6:30am: We wake up, I'm feeling a bit better than yesterday, but far from 100%. We'll go explore a bit to see if my health holds up.
7am: breakfast at Pachamama, bread, butter and jam with tea. Still not feeling very well...
7:30am: vilage is empty, we randomly knock on doors to find someone who could drive us closer to a well known hike. We finally found a nice named Andres de la Manchana with a big 4 wheel drive.
9:00am: we leave the village with Andres towards the geyzers, the hike starting point. Andres sold us 3 eggs, to cook in the geysers, pretty cool. Current altitude: 4400m.
9:30am: After 10min in the boiling water, the eggs are cooked and we take off. First part is pretty flat for 40min, then we start climbing towards a first lake which sits on the Chilean side of the mountain.
11am: it's really hard to progress at this altitude due to shortness of breath. I have to focus on breathing with each step, otherwise I can feel my heart freaking out. We stop for a light lunch shielded from the wind by a big boulder. Bread, tuna, and the still-runny-but-delicious geyzer egg...
12:10pm: we reach the first lake, it's beautiful and we are already super tired. We got to see 6 pink flamingos in the middle of the lake, swimming away from us. Current altitude: 4846m. Following the advice of our driver Andres, we walk around the lake on the right side. He indeed mentioned that the left side of the lake, the Chilean side, still hasn't been cleared of landmines since the War of the Pacific of 1879-1883 which opposed Chile to Bolivia/Peru. The next half kilometer is made of green spongeous plant that puts a spring in our step. A lot of rabbits live in the boulders next to the lake, basking in the sun, and making giant jumps between rocks as they run away from us. We keep going up to the second lake.
1pm: we made it to the second lake! Checking the altitude, we are at 4950m... Tough climb, we are all pretty exhausted and out of breath but there's no way we turn back now, not before reaching 5000m. Everyone agrees and we decide to climb some more, trying to reach the third lake which sits even higher.
1:50pm: We did it... 5050m above sea level! Worth it! We are running out of time though, and we don't want to be late at the rendez-vous point with Andres. We turn back without seeing the third lake... Too bad! We'll learn later that the lake was just minutes away!
We start retracing our steps back to the geyzers at a fast pace, Max even runs half way down the mountain. That guy is nuts.
2:50pm: we are back at the first lake, where the flamingos once again shy away from us.
3:50pm: we are now on the last flat section leading to the geyzers... 40min to go, we should be right on time
4:30pm: we made it back right on time, but Andres isn't here yet. He'll rock up 15min late during which we stretched and chilled. What a bummer, we could have used these 15min to make it to the third lake... But, hell, that was already a pretty awesome hike!
5pm: back at base at Pachamama... The three of us are just dead. Shower and some quiet time for the three of us.
7pm: dinner at Pachamama... Tonight is our Christmas dinner: Camille and Max have brought some "foie gras" from a farmer in the Landes (South/West of France), really tasty! I brought some "mirabelle" from my dad's special lambic, but we are all too tired to drink alcohol that night. The dinner is served: Alpaca (sort of like a lama) with pasta, with the traditional hearty soup for starters. As usual the portions are so big that it's a challenge to finish the plates! We offered some "foie gras" to our hosts, and they said they liked it. As they ate their toasts in the back room, no way for us to know if they were just being polite! :)
9:30pm: in bed, for some well-earned shut eye... Turns out I won't sleep much that night, probably due to all the headache pills I took during the day.
Summary: man... that was a tough hike. 18km and 650m positive elevation. It would have been a hard hike at a "normal" elevation, but here at 4500/5000m altitude, it was just insane. I realize just how much the lack of oxygen takes out of you. You're out of breath just lacing your shoes, so imagine climbing a mountain!
The landscape was just absolutely stunning. Massive mountain peaks on each side, crazy colors, beautiful lakes, crazy rabbits with curly tails, and we reached a new record height of 5000m... What a great day!
I'm also really glad I didn't fail the group due to my altitude sickness. I wasn't 100% sure I could make it when we started climbing, but everything went well. Adios altitude sickness, you are now a tiny little speck in my rear-view mirror.
7am: breakfast at Pachamama, bread, butter and jam with tea. Still not feeling very well...
7:30am: vilage is empty, we randomly knock on doors to find someone who could drive us closer to a well known hike. We finally found a nice named Andres de la Manchana with a big 4 wheel drive.
9:00am: we leave the village with Andres towards the geyzers, the hike starting point. Andres sold us 3 eggs, to cook in the geysers, pretty cool. Current altitude: 4400m.
9:30am: After 10min in the boiling water, the eggs are cooked and we take off. First part is pretty flat for 40min, then we start climbing towards a first lake which sits on the Chilean side of the mountain.
11am: it's really hard to progress at this altitude due to shortness of breath. I have to focus on breathing with each step, otherwise I can feel my heart freaking out. We stop for a light lunch shielded from the wind by a big boulder. Bread, tuna, and the still-runny-but-delicious geyzer egg...
12:10pm: we reach the first lake, it's beautiful and we are already super tired. We got to see 6 pink flamingos in the middle of the lake, swimming away from us. Current altitude: 4846m. Following the advice of our driver Andres, we walk around the lake on the right side. He indeed mentioned that the left side of the lake, the Chilean side, still hasn't been cleared of landmines since the War of the Pacific of 1879-1883 which opposed Chile to Bolivia/Peru. The next half kilometer is made of green spongeous plant that puts a spring in our step. A lot of rabbits live in the boulders next to the lake, basking in the sun, and making giant jumps between rocks as they run away from us. We keep going up to the second lake.
1pm: we made it to the second lake! Checking the altitude, we are at 4950m... Tough climb, we are all pretty exhausted and out of breath but there's no way we turn back now, not before reaching 5000m. Everyone agrees and we decide to climb some more, trying to reach the third lake which sits even higher.
1:50pm: We did it... 5050m above sea level! Worth it! We are running out of time though, and we don't want to be late at the rendez-vous point with Andres. We turn back without seeing the third lake... Too bad! We'll learn later that the lake was just minutes away!
We start retracing our steps back to the geyzers at a fast pace, Max even runs half way down the mountain. That guy is nuts.
2:50pm: we are back at the first lake, where the flamingos once again shy away from us.
3:50pm: we are now on the last flat section leading to the geyzers... 40min to go, we should be right on time
4:30pm: we made it back right on time, but Andres isn't here yet. He'll rock up 15min late during which we stretched and chilled. What a bummer, we could have used these 15min to make it to the third lake... But, hell, that was already a pretty awesome hike!
5pm: back at base at Pachamama... The three of us are just dead. Shower and some quiet time for the three of us.
7pm: dinner at Pachamama... Tonight is our Christmas dinner: Camille and Max have brought some "foie gras" from a farmer in the Landes (South/West of France), really tasty! I brought some "mirabelle" from my dad's special lambic, but we are all too tired to drink alcohol that night. The dinner is served: Alpaca (sort of like a lama) with pasta, with the traditional hearty soup for starters. As usual the portions are so big that it's a challenge to finish the plates! We offered some "foie gras" to our hosts, and they said they liked it. As they ate their toasts in the back room, no way for us to know if they were just being polite! :)
9:30pm: in bed, for some well-earned shut eye... Turns out I won't sleep much that night, probably due to all the headache pills I took during the day.
Summary: man... that was a tough hike. 18km and 650m positive elevation. It would have been a hard hike at a "normal" elevation, but here at 4500/5000m altitude, it was just insane. I realize just how much the lack of oxygen takes out of you. You're out of breath just lacing your shoes, so imagine climbing a mountain!
The landscape was just absolutely stunning. Massive mountain peaks on each side, crazy colors, beautiful lakes, crazy rabbits with curly tails, and we reached a new record height of 5000m... What a great day!
I'm also really glad I didn't fail the group due to my altitude sickness. I wasn't 100% sure I could make it when we started climbing, but everything went well. Adios altitude sickness, you are now a tiny little speck in my rear-view mirror.
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