Cashipampa (2915m)-> Llamacoral (3760m) -> Taullipampa (4250m)
Day 1
The next two blog entries are about the trek Eli (my brother) and I did through the Cordilleras. Interesting fact: in this small area of Peru there are 50 mountains above 5,000m. In contrast, North America has only 3 and Europe has none. Take that Alps.
Ever since the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal I've been interested in the big mountain ranges of the world as well as how the body responds to high altitude. It is quite interesting to breathe and not get any air. This trek was a bit different than Nepal because we were camping and had to carry our own food. This meant a stop in the mercado in Caraz, before the 90 minute drive to our starting town, Caraz. Picked up some oranges and bananas along with some empanadas to liven up the trail mix and oatmeal previously bought (and some chocolate cake carefully packed away into a Tupperware to enjoy at the top of the pass). Love markets in other countries. How do you know the chicken you ate buying is fresh? In the States, you have no idea. In Peru? Because the chicken next to it is currently being plucked, the chicken next to that is lying upside down on a cinderblock wall with its neck slit as it bleeds out onto the ground, slowly twitching its last twitch, and the chicken next to that is being drowned by a teenage boy in a dish of water. Love markets in other countries.
The trek started out good. Hot, steep, interesting irrigation for farmers, lots of quinoa growing along with some other funky looking stuff. We quickly climbed 800 meters or so and then the club flattened out to a somewhat open pasture filled with cows and donkeys. Perfect place for camping? I guess. Just hope I don't end up with a cow in bed with me in the morning.
I love camping. But they have some serious pros and cons.
Con #1 Sticky Legs. I don't mind bring dirty once in a while. Some may think that I am usually dirty. But when it comes to sleeping, I'm a bit more particular. I like nice clean feet and legs that are free from any sort of stickiness. Usually a little stickiness is OK, but that's when you are at home. Let me explain. When you sleep on your back, your legs don't touch and all is well. Sleeping on your stomach (I don't) is also in the clear. But what about on your side? Your legs come in contact. No one likes this. That's why blankets are always larger than beds. You pull the sheet loose and jam it between your legs and they don't touch. No possibility of sticky legs. (This is also why I hate it when hotels tuck the sheets into the bottom of the bed. You can't prevent sticky legs and it feels like your ankles are going to break. Although Katy disagrees). Now you might ask why are you going to bed with sticky legs. Answer: I've been hiking for the last 6 hours, it's hot, I haven't done laundry in a week or showered in 3 days. I get in my sleeping bag, zip up, roll over to the side . . . . sticky legs. I scrounge up some other clothes and throw it down there to try to minimize the problem. But every time I rollover the article of clothing gets dislodged and I'm back at the same problem. I feel like I could peel my legs off of each other. Or that someone through some Elmer's Glue in there when I wasn't looking.
Pro #1 Transient Living. Deep down everyone gets a little bit sick of the routine. Same old day in and day out. The same day over and over again. Wouldn't you like to pick up your life once in a while and move? Of course. This is camping. Your house is on your back, your oven/stove/microwave/toaster is now smaller than your hand and the only clothes you'll need are wrapped up in a small bag. You live happily for the next 2-7 days. Then you get home and wonder - "why on earth do I own all this other stuff?" I did great for the last week without it (in my case 10 weeks) yet for some reason it sits in boxes, closets and drawers throughout my house. Gotta love the freedom that comes with camping.
Con #2 Cell phone battery life. My phone is now my camera. For a 4 day trek I've gotta ensure that my battery lasts the whole time. Sleeping at 14,000 feet is cold and we all know that the cold drains batteries. Solution? Sleep with my phone in my pants. Not cool.
Pro #2 Stars. On a nice clear night in the mountains you peel back the rain fly and stare at the stars. Doesn't get much better than that. Stars also remind me of two places I love, Albion Basin and Jamaica.
Pro/Con. Being out of touch with time. This is a pro and a con. The pro side deals with the fact that time is irrelevant. The only thing you're gonna do all day is walk, eat when your belly rumbles and then walk some more. When you don't want to walk any further set up camp. The con side is that time (because you're not paying attention to it) starts to move at different speeds. Example: the first night Eli and I go to bed around 7pm because its dark and cold out. We toss and turn for a bit, sleep on and off for a bit, and then I start getting that feeling of "isn't it morning yet, I can't sleep and want to get a move on the day." I decide to not bother Eli quite yet so I lie there for a bit before asking him what time it is. I've guesstimated that it must be around 5am and some light will start creeping over the mountains. Finally ask him, and his answer 11:55pm. What in the world? It's not even tomorrow yet. Morning hasn't even thought about coming. Back home I wouldn't even be in bed. I've gotta suffer through 6 more hours of sticky legs? Hence the pros and cons of time when I am camping.
Day 2
Morning finally came. Oatmeal with an adequate amount of trail mix add in. My new favorite. Especially when I get some MMs. The only thing that didn't run smoothly was when I noticed a cow nuzzling its nasty muddy nose into my shorts and licking them to a wet dirty mess. So much for drying out. Besides, what's with cows eating clothes?
A beautiful hike up past Alpamayo and to the base of Tualliraju. Spectacular views. A slight drizzle rolls in around 4pm so Eli jumps in the tent and I hideout under a huge boulder that also serves as a cow hideout during storms. (I surmise this by the amount of dung in the place). Get back to the tent around 5:30 to a nice dinner of rolls, ham and cheese. Eli's got crumbs up everywhere so I make some "fat hobbit" jokes and we are rolling around laughing in the tent. In an attempt to sleep better we stay up as long as possible playing WAR, the card game. We invent some new rules to spice things up and after about a two hour battle I come out victorious. Fall asleep around 10pm, after washing my feet with a rag hoping for a smoother crisper night sleep.
Day 1
The next two blog entries are about the trek Eli (my brother) and I did through the Cordilleras. Interesting fact: in this small area of Peru there are 50 mountains above 5,000m. In contrast, North America has only 3 and Europe has none. Take that Alps.
Ever since the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal I've been interested in the big mountain ranges of the world as well as how the body responds to high altitude. It is quite interesting to breathe and not get any air. This trek was a bit different than Nepal because we were camping and had to carry our own food. This meant a stop in the mercado in Caraz, before the 90 minute drive to our starting town, Caraz. Picked up some oranges and bananas along with some empanadas to liven up the trail mix and oatmeal previously bought (and some chocolate cake carefully packed away into a Tupperware to enjoy at the top of the pass). Love markets in other countries. How do you know the chicken you ate buying is fresh? In the States, you have no idea. In Peru? Because the chicken next to it is currently being plucked, the chicken next to that is lying upside down on a cinderblock wall with its neck slit as it bleeds out onto the ground, slowly twitching its last twitch, and the chicken next to that is being drowned by a teenage boy in a dish of water. Love markets in other countries.
The trek started out good. Hot, steep, interesting irrigation for farmers, lots of quinoa growing along with some other funky looking stuff. We quickly climbed 800 meters or so and then the club flattened out to a somewhat open pasture filled with cows and donkeys. Perfect place for camping? I guess. Just hope I don't end up with a cow in bed with me in the morning.
I love camping. But they have some serious pros and cons.
Con #1 Sticky Legs. I don't mind bring dirty once in a while. Some may think that I am usually dirty. But when it comes to sleeping, I'm a bit more particular. I like nice clean feet and legs that are free from any sort of stickiness. Usually a little stickiness is OK, but that's when you are at home. Let me explain. When you sleep on your back, your legs don't touch and all is well. Sleeping on your stomach (I don't) is also in the clear. But what about on your side? Your legs come in contact. No one likes this. That's why blankets are always larger than beds. You pull the sheet loose and jam it between your legs and they don't touch. No possibility of sticky legs. (This is also why I hate it when hotels tuck the sheets into the bottom of the bed. You can't prevent sticky legs and it feels like your ankles are going to break. Although Katy disagrees). Now you might ask why are you going to bed with sticky legs. Answer: I've been hiking for the last 6 hours, it's hot, I haven't done laundry in a week or showered in 3 days. I get in my sleeping bag, zip up, roll over to the side . . . . sticky legs. I scrounge up some other clothes and throw it down there to try to minimize the problem. But every time I rollover the article of clothing gets dislodged and I'm back at the same problem. I feel like I could peel my legs off of each other. Or that someone through some Elmer's Glue in there when I wasn't looking.
Pro #1 Transient Living. Deep down everyone gets a little bit sick of the routine. Same old day in and day out. The same day over and over again. Wouldn't you like to pick up your life once in a while and move? Of course. This is camping. Your house is on your back, your oven/stove/microwave/toaster is now smaller than your hand and the only clothes you'll need are wrapped up in a small bag. You live happily for the next 2-7 days. Then you get home and wonder - "why on earth do I own all this other stuff?" I did great for the last week without it (in my case 10 weeks) yet for some reason it sits in boxes, closets and drawers throughout my house. Gotta love the freedom that comes with camping.
Con #2 Cell phone battery life. My phone is now my camera. For a 4 day trek I've gotta ensure that my battery lasts the whole time. Sleeping at 14,000 feet is cold and we all know that the cold drains batteries. Solution? Sleep with my phone in my pants. Not cool.
Pro #2 Stars. On a nice clear night in the mountains you peel back the rain fly and stare at the stars. Doesn't get much better than that. Stars also remind me of two places I love, Albion Basin and Jamaica.
Pro/Con. Being out of touch with time. This is a pro and a con. The pro side deals with the fact that time is irrelevant. The only thing you're gonna do all day is walk, eat when your belly rumbles and then walk some more. When you don't want to walk any further set up camp. The con side is that time (because you're not paying attention to it) starts to move at different speeds. Example: the first night Eli and I go to bed around 7pm because its dark and cold out. We toss and turn for a bit, sleep on and off for a bit, and then I start getting that feeling of "isn't it morning yet, I can't sleep and want to get a move on the day." I decide to not bother Eli quite yet so I lie there for a bit before asking him what time it is. I've guesstimated that it must be around 5am and some light will start creeping over the mountains. Finally ask him, and his answer 11:55pm. What in the world? It's not even tomorrow yet. Morning hasn't even thought about coming. Back home I wouldn't even be in bed. I've gotta suffer through 6 more hours of sticky legs? Hence the pros and cons of time when I am camping.
Day 2
Morning finally came. Oatmeal with an adequate amount of trail mix add in. My new favorite. Especially when I get some MMs. The only thing that didn't run smoothly was when I noticed a cow nuzzling its nasty muddy nose into my shorts and licking them to a wet dirty mess. So much for drying out. Besides, what's with cows eating clothes?
A beautiful hike up past Alpamayo and to the base of Tualliraju. Spectacular views. A slight drizzle rolls in around 4pm so Eli jumps in the tent and I hideout under a huge boulder that also serves as a cow hideout during storms. (I surmise this by the amount of dung in the place). Get back to the tent around 5:30 to a nice dinner of rolls, ham and cheese. Eli's got crumbs up everywhere so I make some "fat hobbit" jokes and we are rolling around laughing in the tent. In an attempt to sleep better we stay up as long as possible playing WAR, the card game. We invent some new rules to spice things up and after about a two hour battle I come out victorious. Fall asleep around 10pm, after washing my feet with a rag hoping for a smoother crisper night sleep.
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| Hiding from the rain and having dinner. |
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| Peru has more desert than I had anticipated. |
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| All the dirt/sand is from a recent landslide. |
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| Picking up some water before ascending to the pass. |
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| Campsite our first night. |
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