Having decided not to give all our gifts for the children away on day one, we actually hadn´t seen a child since and were lugging around extra weight in our day packs in the hope that we might come across one. Christmas would have come early for that child!
Our third day was to be the most challenging with the ascent of 2 passes one of 5,200m. It all started well and we were walking at a reasonable pace. One of the group, E, had been feeling a bit off colour with a bad cold and was finding it tough going, but determinedly and impressivley plodded along a little way behind. The walking was tough as the terrain was covered in thick snow that had started melting in the sun. So we found ourselves walking at altitude, uphill on a surface of snow covered, boot sinking mud! The top of the second pass was reached after lunch and we all felt slightly elated with the views, the Peruvian vodka shot (men only) and the lack of oxygen.
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| Kerry and I on top of High pass Coming down from the pass I began to get a headache. By the time we reached our camp it had turned into a thumping, nauseating migraine. A sure sign of mild altitude symptoms. As soon as I reached camp all I could do was unpack my sleeping bag, I barely managed to inflate my sleeping mat and curled up for a couple of hours to try and sleep it off. I dont remember much about the rest of the day. Miguel had filled his water bottle up from the kettle as a very welcome hot water bottle for me. I did get up for dinner but had no appetite for food or real interest in coversation. Thankfully a good nights sleep was medicine enough and I was back to my usual self by morning. E, however had taken a turn for the worse and her symptoms were becoming acute and a much more serious concern. She didnt have the strength or breath to walk and it was decided to put her on one of the horses. After the exersions of the previous day, day 4 should have been a nice easy and short walk to the next campsite. As we walked along Miguel, who was leading E on the horse, told us there was a lagoon up the mountain to our left and there was a path up to it. If we wanted we could walk up to the lagoon as an extra loop to the days short trek. None of us wanted to get to camp too early, so we jumped at the chance for an add on to the route..... So commenced a fairly serious scramble up the side of a snow covered rock face. Not what we were expecting at all!  Reflections in the lagoon E¨s condition continued to deteriorate and by the time we reached camp she had a fever and was coughing up bloody mucus. Luckily Will had a very well equiped first aid kit, a tank of oxygen and a satellite phone with his doctor wife on the other end! Treatment was prescribed and then a plan was made to shorten the trek by a day in order to bring E down sooner. However, which ever way we went we still had another pass of over 5000m to cross. That afternoon some of the group played high altitude football with Miguel, Domingo and the rest of the team. The rules were seriously compromised as Olga who was far the best player was literally picked up or knocked over by the others to stop him getting the ball. The goals were rocks positioned on the pitch, which had streams of glacial water running through it, and players would often lie infront of the goal to prevent the ball going in! The game ended with a herd of alpaca invading the pitch. I think the score was 7-0 to Peru.  Mike, Will, Jim, Miguel and Stuart (left to right) Day 5 We had now seen a couple of very rural Alpaca farmers´ settlements and also a couple of women and finally one child, who received a bundle of mirrors, marbles, toothpaste, socks etc. E continued on the horse and seemed slightly better, whether from the drugs or the fact that the end of the trek was in sight and lower altitudes and more oxygen was only a pass away, and a comfortable hotel in Cusco only a night away. Once we reached the pass, Miguel wanted to perform a ceremony to the mountains. We all had to select 3 coca leaves and hold them in a fan shape. He then went on to say a thanksgiving to the Apus (mountains) and also to Pachamama (the earth). We then had to place our leaves under a rock of our choosing and we could ask the Mountains or Earth for a wish.  View from just after the last high pass We had decided to walk a longer day in order to get to a lower altitude and shorten the trek by a night and to get back to Cusco earlier, so it was still a good 3 hours down hill at a furious pace after the high pass ceremony. Everyones legs were feeling it the next day! Miguel had suggested that Domingo organised to have a lamb slaughtered and would cook it in a traditional way, under a pile of hot stones with baked potatoes. The camp was in the center of a small settlement where there was another hot spring pool. There were lots of children who continually lined up in the hope of receiving gifts. We off loaded most of the rest of the things we had brought to them. Domingo had a fire going over which he´d built a hollow cavern of stones. These were allowed to heat up for a couple of hours. Meanwhile the lamb was marinating in herbs and garlic in a large bowl in a hut that the team had commandeered. I found out the next day that the sheeps head was under the bed! When we had all had a plunge in the hot springs it was time to cook the lamb. The stone cave was dismantled the lamb and potatoes were then layered up with the hot stones, then covered with more stones and then packed down with damp straw, then a tarpaulin and finally the whole thing covered with earth. Forty minutes later the lamb was cooked and the potatoes baked! The potatoes were lovely, unfortunatley the lamb was a bit saltly. The next day we had a cake, made in the pressure cooker; for breakfast and packed up our sleeping bags for the last time on this trek and set off for the shortish walk back to Tinqui. In Tinqui we said our good byes to a great team and headed back to Cusco in our mini bus. E was looking better and better the lower we got and the more oxygenated the air she was breathing. |
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