garyandpearl

Monday August 15, 2016

This is THE day, the most difficult of the four day hike: the ascent to Dead Woman’s a Pass, an elevation of 4205 meters or 13795 feet.

After our wake up call at 0530h along with a cup of steaming coca tea, we enjoyed a nourishing breakfast.

We were introduced to our porters and cooks, and then we started the ascent to the pass. We took it slowly as we had to climb for about 7 hours today for a total distance of 7.6 km and an elevation of over 4000 feet. Along the way, we stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery and changing microclimates: from arid to cloud forest.

This is the moth that emerges from the grubs that we saw in the market place that taste like hot dogs!

A llama

One of the over 100 species of hummingbirds in Peru.

We reached the pass around 3:30, and after a few quick photos to prove we had made it, we headed down to our camp for the night, arriving around 5:30. We were treated to tea and biscuits, and then enjoyed supper at 7:30.

Alfredo and Wilber are our cooks, and we are amazed at what they can produce with their basic equipment.

We are usually in our tents with lights out before 9 pm. This night was the coldest since we were so high in elevation, but we kept warm and appreciated our thermarest mattress pads. The moon was almost full, and even though the sun sets around 6pm since we are 13 degrees south of the equator, we could see well by moonlight. It is surreal..we can hardly believe that we are here and have conquered the pass.