Day 2 - ¨Here´s to no more tires falling off¨

January 21, 2010
7am we woke up to the woman from the house up the hill tapping on our tent, she had brought down 2 thermoses of hot water for us.How nice. We were able to hvae tea and make oats without having to heat the water ourselves. After cooking, we filled up some of our water bottles until the water ran out. Looking around from where we were camping was amazing. We could see in the distance a snow capped mountain behind the mountains we were to climb this day. Maybe that´s why i was freezing last night, cause we were so high up.

After we packed up our stuff, we walked up to the house to return the thermoses to the woman. She was kind enough to bring another hot pot down to fill more bottles for us. She told us they wanted to turn their little storage shed that right next to the road into a supply shop since so many people stop at their house. He husband offered us to set our tent up inside it last night, but we had already set it up down on the grass. We thanked the woman and set off down the road. Today we had 11km walk ahead of us to get to the first base camp site. More switchbacks as we gradually keep growing in altitude. Finally we came to a sign that pointed us up into a steeper off road path. we werent sure if we should take it, then heard the sound of an engine behind us. So we waited for the truck and asked which way to go. He pointed us up that path which was a short cut. A steeper shortcut. We estimated about 4 km an hour walking. So after our first hour, we came to another hut where there were horses wandering around and at the top of the hill, 4 women were sitting at a table playing cards and laughing. I really had no idea what they were doing there, there really wasn´t a place to stay. Other guys were there as well, that just got dropped off with a bunch of backpackers bags. They were probably guides to lead a group up. The woman pointed us to the top of a hill where we took our packs off and rested. It was a beautiful view to see the other mountains so we took a few photos and shared some snacks. We rested there for about 45 mins before loading up and getting back on the road.

We had about another 2 hour hike to where we would find our campsite. When we got close, we came across another supply hut where 3 little girls where outside playing. The smallest one ran inside the hut to her mama and hung on to her leg. She was so cute, she reminded me of Hattie, my niece. We bought some food, eggs for breakfast, as it started to sprinkle. The man from the shop offered to show us where the camping site was and led us up the road. We had to cross a couple of waterfalls where the water flooded over the road. One was so big, that we just took our shoes off and walked across. The cold water felt so good on my feet, i didnt want to put my sweaty shoes back on. Around the corner we came to two buildings. One was locked up and the other was just an open shelter with two rooms.

We got there around 2:30, set up our tent and had time to chill and relax. This by far was the easiest day. It was nice to have that shelter, we could cook in and lay our stuff out in. It started to rain, so while we waited for the rain to settle, we pulled some tables around the nailed down benches and played cards. We played a few rounds of cards as the rain let up and became beautiful outside. The boys started to throw around the frisbee and we decided to make a game for all of us to play. We came up with an alternative bochee ball game. Through the frisbee and use rocks to get as close to the frisbee as possible. We set up teams of 2 and were going to play to 7 points. The closest rock got a point and if both teammates were the closest they got 2 points. We played for about an hour. It was so fun. We all tied at the end with 6 points and finally someone won to end out game. It was just starting to get dark so we decided to start making diner.

After diner, we sat around the table again and started talking. Lego was sharing some of his travel stories and one about his Shamen experience in Colombia. He talked about the different ceremonies the shamens have to go through to become a ´real´shamen. The one he met had given him some of his special tabacco. Apparently, they make their tobacco and flavor it with different spices. So we decided to have our own little ceremony and share the shamen tobacco. The ceremony has 2 intentions. One is the intention of the group all together, then the second is your own personal intention. So Lego set our group intention to ´No more tires falling off´for the rest of the trip. The each person was to think about their own intention as the tobacco was passed around. I really wasnt sure what i should do with the tobacco, so i just watched and thought of my intention, and did what i felt was right. It was so peacefull and calming and was a good bonding experience for the beginning of our trip.

We were going to head to bed when Doug noticed the tent was leaking. So a few modifications to the tent and we went to bed. Isaac brought his hammock with and set it up inside the shelter. Doug gave me the idea to heat up some hot water and put it in a nalgene bottle and put it in my sleeping bag. That would help keep me warm. He also gave me his warm lambwool vest. This definetly helped me stay warm this night. Also, inside the shelter, we found a box, so i cut it up and layed that on the ground to give some insulation from the cold ground. I kept that box with me to the end! I was actually pretty warm and was able to fall asleep pretty fast. We had completed about 11km today!