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| Rembrandt´s a sucker. |
Tent
Fuel and burner
Instant soup with pasta
Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Water purification tablets
Avocados and tuna
Trail mix
Head lamps
Sleeping bags. Uh oh
One nice thing about carrying all your belongings on your back for 8 months is realizing how little you need. The clitter clatter of everyday life (and the accompanying concern and stress they bring) quickly disintegrate and reveal the absurdity of many of our material endeavors. Unfortunately for us, a sleeping bag while trekking at 4750 meters probably is not one of them.
So began our 4 day trek in the knock-your-socks-off beautiful, impressively diverse, tranquil-as-the-dalai-lama's-meditations Cordilerra Blancas mountain range. Surrounded by dozens of snow-capped peaks, countless waterfalls, gorgeous glacial melt lakes, rivers, and streams, the Santa Cruz trek won itself top shout-outs ( debatedly second only to possibly the Fitz Roy in Patagonia, or maybe to God, but that guy gets so many props we thought the Christian thing to do would be to spread the wealth.)
The days were filled with marvelling at our surroundings while taking very deep, oxygen-hungry breaths. The nights were filled with shivering. After 24 hours a day together for quite some time, nothing brings a couple together like sharing one sleeping bag at near-freezing temps. Cheaper than couple's counseling and less risky than murder, nothing says "I love you" like snuggling for dear life.
To keep me entertained, Jason graciously engaged in several funny activities, like pissing himself ( see: The Day Nature Called to Piss on Me) and stopping several tomes to ring out his soaking-wet-with-sweat shirt that had begun to freeze to his body. Though possibly more stinky and just as much an ass (though, admittedly, a far better convesationalist), pack animal Jason once again chivalrously bared the burden of carrying our gear.
With another unforgettable trek under our belt, we find ourselves left asking one nagging question: Why the he'll didn't we start this trek biz-nass earlier????
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| The view which graced our first two days through the valley. |
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| Yes, that is pasta water tea. Sometimes the cold forces you to resort to extreme measures. |
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| Nothing says ¨smile¨ like glacial melt...down your pants. |
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| The warmth before the sunset. |
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| The intimidating summit, though we didn´t reach the top. Just where the snow (actually glacier) begins, off to the right is the pass which we crossed. |
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| The summit, or at least our summit. |
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| A little a-ggress-ive, but I made it my goal to beat at least one pack of mules to the top. I placed second in a field of three...Beth wields a nasty donkey whip. |
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| Our little show of theatrics. That´s what happens when you have oxygen deprevation. |
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| That shirt just went back on for the picture, thankfully for you readers. |
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| The drive out of the National park was not quite as rewarding, but perhaps equally spectacular, as our trek. |
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| This photo doesn´t do the lake justice. We were in a bus, so had to snap it quickly. The water is an amazing translucent teal, ruined by a shadow casting cloud. |
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| A picture of the leyward side of the mountain, after the summit, but before the so called ¨incedent de peee¨ (it sounds so much less vulgar if I pretend what heppened, happened in French). |
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| This was taken in a moment of clarity on our second to last day... |
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| ...five minutes later the clouds and the cold moved back in. |
When I first read this I thought you forgot your sleeping bags...
ReplyDeleteHow cold was it?
Hi!
We did... Well more accurately, I did. We shared one sleeping bag, zipped open. And really fucking cold. Though we were sOmehow spared by the good graces of the Andean gods, a few people woke up with ice on their tent.
ReplyDeleteDamn. You havent been that skinny since 6th grade. Miss you guys.
ReplyDeletebtw, how long are you guys extending the trip?
ReplyDeleteYou forgot about my bout of anorexia (with a dose of bulemia for good measure) in 10th grade, but outside of that, you're right. I'm like a 12 year old all over again, but this time growing a receding hairline.
ReplyDeleteAnd we arrive at LAX on December 15th. I'd like my welcome home present gift wrapped and in my hands upon arrival.
You guys are way more hardcore than my Peru Crew...we took the one day trek (if you can call it that) to Laguna 69...and we called that the death hike, classic.
ReplyDeleteI get into LAX Dec. 22...hopefully we can meet up at some point!
why didn't you drag your tv box / sleeping pad up with you? a layer between you and the ground does wonders. looks awesome up there. now that you're hardcore trekkers let's make a trip to the sierras (i have no idea when that'll be).
ReplyDeleteWe should have kept that tv box. We´ve yet to find anything so warm as that. But, we made due. We laid an emergency blanket on the ground. It looked like we were tiling our tent floor, NASA style. And hardcore is debatable. I think I could do five days, 10 with a donkey, but not much more than that.
ReplyDeleteMandy, we get into LAX December 15th. I´m guessing you are heading to Santa Barbara then to SF, so we will reconvene at Zapril Bible´s on December 26th, the year 2010 of our lord.