I woke up feeling great after that dream. Of course opening the tent to the gorgeous views and looking forward to what food we would be eating didn't hurt either!
Our first round of business was to take a picture with our porters and chef. I've never met such hardworking people. A couple of the guys were our age. On our last day, we had a ceremony to thank them for their hard work and give them a tip. The interesting thing is how shy they were, I couldn't hardly get them to look me in the eye, much less get a good hug out of them!
The process on the trail is this: porters and chef wake up, fix breakfast. Hikers and guides wake up, eat breakfast. Everyone packs up, hikers leave. Porters stay behind to finish packing up camp, then PASS the hikers on the trail, make it to camp and set up before the hikers arrive. The altitude is probably the biggest difference- they live in the area and are used to it, while we do not and are not. Pretty incredible!
Of course, the picture everyone wants to see- the toilets. They had this loveliness at each campsite. It's not the most comfortable thing for a woman, prepare to pee on yourself at least a little bit. It's impossible to direct the flow! They did flush though and at least they were private. Much better than finding a spot in the woods.
This day started off with jungle scenes, including a couple of scary bridges. Bean thought it was funny to take pictures of me looking freaked out on the scary parts.
Our group fell into a rhythm: Matt and Elsy in the front and the Bell Family bringing up the rear. I'm proud to say that they were impressed at our novice hiking skills on such a difficult trail. Elsy does bushwalking in Australia, leading hikes where nobody has been before. She's very used to carrying all of her gear, including freeze drying her own meals and leading multi-day hikes. We of course have never done any of that.
This day also included a couple of ancient herbal remedies, the first being sampling the infamous coca leaves. They taste pretty gross, nothing to get excited about (the tea is much better). They really did help with any queasiness from the altitude. The only side effect I noticed was my tongue went a little numb and the inside of my cheek was raw where the lump of leaves were. We did sneak our leftover leaves back into the states (generally rebel activities like that are my idea) but after unpacking can't find them! I'm really not disappointed though, I don't see the purpose of them at low altitudes.
The other herbal remedy was for headaches. Hernan would put some liquid on his hands, slap them together, and create a tent for your nose. All you do is inhale, and the headache melts away. It smelled really strong, almost like 100x vick's vaporub, and it really did work.
What we thought would be the hardest part of the trek was this day: 5 straight hours uphill to our maximum altitude of 4,200 M, or almost 14,000 feet.
For comparison's sake, Mount Kilimanjaro's tallest peak is 5,895 M.
Mount Everest peaks at 8,848 M. So we basically did half of Mount Everest in half a day.
Theoretically, I think we could have trained more. More stairs, more walking or running, whatever. But physically, there's no way to train for this, especially living in DFW. The rocks were so uneven with such varying heights, the only way I can see to do this is to just jump in and be strong mentally. Don't give up, and keep walking up stairs that are the same height as your leg from foot to knee. Over and over and over and over.
It was pretty tough, so we took lots of breaks. We mingled with some other hikers this day. One in particular kept me going, and she didn't even realize it. I'm pretty competitive so I saw her up ahead and passed her. Then she passed me. Then I passed her again and stayed ahead. Bean was about 10-15 steps ahead of me (see him in the left on the first picture- the curve in the mountain is where we were headed).
Time and time again, I would stop to catch my breath and she would stop behind me. I'd think to myself, 'I might just stop right here for an hour and rest'. I'd take a picture of the scenery. Eat a skittle. Take a swig of water. Just stand there. And she'd start taking a few steps forward and that made me do the same. I never got her name but she was from New Jersey. So naturally we named her Jersey.
I can't describe the exhilaration at making it to the top. Of course our group members were already there waiting on us (remember they are the professionals) but it was awesome. I didn't think it could get any better than that. It was colder up there too!
This landmark is called Warmiwanuscca, or Dead Woman's Pass. We found out later that they'd found a woman's skeleton at that location. There's speculation over whether she was sacrificed or just starved to death. The joke was that some people cry when they reach the top because they can't believe that they are there. I was convinced I would cry, but I never felt the urge. Good news!
The next step was 2 hours downhill to camp. Then we would have lunch, a siesta, popcorn/tea time and dinner.
Wait, did I mention we did all of this before lunch?
I had been really looking forward to the downhill portion. Nothing could be worse than constant uphill, right? I was sorely mistaken. The downhill part was the hardest thing I've ever done. The intense concentration required to not stumble and fall facefirst off the side of a cliff was enough to make anyone give up and let the porters carry you out.
Bean was quite good at the downhill parts. He said it has to do with being surefooted, whatever that means. I got confused over the hiking poles and the rhythm of where to put the poles and where to step. Watching Hernan helped a little bit but he was so confident sometimes it was hard to keep up.
I was starting to get pretty tired but knew we had several hours of relaxation ahead so that was all the motivation I needed.
Lunch was an interesting combo of rice, veggies, french fries, cornbread, and a drumstick.
This campsite was very different because we shared the area with several other groups of hikers. This is when it became very apparent how lucky we were with our small group. The site seemed like it was carved out of the mountain, with little plateaus at different levels for tents. Our sleeping tents were on one level and we went down several steps to another plateau where we ate.
I'm not sure if it was the altitude or what, but after tea time (and that delicious popcorn!) I started feeling pretty sick. I just wanted to lay down and sleep with zero movement or noise around. The thought of even sitting up to drink tea was nauseating. I was sad to miss the soup; plus I'd been wondering if we were ever going to have a huge plate of pasta...
Bean got to enjoy that huge plate of pasta. I slept fitfully, waking up every time I heard the other campers talking or moving. I knew the next day was the longest distance and what Hernan called the hardest day. I wanted to be ready for it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment