Mike and I are going in direction of the Amazon. So we said our goodbyes and hopefully I will see them again somewhere in the future, somewhere on this earth.
August 4, 17:58
On the move again! Visited a glacier in the middle of the Andes. So funny, cause it’s a busy tourist attraction, but only for Peruvians it looked like. Now on our way to Huallanca. We just stopped so Mike could warm his hands at the exhaust of the motorbike, cause its COLD. I just hate being cold, terrible, but the sunset is very pretty, so that makes it a lot better. We still have to drive maybe one and a half hour to the destination, so it’s gonna be a hard ride. It’s really nice to be on the move again, but I am also getting a little sick of the mountains. I know, its beautiful and all. And I am very privileged to be here. But I am cold and I want to go to the beach.
