I have been recording the trek day by day as I find it overwhelming to try and capture all that I see, all that I experience and all the emotions that move through me.
Each encampamiento has been unique, as have the valleys we have crossed and the paths we have climbed. The camp we are at tonight, our second to last, is by a small lake and across the valley from massive glacial peaks. It feels as if I could reach out and touch them.
We made it to camp just on time; it started to hail. It did not last very long (or so I thought) as it started over, only this time in the form of rain. I am not sure if I heard thunder or if it was an avalanche in the distance. There is quite an echo in the mountains, making it hard for me to discern distances.
It will soon be tea time. I look forward to a hot cup of tea (I usually go for the mate de coca) on this damp afternoon. We are certainly treated extremely well by the kind team of people.
I am not bothered by the rain at the moment. We had awoken to a sun filled and blue sky day. And this sky graced us during our whole trek. Hopefully we will have the same luck tomorrow on our second to last trek. One more pass and then it's downhill from there!
I remember that trek up and over the pass at I think 4,600 m and the weather system changed completely as we hiked down into low hanging clouds.
ReplyDeleteI also remember that attempted cow rescue that Eli and Umberto worked on together, with that cow that was stuck in the mud and couldn't get out on its own. It been abandoned by the herd already. Once Eli and Umberto had leveraged it out of the mud, its cow friends came back around. I wonder if it made it.