Day 5 - Lares Valley

We woke about 5am in our little tent at Quishuarani and we certainly weren't the first awake. 

We didn't have a great night having both woken regularly during the night and we felt pretty tired and emotional when we woke up. But, it was amazing to open the tent and see the sun rising over the mountains, and the fantastic view made us feel a whole lot better. Local ladies soon appeared to sell their wares.

We brushed our teeth while looking at a snow-capped mountain. How often will we be able to say that!!! 

We packed our duffel bags with all our camp gear, ate a fab cooked breakfast and set off walking from the camp at 07:30. Today we had some porters join us, with their mules carrying water and for anyone who was really struggling to ride. Thankfully, although it was really tough, no-one needed to take up the option of riding up the mountain. 

We knew we would find today tough and many of us felt exhausted as we left camp, especially looking at the enormous mountain ahead of us that we had to climb, but by concentrating on taking small steps we were all determined to conquer the 7km ahead of us.

Our trek today was really tough, no I mean REALLY tough! We all found it hard going because of the altitude, even our leader Dean. However, at each walking break (about every 15 minutes) we had the most awesome scenery to admire. The higher we climbed, the more of the snow capped mountains in the distance we could see. Efrain told us to walk "pissi pissi" (not sure of the spelling), which means little by little/one step at a time. We liked this expression so used it often!

About 30 mins into our trek, a young girl of about 6 or 7 passed us.

She lives up in the mountains and walks down to school Monday to Friday. Families in rural Peru live in tight-knit communities and they all help each other. Children can travel alone because if anyone were to cause them harm they'd have the whole village to deal with and punishments are extremely harsh.

We stopped for snacks at Quiswarcocha Lake at 09:00. What a fantastic place to stop. The lake is full of trout and is jointly owned by the whole village. At certain times of the year enough fish for the everyone in the village are caught and they have a big feast. 

We had been given fresh passion fruit as a snack and Annette ate hers here. It was delicious! As we sat there a Condor soared high above the distant mountain we had yet to climb.

We continued, amazingly still able to slowly put one foot in front of the other. We stopped briefly for a few photos on a peak overlooking two snow covered mountains, in the company of a grazing cow! Then continued for the final push to the top.

We reached the highest point, 4350m, about 11.30. To say we were relieved to all make it is an understatement. A few in our group have really been struggling with the effects of altitude, ranging from sickness, headaches, sinus pressure and migraines. We were all so proud of ourselves and each other and a few tears were shed on that peak.

Dean measured our oxygen saturation and heart rate at the top (Naomi was 82 oxygen & 110 heartbeat, and Annette 84 oxygen & 127 heartbeat) and we had a little competition to see whose body was coping the best. Gemma was the winner with 91 oxygen and 95 heartbeat. Thankfully we were all within the acceptable range.

It's impossible to describe the view from the top and the way we felt as we stood there. Needless to say, it's likely we'll both remember that moment for a very long time!

After reaching the highest peak, the rest of the trek was thankfully downhill, however at one point Annette was wishing they were going uphill again as we had to walk along a narrow rocky ledge with a sheer drop of hundreds of feet with a gap that had to be crossed. Naomi and Mike had waited for Annette as they knew she would struggle here. After composing herself and a few emotional moments, she did it with their encouragement. From then on Annette relaxed and started to enjoy the views without feeling so fearful.

We had a bit of rain this afternoon while we were walking so put on our ponchos and raincoats. Whilst descending, we spotted lots of Chinchillas jumping around on the rocks, which was Naomi's favourite bit!

The minibus was parked in a village at the bottom. The word that we were on our way must have spread (we saw no other walkers today) because on the approach (still pretty high up) an elderly lady was sitting knitting with a toddler beside her. She had seen us coming down the mountain side and ran into her house to get some things she had made to sell. She had laid them out on a blanket on the edge of the path. Annette bought herself a small purse for 10 sols (£2.50). The toddler sitting with her was an orphan and when he lost his family this lady's daughter had offered to take him into her family. So the little boy is now considered part of their family. This can only happen in the mountains because no-one here ever needs to fill in forms or report to authorities of any kind. 

Families in the mountains live together harmoniously, living by their heart for the common good. For example, if a family needs to build a house the whole village pitches in to help make the bricks and put it together. In this way, a house can be but in just a few days.

The children were just coming out of school as we walked through the village and Di gave a small boy some books and pencils she had bought at the market. 

Annette 'high-fived' some lads as she passed them. What an experience to meet these amazing people.

Soon after getting in the bus it hammered it down with rain and continued to do so as we drove to our camp (at 3,400m). The heavy rain had soaked most of our tents which was not good. We ate lunch in the mess tent with torrential rain and a thunderstorm going on outside! We had chicken soup, beef and vegetables. We played charades etc until the rain let up. Not sure how, but Jim fell off his stool and broke it!

After finally working out where everyone could sleep, about 17:00 a few of us still wanted to go to the hot springs even though it was still raining. We were cold when we arrived but quickly got changed into our cozzies. There are 3 small spring pools and a small swimming pool, all containing brown water but they were amazing. After such a hard day's walk a soak in the hot water was so welcome.

On the way back to camp we were all really jolly, telling travel stories, eating Sarah's chocolate biscuits and listening to Coldplay and Culture Club!

Once back at camp, we sorted out the stuff in our tent and ate dinner of quinoa soup, chicken and vegetables, and hot mango with everyone. We all turned in about 20:45.

It was such a hard day in so many ways but reaching the top of that mountain gave us such a huge sense of achievement. The mountain was 4,350m high and we have both raised £1 for Cornwall Air Ambulance for each of those metres!

After our achievement today we're all feeling really positive about our even longer and higher trek tomorrow.