Iridium 9555 Satellite phone has arrived

Thrilled to have received the 9555. Thanks to Iridium for making that possible!

Now we have a few days to learn how it works. Of course, when I got it home I promptly turned it on and got no reception. Took me a minute or two to realize why it couldn't locate a network ... I was inside my house, ie no sky. First lesson learned!

Fine strokes

We rely on the web for much travel research, user reviews, client testimonials and so forth. Lonely Planet guidebooks are good too: we'll cut out the pages we'll need for the 4 countries we'll visit; these guidebooks will be working hard for us :)

And despite all the tips and tricks and destination knowledge we have gathered, it's the little things that puzzle me: like where are the day time buses from Lima to Huaraz? I mean they are there before we need one but not when we want it! What's up with that? Peru looks to have a very solid bus network, and we're intending to use it a bunch, too. But it'd be great if the supposed day time departures were on your website, Movil Tours and Cruz del Sur!

We need to finalize the big Cordillera Real traverse (near La Paz in Bolivia) which will take 12 or 13 days and may even include a summit above 6,000 along the way (!) I think we've found a guide company I like and they are great with email now, since their not so useful UK rep is out of the picture.

Today, we had brunch at a friend's house and got the lowdown from a health expert on travelling; everything from food safety to water purification to vaccines. We learned that we appear to have done a fine job preparing :)

Our friend  who will live at our house while we're gone has been moving a few things in and getting to know how the house - and most important the cats - work. Jan's finishing the list of our lives, you know: banking info, passport numbers etc, to leave behind just in case.

Onto doing laundry and deciding which 4 T-shirts I'll be bringing along.

3 weeks to lift-off.

Four weeks to the Andes

Ottawa 45 degree North.
Ushuaia 54 degrees South.

Today marks the 4-week countdown: we will be on our way to Parque Nacional de Huascarán  via Lima. It will be the first stop along an epic adventure that will see us travel great distances (from 45 N to 54 S) to explore some of South America's stunning landscapes.

We've spent most of 2010 preparing: backcountry camping, weight-bearing hiking, equipment buying and evaluating, vaccinations, reading guidebooks and online about possible destinations, getting advice from people we know, studying Spanish, finding someone to live at our house for 3 months (thanks Carolyn!). By itself, an uncommon focus.

We will trek in the tropical parts of the Andes (Huascarán lies at latitude: 9 degrees South) at the very beginning of the rainy season and experience the subpolar oceanic climate of Ushuaia where temperatures average 1°C in the coldest month, and 9°C in the warmest month. We will walk through arable mountains and the highest mountain ranges in the tropics, visit Colca canyon which at 4,160m (!) is twice as deep as Grand Canyon and meander around the driest place on earth. Most of these 3 months we expect to be at altitude.

Naturally, we also follow the news from our chosen destinations: from the major flooding during the last rainy season destroying access to Machu Picchu, to the devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, to the joyful news of gay marriage becoming legal in Argentina, to the unexpected discovery of 33 miners alive after being trapped underground and now awaiting a lengthy rescue. There is such a sense of resiliency and tenacity.

With the final preparations underway for our departure, I am feeling excitement mixing with a sense of almost dread. That pit of the stomach feeling in the end is exhilarating: with this journey we are embarking on an entirely different way of being. An adventure.

Final camping tune up done!

We spent another back country camping weekend in the Adirondack High Peaks.

Jan playing with the wind on
Marcy - cold, fast and fun

Earl brought lots of rain so we now know for sure that our tent stays dry and I earned my "cooking in the rain" badge.

We also got in some great hiking. We tackled Mount Marcy with super light day packs making this 16 km hike seem easy. Once we entered the alpine arctic zone, which starts at the tree line, we put on our softshell jackets (what a great invention!); the wind blew with 30 to 50 km/h gusting to 70 km/h. Cold but great for that flying feeling!

As for blisters: I didn't get any on the hike in or when we hiked Marcy. On the hike out on our last day however, both my heels lost some skin (I don't actually get blisters, it's more like the skin gets chewed up and torn off). All that to say, that's progress, but still not ideal or reliable for long trekking excursions. I think a big issue was the added warmth stemming from waterproof hiking boots and gore-tex gaitors. It'll work out fine as long as I can keep my feet drier and cooler as well as liberally using the appropriate first aid materials. (aka time to buy stock in moleskin/second skin manufacturers)

Atacama Desert news

The Atacama is dry, high and large. Nestled in a narrow strip between the Pacific and Andes it covers over 40,000 square miles (105,000 square kilometres). It's been on our 'places to be' list since visiting Chile in 2006.

Today, just about everyone seems to know about the Atacama because of the mining accident that has trapped 33 miners awaiting rescue some 700 m below the surface. It's winter right now, and the desert is cold. Underground it's another story though with 30+ degrees.

Apparently the miners might still be caught below when we will be in the area in early December. Wishing the miners, families and rescue team speedy success in getting these miners back to the surface!

Return to Adirondack backcountry

We will spend the Labour Day long weekend back in the High Peaks backcountry camping and hiking some more 46ers. We extended the weekend by 2.5 days so we can tune up and adjust things according to the learnings.

The big test: will my latest blister prevention strategy work? It's a combo of new socks, taking off boots at lunch to let my feet cool down/dry out; and tying my boots a bit differently. Then there are copious amounts of moleskin and second skin.

We will be using a water microfilter (MSR) for the first time (used Aquatabs on our last trip and will bring them as back up).

To save weight for the 4 or 5 days we will be out there we are opting for dehydrated dinners and dried fruit along with oatmeal, nuts and bars for daily nutrition. I made a comprehensive meal plan listing weight, calories as well as carbs, protein and fat. That was an enlightening exercise!

Hiking in the rain

Today we went to Gatineau Park for a little training hike, just 9.5 k from Champlain Lookout to Meech Lake and back.. It turned out to be training in the rain. So out came the  rain jacket, back pack cover and we got to examine the interplay between the two. We were testing the "breathability" factor of rain gear ... while hiking uphill with 40 lb packs; that was rather aerobic.

What did I learn today?

The exertion that comes with lugging heavy packs keeps you warm - rain or not. The rain gear is great when it rains hard enough (it did!). If it's just a bit wet you are better off keeping the rain jacket off (ie maximum breathability) and just make sure you can change into dry clothes when done. Also, I was wearing a technical base layer that is designed to keep warm while wet - it worked.

Hiking boots (yes, boots, not shoes) are drying out now :) Backpack isn't since it stayed dry. All in all a fine experience.

Hiking shoes and feet

Us after 4 days in the backcountry

Every time we go hike or camp or generally play outside, I learn something. That's one of the great things about being outside. Last Saturday I learned two important things.

We went on an urban training hike. Thankfully, Ottawa is beautiful and the rivers are close by.
Last time when we hiked in the mountains  I lost a bunch of skin on my heels. So, I thought I try wearing a pair of hiking shoes rather than my boots. I also carried about 45lbs on my back.

I learned that my hiking shoes do not give enough support to my feet when carrying that much weight (even if it's only 2.5 hours and we're walking on paved paths). Of course, my feet aren't as strong as they might be (last few years I've had occasion to see my physio about some foot pains).

I also learned that pain diminishes when moving in challenging terrain: we carried 50+ lb when hiking to Lake Colden, which took 4.5 hours for the 6+ miles and involved climbing over some huge boulders along the way. That must have been more demanding than this urban hike and yet the urban hike hurt more.

I think that is because when hiking on difficult, single track paths one's attention is on almost everything else before considering any pain one might feel. It's a different 'normal.'

Where in South America are we going?

This map shows in yellow highlighter the places we will be exploring for 3 months this fall (actually, spring and summer in the southern hemisphere :)

In blue I marked the places we visited in 2006 in Chile and in 2007 in Argentina. Just click it to enlarge the view.

Basically, we are looking to explore boths ends of the Andes, having spent time in the middle. That means Patagonia way south and Peru (Cordillera Blanca), Bolivia (Cordillera Real) and Atacama Desert (Chile) to the north.

Distance from our location farthest north (Huaraz, Peru) to farthest south (Ushuaia) as the crow flies: about 5,100 km
Distance from Ottawa to Ushuaia: 11,150 km
Compare distance across Canada (St John's, NFLD to Victoria BC): 4,900 km
Needless to say, a good portion of our travel budget goes to air fare.

La Paz

Jan's been searching hotels in La Paz, and finding some great options. We're looking for cheap or mid-range - which there means something less than $40/night. We'll be seeing a couple of good friends who are visiting there in early November. We're planning to spend a few days in the city to see it with our friend who grew up there, but hasn't been back since leaving (some 20+ years ago). That's special.

We plan to do a lot of hiking above 4,000m in Peru's Cordillera Blanca before going to La Paz; that means we should be well acclimatized to altitude by then, and not suffer a whole lot when we get to La Paz which sits at 4,000m. Apparently, there's oxygen available at the airport and in hotels, to help people along when first arriving.