-Woollen leggings
-Hiking pants
-2 pairs of socks (one pair of hiking socks and one pair of woollen socks)
-Long sleeved cotton shirt
-A thick fleece
-A windfleece
-A beanie
-A pair of gloves
-A scarf
I might not have worn them ALL the time but I was grateful for having brought it, as in the evening temperatures went down to as little as 0C and one night we even had temperatures below freezing. (Who said you can hike in a sleeveless top???? Liar!)
Day 1: 27 Aug
We took off from Huaraz with our tour operator Andean Kingdom at 8am. The group consisted of me (35, Finnish), Ania (28, German) and Carlos (54, Argentinian). In addition we had our guide Julio and cook Jesus. Our donkey driver was going to join us later that day. The first night we just camped overnight at our first campsite at 4,300 meters. We got some hails in the evening at the campsite but no rain or snow.
Day 2: 28 Aug
I think we climbed two mountain passes the first day, the higher being about 4,700 meters.It was tough! I need more air! 6 more days of walking with no air and freezing cold. Oh god, how am I going to survive this? What made me think this was a good idea? Hahaha.
We arrived at our campsite in Carhuacocha in the afternoon. The campsites were always lower down, mostly around 4,300 meters. Carhuacocha was a stunning site indeed, with 4 snow topped mountains behind our tents and a beautiful blue lagoon right next to us. (See the picture below - I took it in Carhuacocha).
Now, the hygiene freak Miss Holmstrom decided that although the water in the lagoon is freezing cold and it has a nasty muddy bottom she needs to bathe. So off i go, packing my bikini, my towel, my shampoo and soap. I marched to the side of the lagoon and I actually managed to get changed in my bikini, and even wash my hair in the ice cold water. Water was probably around 6 degrees - it felt like it's coming straight down from a glacier. I nearly lost my flip-flops to the lagoon. I did not realise the bottom is so muddy you sink about one meter in if you stand on the bottom. I attempted and spent a good few minutes digging my sandal out from a mudhole. Oh well. Obviously this is a "no stepping in" lagoon. I felt a whole lot better after my bath although I was till missing a warm bed - but I was very grateful for my four season sleeping bag I got from the agency. (Where is the beach? Where is my mojito? Where is the party?)
Day 3: 29 Aug
Last night was cold. My sleeping bag also got a little wet somewhere - not sure whether it was just the condensation inside the tent or whether it had been on a wet spot on the ground (the ground is so dry here it's more likely to be condensation). So I was a little cold, sob... (The Finnish princess goes hiking on the mountains and finds it cold. What a sad case I am...) Luckily I had my own little bag (comfort to 12C) inside so i was not all that cold. I was also wearing all of my clothes at night because it was so cold. It went below 0C at night already - we woke up with frost on the ground. I kept adding more and more clothes throughout the night and ended up with almost everything that I had been wearing during the day as well!
However, I think I saw the most beautiful thing ever last night too. I had to wake up around 2am to go to the toilet. I reluctantly climbed out of my bag, searched for my headtorch, put my shoes on, pulled the tent zip open, made my way to the so called toilets (not exactly 5 star). On the way back to the tent I stopped. I suddenly realised I was looking at one million stars in a crystal clear night sky shedding light over the mountains. Behind our tents there were 4 snow top mountains bathing in moon light and on my left the lagoon. Wow. Do I care if it's cold - this is the most beautiful thing I have seen for the longest time. Or maybe ever. One of those things only mother nature is capable of creating. Even if I had had my camera there was no way I could have captured the beauty of the moment. Maybe I should sleep outside? (And then the cold catches up on me and I creep back to my tent in my two sleeping bags and sleep happily for the rest of the night).
Today was supposed to be our longest day of hiking with 10 hours of walking, arriving at campsite around 5pm. I was not all that well acclimatised but we still managed to complete our journey to 4,800 meters and back down to 4,300 in 7 hours, arriving at campsite around 2.30pm. Most of the day was spent hiking on the plain. There was only one mountain pass to climb. It was a truly beautiful day with many greenish-blue lagoons, sunshine, snow top mountains and views of the entire Huayhuash mountain range.
Ania is a total gazelle and mountain goat (or "biscacha" like they call them here, according to a small rabbit like animal that lives in the mountains. The "biscachita" goes up the mountains as if she was born to do that with such grace and elegance as well that I mostly just see a red jacket disappearing in the distance. bye-bye, Ania, see you on the top! Don't get bored waiting for us... For living the gazelle works as a lawyer - not exactly an outdoor instructor whose fitness levels she has.
Carlos complained the hiking being tough for him but honestly, for someone of his age (hey, he is 20 years older than me) he is doing fantastic. He has only been at most 15 minutes behind us, which is nothing considering the altitude and the steep climbs we've been making.
Our guide Julio is very entertaining and a good guide too. He has made these first three days a whole lot easier for us with his stories and pacing himself to our speed - and just generally looking after us and telling us more about all the things we've seen during the hike (whenever we are not too tired to pay attention). Julio has a university degree but he much prefers the outdoor life and gets bored in the office. Apparently most of his university classmates work in banks. To our luck Julio was not attracted to a career in banking. I don't blame him - although I don't think I could do this for a living - it's way too cold for me, hahahaha!
Jesus has been a fantastic cook, particularly considering the equipment he cooks with. We've had some fantastic lunches, dinners and breakfasts out here already. I loved the yummy avocado, tomato and onion paste we had with bread for lunch on the first day of hiking - something similar to guacamole but not quite.
I again bathed in the river. Did not wash my hair. It was freezing but it made me feel better.
Day 4: 30 Aug
Ok, today ended up being the toughest day for me of the hiking trip. I'm writing this at 8.45pm in the tent, getting ready to sleep.
I kept waking up all of last night feeling nauseous and not being able to sleep. Breakfast ended up being a small piece of pancake with some strawberry marmalade and two cups of chamomile tea as I could not force anything else down my throat. I was feeling soooo unwell. We assumed it was altitude sickness although it was already day 3 and i had had a couple of days of acclimatisation before the trek. We started walking - but I only got like 30 steps and I was crying (how embarrassing is that???? I go hiking in Peru and I weep because I need to carry my own bag???) Julio carried my bag for the rest of the day. We got up the first climb and I started feeling worse and worse. Eventually I found myself tripled over the low side wall of the path with my head buried in the wall vomiting up my entire breakfast. Thank god it was mostly a liquid breakfast. Not the most glamourous moment of my life....
Oh well.We continued the hike. I felt a little better after having gotten rid of my breakfast but I still kept fighting feeling sick. Luckily today was the shortest and easiest day of the hike. We arrived at campsite early. For the last hour I was carrying a mandarin in my hand and in my state of sickness holding the mandarin in my hand gave me a nice feeling of security. Then all the endorphins kicked in due to the exhaustion of walking and being sick. I was staring at the mandarin thinking "It's orange. Isn't that such a pretty colour? Just like the robes of the buddhist monks". Later I felt my consciousness leave my body and I was observing myself walking, being about half a meter higher in the air than my feet, on a happy high. All this without drugs - being sick is such a blessing.
This campsite had hot spring baths. Woohoo! I did not care if i felt a little ill. Hot water and washing my hair was wayyy more important. (Yes, I'm such a hygiene freak - i don't care if I can't change my clothes but I need a bath or a shower, and it has to be hot). The water in the pools was really warm and helped warm up my constant state of being cold. I actually think the sun was out too, I was just not in the state to pay much attention to it. After the bath I retreated to the tent and slept. Later I took my temperature as I was feeling a little funny. Woops! 38C. That's not good when you have got 4 more days of hiking to do.
Julio arranged for a horse for me for the next day in case I would need it and also said that if the fever will not clear, there will be an option of terminating the hiking early using another exit from the mountain range. So tomorrow I might be riding instead of walking!
Day 5: 31 Aug
I was so tired last night. I literally had all of my clothes on while sleeping in my two sleeping bags. I added another pair of leggings and a thermal top. I also slept with my gloves and my beanie on. I was happy, warm and slept well. I had some of the strangest dreams though.
In one dream i had a pygmy baby elephant as a pet. It was only the size of a medium sized dog and in the dream i could carry it around in my arms. The little baby elephant had the cutest trunk and prettiest eyes and it was looking at me as if I was its mom. I went shopping with the baby elephant in some foreign country, perhaps it was Sweden. We went to a department store's pet section on the 5th floor to buy the baby elephant a cot and some other pet stuff that baby elephants need. Then the baby elephant got lost in the department store and I was very worried over it. It's not really legal to have pygmy baby elephants as pets and maybe the Swedish authorities find it and they might not understand even if I explained to them that I'm really the mother of this elephant and it's best for the elephant to stay with me. Don't put it in a zoo or a cage or something. I was really looking after that baby elephant.
In dream number two I was not exactly me. I was an American lady in her late 30s and I had long reddish hair. It was almost Christmas and i was a little sad because my boyfriend would not be back to celebrate Christmas with me. My boyfriend was batman so he was busy chasing after criminals. Yes, that Batman with the funny mask on his face and the big, black cape. So I was walking around a big, shiny shopping mall feeling a little sad and lonely because my superhero boyfriend could not spend Christmas with me. I was looking at all the people doing their Christmas shopping and missing him. I got on an escalator going down and then I looked up - on the other side, riding the escalator going up was my Batman boyfriend with a big smile on his face (seems Joker, Catwoman and Penguin and other baddies after all lost to spending Christmas with me). The very funny detail in this dream was that he was in his full Batman costume, with the black mask, the body armour with the Batman sign and his big, black cape. And nobody at the shopping mall paid any attention although he was the REAL Batman. A few minutes later we were strolling towards my apartment - he had taken his Batman costume off and was wearing just normal, regular clothes. Batman was old too. He was definitely in his late 40s, if not already a bit more. I had the biggest smile ever on my face. My Batman boyfriend was back for Christmas!
In dream number 3 I was in one of the big cities, probably in Asia (not Singapore). I was with one of the guys who was in Venezuela for the wedding trip, and we went out to bars and restaurants, there were lots of people, good drinks, great food, fabulous party. I remember wearing a nice dress and high heels (why do women remember this kind of details in their dreams like "what was I wearing"?) I also do remember kissing him in my dream although I don't remember doing anything else (ok, ok, I'm just too embarrassed to admit that i dreamt about having sex with one of my friends and that it was really good, hahaha).
But that was some series of dreams. from baby elephant with a cute trunk to Batman boyfriend to snogging a friend of mine. I think sexologists would have a thing or two to say about my dreams.
Now, let's get back to Planet Earth and Day 5 of the hiking trip. I'm proud to say I felt good today and I did not need the horse at all! Woohoo, I walked, with my own two feet. No fever! Julio still carried my bag the first half of the day. We got to 5,000 meters today! That's the highest I have ever been. It was a cold day today and again we saw some hails and light snowfall. After taking all the mandatory "We made it!" photos at 5,000 meters (Ania did not want any, she was sulking because the weather was bad and we could not climb to the viewing point at 5,100 meters) I took my daypack off Julio and carried it for the rest of the day. Not much of a task since the rest of the day was just going down followed by walking across a plain. We got to campsite already at 1.10pm - so then there was nothing to do after that. Sigh.... We had lunch and i again went to bathe in the cold river (don't learn my lesson do I? Fever, fever but I still want cold water...) So, I'm going to have a nap now.
Day 6: 1 Sep
Freaking freezing, at 4,600 meters at campsite after the day's hike. Cannot write. Too cold. Will get in my sleeping bag and not get out although it's only 4.45pm. I've got pain in the stomach...
I skipped dinner and Julio brought me a hot water bottle later that night. That made me feel a whole lot better, I was nice and warm that night. Don't I just love hot water bottles!
Day 7: 2 Sep
We woke up in morning to discover it had snowed during the night at 4,600 meters. The ground was almost covered in snow. Wow! Baby Moose (my mascot) took some photos in the snow. The "burros" (donkeys) did not seem too happy in the snow, neither did the dog that had appeared from somewhere. Our tent had a layer of snow over it. I was amazed - mountain weather is so funny. No wonder it was so cold at night!
We took off after breakfast in a light snowfall. Ania left a little later because she did not like the idea of walking in the snowfall. We did one big climb today (to 4,800 meters) and then came back to our last campsite at 4,100 meters. It was another beautiful campsite by two lagoons and surrounded by high mountains. The sun was out and we had fun chatting to a British guy and a Swedish guy camping next to us.
I hate to be such a princess but I'm happy thinking that tomorrow night I'll sleep in a bed!
Day 8: 3 Sep
A nice walk on our last day with some variety to the scenery. The path was sloping down, the weather was perfect and we got some nice views of the valleys walking downwards. we ended the hike in a small village where we caught a long bus ride back to Huaraz. All in all, it was a very nice hike and I'm happy I did it. I think I might stick to shorter hikes in the future - but I'm still proud of myself that I did it.
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