Anyways, I showed up to my friends' place around after dinner, almost falling asleep already. The boys then tell me that they were thinking of going hiking to a mountain called Ausangate to see snow for their first time. I was only half listening and with them speaking in Spanish I was really getting only 25% of the info they were giving me. They said it would be cold and I’d need to wear layers if I wanted to come. I have no idea why I agreed to go, but I figured it was just a little hike and might be a fun adventure (little did I know what I was getting myself into…)
An hour later, we packed into a taxi (9 of us in a 5 person taxi with all our bags of clothes) and headed 10 minutes away to a terminal. There we split into two taxis. At this point it was around 12:30am. On the road, the cab driver told us that it would take about 2 to 2 ½ hours to arrive at the basecamp. This is when I realized I probably made a huge mistake by coming. I pretended like it was no big deal but I was freaking out about what I was getting myself into.. Dios mio… anyways, I passed out in the car for a few minutes at a time, but it was tough because the roads were so curvy going around and up over the mountains.
We arrived at the base around 3am. And it was freeeezing. I had 3 hoodies on, jeans, sweatpants, and uggs (most clothing borrowed from my friends since I wasn’t prepared for this journey). We had some hot drink before we started the walk, and the walk was tough. Although it wasn’t too steep at first, the altitude was really tough for me to breathe. We started at around 4,000m above sealevel, which is at least 500m above Cuzco. It was completely dark out so we had flashlights, and I was scared half to death because I could hear a rushing river running along side where we were walking, but I couldn’t see it. At some points the cliffs were pretty steep too and we had to all hold hands to ensure that we wouldn’t slip (water was running over the path in some parts).
This is when I realized that the hike that we were on is actually a customary trek that Catholic Peruvians do every year. Ausangate is the highest mountain the region and the site of the traditional festival Q’oriti, which takes place after Corpus Cristi (I’ll talk about this festival later). The mountains are known both in the Catholic religion and in Quechan legend as being very sacred. For the months of May and June locals make the 10km trek to the church by the mountain of Ausangate, where they scrape the ice and bring it back to their towns as holy water. I guess I should have been paying more attention so I could have down my research beforehand. On the way up, there were 8 crosses marked along the path. The more we walked, the more people we saw walking in the dark with us. People of all ages, old, young, people on horses and mules, but no tourists. I think I was the only white person there haha… but what’s new.At about 5km I was feeling pretty tired and weak, but we stopped to drink some mate de cocoa and rest for a bit. We continued to walk for another hour and a half and finally reached the church at 8km. At this point the sun had risen. There were also small booths selling things, Peruvian women cooking and selling soups and other meals out of the cauldrons, and tons of people huddled around together with blankets trying to keep warm in the high, freezing, winter air. We went into the church, and warmed our hands over a bunch of candles. Then we waited in line to get to the front of the church where we were able to say personal prayers right in front of a monument (I’m not sure the real significance of this monument but I’m trying to find out more). This is when I realized that my friends have really strong background and faith in Catholicism which kind of caught me by surprise, but I guess you can’t judge anyone before you know them.
After saying our prayers (aside from my other prayers i prayed to have the strength to make it back alive...) and leaving the freezing cold church, we tried to warm up in the sun for a bit. We ate some amazing soup, sitting on a log outside the church. I felt truly Peruvian hahah… after finishing the soup, my friends wanted to hike the next 2km up to the snow glacier. I wanted to die just looking at it because it was so steep, but I didn’t want to look weak so I sucked it up and off we went. The climb was way worse then just getting to the church. I had to stop every 5 minutes just to catch my breath… I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have asthma. We finally made it to the glacier and my friends were so excited to see snow for their first time. They wanted to take a million pictures…it’s crazy just because I’ve seen snow so many times and I never thought it was that awesome, but to them it was the coolest thing. We climbed around for a bit, then stuck our feet in the freezing cold river to help our swollen feet.
We started the trek back down the mountain, and I figured 10 km downhill wouldn’t be too bad because it wasn’t climbing uphill. It was faster, but so painful for me. My knees and legs were killing me from the constant pounding of walking down hill and by the bottom I was almost in tears because my knee was bothering me so badly. But I felt really proud of myself…and my friends told me they were surprised I survived (thanks guys…) We jumped on a bus to get back to Cuzco and there wasn’t enough seats so I sat on the floor basically… my seat folded down but at every bus stop I had to fold it up so people could get on and off the bus. So much for being able to nap on the way back… It took us 3 ½ hours to get back. I was so painfully tired at this point. We stopped and had the best meal around 4pm for about $6 (pork, salad, potato..mm), and then I slept for 13 hours until I went to work on Monday morning. When I woke up on Monday I could barely move I was so sore, but it was an awesome experience that I’ll never forget (and probably never do again…but that’s besides the point)
Only a few more weeks left… :(
xo
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