Day 4- Pretty nice little Saturday!

January 23, 2010
After a miserable cold, wet night, we woke up to beautiful sunshine. We were able to lay our clothes out on the various rocks to dry. The fog had lifted and we could finally see the view that surrounded us. Up behind up on the hill was another farm where the farmer from the night before had casually walked in the rain herding a flock of llamas. As the sun rose, so did more animals as the sheep, horses, chickens swarmed our little hut.

The sun was too enjoyable this morning that it took us a lot longer to get packed up and back on the road. As we continued on down the road we past the farm house we could only see in the fog last night. We continued on a downward path for most of the way until we came to a valley. It looked like a dead end and all i could see was a mountain with trails of switchbacks straight across from us. I didnt want to go, but new there was no way around it. We kept walking where we came across a little farm site, Lego went to talk to them and asked for directions to make sure we were on the right path. As i was standing infront of a handmade twig fence, i heard little kids laughing. I couldnt see any kids, until i looked right through the fence. They were hiding. A little boy and 2 little girls. I talked with them, asked their names and ages. Took a quick photo and we were on our way. Up a little further was a tienda (food, supply shop). There they told us we were gonig to cross another river, so we decided to buy some eggs, 2 bottles of beer, and head down to the river to have lunch. The sun was shining, the river was cool and refreshing, and we were the only ones around. First we all took our shoes and sox off, washed up a bit in the river, and then started the eggs. And for desert, we shared some of Christo's brownies and chocolate bar. It was such a nice, peaceful, relaxing little saturday. We spent over an hour there, and decided we better get going since we already had a late start.

Up over the bridge, we got stuck behind some horses along our path. They didnt want to move and there was no room to pass them. So without getting too close, we pushed them on further ahead until we could pass them. We had heard that up further were some hot springs, but because of the rock and mud slides, they were shut down. We didnt realize how much the rock slides took out the road until we got to them and had to climb over them. Our path was just back and forth switchbacks heading down into the valley. At times we were getting sucked into mud and had to find the parts that werent as muddy to get through. At one point, instead of trying to get through all the mud and walking back and forth, we just slide down the middle between each layer of switchback. It was a lot faster, and it was easy to slide down with the dirt than work through sticky mud. It was kind of fun! At the bottom, he kept going to try and find those hot springs. We now had another interesting, narrow steep decline of a path to follow next to the raging river. We came across two pools that were empty, and landslide that was around the areas of the pools. As we were making our way down, an old man decided to sit, have some food and watch us work our way down towards him.

We new there was also a waterfall somewhere coming up and he told us it was another hours walk. Then past that was a place where we could camp for the night. Its hard to gauge where all these landmarks are from our map. So may times we thought we were closer than we really were. It was late in the afternoon and we had to rush to get there before dark. Finally after an hour, we came across this amazing waterfall. There was a little makeshift bridge that crossed over it. It was intense to stand on that bridge and just watch the water rush below me. I kept walking, and at this point, i had lost all the guys and I was walking in this enclosed path filled with beautiful, green plants. I would walk and just catch the scent of an amazing new smell, so id stop to check it out. Maybe that's why i always came in last behind the group. All of a sudden, i turned around the corner and a huge green pasture opened up before me. It was heaven, and I new i was home for the night. A welcome sign above a gate lead me into this pasture. There was another tienda shop there but it was all boarded up. We walked around to find the right spot to set up our tent, just as it started to sprinkle. Amazing timing, again. We then heard the sound of dogs barking, and a few girls yelling at them. They were coming down the hill to check on who had arrived. We checked to see if it was alright to camp there, and if the water was ok to drink. They later came back to open up the tienda where we bought some food and mainly treats from them. They made some good money on us, and went back up the hill as it started to get dark, and we started to make dinner.

It was so much warmer in this campsite compared to the last 3 nights. I could walk around with my nice alpaca sweater on with out bundeling up in all my clothes. Even sleeping was comfortable. We sat around under the sheltered area after diner, talking and telling more stories. Ike set up his hammock again over where our food was cooked. We probably went to bed early again this morning, as we do everyday because of exhaustion.

I remembered laying in my sleeping bag, listening to the light sound of rain outside and hearing Ike whistle himself to sleep, thinking, at this exact moment. I am completely happy! It was such a beautiful day of hiking about 18km and the adventure we walked through, to end it with the beautiful sounds of rain, music, and peacefulness.