Mountains Archives - The Agostins

July 12, 2015

Ain’t No Canyon Low Enough

Ain’t No ~~Valley~~ Canyon Low Enough

Peru is home to the world’s deepest and second deepest canyons, both are just outside of Arequipa. We wanted to hike at least one of them, and being of the anti-guided mindset, found Colca Canyon to be more independent traveler friendly with a nice little circuit of small villages about a days hike apart throughout the canyon.

We had heard that the main route from the “larger” town at the canyon rim, Cabanaconde, to the oasis village at the bottom, Sangelle, was pretty packed with tour groups. So we decided to take an alternative route to get off the beaten path. Unfortunately, to get to the canyon rim we had to take a tourist bus. It picked us up at 3:00am and we fortunately were able to sleep for the first couple of hours. But within fifteen minutes of being awake and listening to the guide we were so glad we would be departing from him shortly.

Once we arrived in Cabanaconde we stopped at Pachamama Hostel to grab a trail map and advice on the alternative trekking options. They were really helpful and we confidently set off on our way. We only made it to the edge of town before we got completely distracted by a horse auction going on in an old bull fighting ring.

We each picked out which horse we would buy, if we were going to buy a horse in Peru. I chose a big (for a Peruvian horse) bay stallion with a “c” mark on his forehead. Rick picked one of the younger black horses. I struck up a conversation with one of the locals next to us and it was going smoothly until I asked how much a horse would cost… to which he responded “how many horses?”, I said just one, but that clearly was incomprehensible that I would want to buy just one horse. Apparently in the Peruvian countryside you would NEVER buy just one horse, so we talked in circles for a few minutes, then he consulted the folks next to him about the crazy idea of buying just one horse and how much it would cost. The answer was 400 Soles, about $125 US dollars. What a deal!

But horses are difficult to cross borders with so we forced ourselves to leave the auction and start the hike. The first day was mostly downhill into the canyon. We saw lots of cactus and birds, and the condors were the star of the show that day. We saw over a dozen of them soaring over our heads. We were told it was a five hour hike, but we made it in a little under three hours and arrived at Llahaur. Llahaur can’t even be considered a village… it’s really just a spot on the river where a family has erected some bamboo huts and a little restaurant because there are hot springs there. It was adorable and the views were incredible.

We set down our packs and went straight for the hot springs. We spent most of the afternoon and evening there enjoying the warm water and canyon views. It was, by our low standards, luxury trekking! We got to sleep in a bed, someone else made dinner and there were hot springs – score!

We woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the uphill hike to the next village, Fure. It was the one that would get us way off the beaten path. Fure is in a lush side canyon, off of the main canyon. We made great time getting up there, doing it in two hours instead of the five it was supposed to take. As soon as we arrived we realized this was probably not the place to stay – we had been told that locals would offer a room in their house to stay in, but the village (ten houses total) seemed to have been virtually abandoned. We met a woman who was walking her sheep up to graze and had a little house there. We wanted to make the out-and-back hike to the nearby waterfall, and she offered to watch our backpack while we hiked it. The waterfall was beautiful, all of the way back in the canyon. The water just came out of nowhere, from the middle of the rock, shooting out to a 110 foot drop.

We planned to eat lunch at the house of the woman keeping our backpack, in exchange for keeping it. But when we asked her about lunch, she said she didn’t have anything to serve and we could go to the shop at the end of town. The shop was most definitely closed, like every other house there. It was supposed to be another solid day’s hike to get to Sangalle, but since we’d made great time in the morning we figured we could make it that afternoon.

This section of the hike had some of the best scenery and views of the canyon and surrounding mountains.

But the downside was that a large portion was on the dirt road – which always makes it feel like you’re hiking ten times longer than you actually are.

Today’s hike also had the highlight of us getting the crap scared out of us, and running away from, the least intimidating animals ever. First it was the Attack Sheep of Death. Yes, a sheep scared us. It was perched on a terrace just above the trail and as we got closer, it started stomping it foot, making angry eyes at us and looking like it was going to either ram us, or more likely in my mind, taking a flying attack leap off its perch over us and batter us with ninja-like hoof moves. No kidding, we tried to talk it down but to no avail, this sheep did not want us there… so we covered our heads and ran past it!

To add further insult to our day, this GIANT fly with a huge proboscis/stinger started following Rick and trying to bite him… which resulted in him flailing our Nalgene at it and then running away. (and I refused to come to his rescue). And the final moment of shame was when a quail surprised Rick on the trail, when he surprised it coming around a corner, and he screamed and hit the deck – I’m sure it was PTSD, Post Traumatic Sheep Disorder, that caused his dramatic reaction.

Anyway, finally “The Oasis” of Sangalle came into view…. All we had left was a 3,000 foot descent into the valley! It wasn’t as knee-busting as we feared, but after putting in about 19 miles that day we were ready for some rest. Sangalle is called “The Oasis” because in the middle of this massive desert canyon, water literally flows from the rocks everywhere there. It’s filled with greenery, palm trees and pools! The pools are filled with constantly flowing natural water. It was really cool.

We relaxed with a beer and big dinner and went to bed early. We had to wake up at 5:30am the next morning to make our way 3,900 feet up the side of the canyon back to Cabanaconde in time to catch a bus.

We were thankful it was still chilly in the morning, because the ascent certainly warmed us up quickly. We made it in just under two hours, about half the time it was supposed to take us – Yea, we still got it! The canyon was really cool with lots of views and volcanic activity – from geysers to hot springs.

The climb back up the canyon was nothing compared to the nine hour “sightseeing” bus ride back – ugh! We were dirty and exhausted when we got to Arequipa, but since there was no room for us in the hostel we decided to jump on a bus to Lima.

July 11, 2015July 11, 2015

Machu Picchu

After trekking into Aguas Calientes and hearing about the hour and a half hike up the hill from town to Machu Picchu, and knowing that we had to catch our ride back to Cusco in the early afternoon, we decided it made the most sense to just buck-up and pay for the bus ride up the hill. $26 USD apiece round trip… for a 20-minute bus ride. That’s on top of the Park entrance fee and whatever else you spend to get there. Needless to say it’s not a cheap place to visit. #Extortion

Nonetheless we are up at 5am and waiting in line for the bus when the nice lady comes buy to check our tickets and our passport.

“Tickets? I know I put them in one of these pockets. Crap! Liz stay inline I’ll run back to the hostel and grab them from the backpack.”

10 minutes Later I came back and said something like this.

“I lost them. Explicative. Can’t find them. Explicative. They’re gone. Explicative. They must be in Cusco where we bought them. Explicative.”

I am officially the loser now.

Liz stayed calm and said something to the effect of “Calm down and go check and see if they can reprint them in the park office.” I run off to the office is open (amazingly) and they were more than happy to look up my passport number and reprint the tickets for me.

My heart was still racing the whole bus ride up the hill and for probably an hour after. So once we got into the park it felt a little more like Disneyworld than an ancient city. Hundreds of people everywhere, lines, tour groups with bicycle flags. We wisely made our way away from the hordes of people and followed signs towards “Inca Bridge.” Sounded interesting enough and was the opposite direction of everyone else. We were rewarded with a narrow path build right into a cliff face that worked it’s away around the mountain and then ended at a bridge that appeared to be a defense mechanism. Run across the bridge, remove the boards, enemies are stuck. Pretty cool.

We spend the rest of the morning wandering around the massive maze-like city. Taking a ton of photos and overall just being awed at their ingenuity and the beauty of the valley.

We had learned a bit about Inca construction from our walking tour in Cusco so it was cool to see it play out on a grander scale. As with most everywhere else, the more important things are constructed better. The temples and “important places” are constructed in a way that the rocks fit perfectly together, with almost no gap. Where as common houses etc, while still built well, definitely don’t have the same attention to detail. Even still it’s amazing what has stood the test of time. While a lot of Machu Picchu has been reconstructed, with a little wandering we were able to find some areas that hadn’t been rebuild yet, and they’re surprisingly intact for their age.

It was also pretty amazing seeing how the Incas worked with the landscape. From the dozens of levels of terraces build right into the side of the hill to using the giant boulders in their construction – they really made use of what they had to work with.

One of the things that we didn’t expect of the sacred valley (though I guess we should have by the name) was just how cool the valley itself is. Machu Picchu sits on this little shoulder between two small peaks on a peninsula in the middle of this valley that is completely surrounded by rows and rows of mountains in every direction. Makes it pretty obvious why the Incas picked this spot for Machu Picchu.

As we were making our way toward the exit to catch our bus we came across a pair of llamas that had just given birth and got to see a baby llama take it’s first steps on a terrace at Machu Picchu. We felt kinda special.

July 10, 2015July 11, 2015

Walk like an Inca: Salcantay!

If you’ve followed this blog for more than a minute or know Liz and I at all you’ll know were not ones to plan things 6 months out. That’s apparently what it takes to hike the “Classic” Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It’s limited to 500 people a day and books up 6 months in advance… Seriously 500 people a day on a trial. No Thanks.

Lucky for us there are a number of other ways to get to Machu Picchu some of which even involve hiking. After a lot of option weighing we decided on the Salcantay Trek which follows another of the Inca’s many highways through the Sacred Valley on a 4 day trek and includes a 4600m pass. Best part… you can hike it without a guide and you don’t need tickets!

After visiting the local South American Explorers club for a topo map from the 60’s (the latest version) and stocking up on a few supplies for the 4 day trip to Aguas Calentes at the base of Machu Pichu we caught a Colectivio at 6am for the ride to Mollepata where we’d start our journey. We were in luck and got the last 2 seats in the jam-packed mini-bus which meant we got to ride in the front and we didn’t have to wait for anyone else. A quick two hours later we were in Mollepata and I suggest we get breakfast as sort of a last meal before oatmeal for days. We got a tourist breakfast, which came with “orange juice” which not surprisingly turn out to be Tang. Liz pointed out that it probably wasn’t made with filtered bottled water… I shrugged her off and downed both glasses. #foreshadowing

We made our way to the edge of town and up a gravel then dirt road climbing all the way. It was surprisingly hot and when a guy driving past offered us a ride we jump at the opportunity to cut a few minutes off our trek. He drove us for about 10 minutes to where our ways parted and probably saved up 30 minutes of walking in the hot sun. Shortly there after we saw our first, of many, tour groups that were unloading from mini buses and starting their hike. The rest of the first day was a hot up-hill slog with some awesome views.

After reaching a valley and a huge fancy lodge, we found our campsite, with great views of the surrounding mountains. We were tired and wanted to save our energy for the 800m climb to the pass the following morning. The wind was picking up and it was getting cold as the sun set so we were thankful for the small cooking shelter where we made dinner and met another guy hiking independently, Mark. Mark had been traveling Bolivia and Peru and as we swapped stories he mentioned how he always seemed to get a bout of giardia whenever he’s in the Sacred Valley… #MOREforeshadowing

We rose with the sun and started our push to the pass at 4600m. The first hour was pretty brutal, our muscles were cold and sore and it took a while to get warmed up, but once we were the trail was beautiful and we found our rhythm.

At the top of the pass we were pleasantly surprised to find a summit that was enjoyable and a nice place to hang out for a bit. It was down right pleasant, even in a t-shirt. We took some photos, socialized a bit with some of our new friends, and of course found time to do our signature “airplane at the summit” move! We enjoyed the sunny weather before turning our boots downhill.

After a few hours of downhill I realized I couldn’t suppress it any longer. That rumble in my stomach had grown from “maybe a little gas” to “I think I’m going to poop on myself.” The challenge now was where. Or trail had become a bit of a donkey path with dense vertical jungle to our left and barbed-wire fence and drop off to our right. I decide it’s time to warn Liz of the impending doom.

Honey, I think I’m going to $#!† myself.

And so starts the search for the perfect location… make that any location. Did I mention the team of donkeys and porters we had just passed about five minutes ago that are hot on our tail?

Eventually, as the pressure builds, I get less selective and I find the perfect place to hang off the edge. At this point there is no longer any questions… I should not have drunk the Tang. We hobble into the next campsite about an hour later and Liz enjoys a cold beer with our new friend Mark while I head straight for the bathroom. After about an hour, a dozen trips to the baño, a few Peptos, a prescription strength anti-diarrheal, and a Gatorade, I’m feeling semi-confident I can probably make it 30 minutes down the trail to the next campground where we planned to camp.

We made it and were greeted with a beautiful site right in the middle of the valley. I collapsed on the ground while Liz set-up the tent, cooked dinner and suggested I take some of the hydration salts she had ever so wisely suggested we carry with us on all hiking trips. After dinner I perked up a bit before feeling a bit ill again and deciding I needed to go to sleep.

The next morning I felt worlds better and when Liz ask if I was up for the alternate route I was game. It was downhill-ish for the first 3.5 hours until we reached La Playa where the trials split, one climbs 800+m uphill to Llactapata (another set of ruins) and the other down to the tourist town of Santa Teresa and the hot springs. We started uphill at about noon and it was absolutely sweltering. We’d hike for 15 minutes then rest in the shade for 5 but eventually we made it to the top of the mountain and the Llactapata ruins from which you can see Machu Picchu across the valley.

Our campsite for the night was a few minutes down the trail and had an even better view of Machu Picchu. It was a pretty magical sunset. Then it was up early the next morning for the big walk down the hill and along the train tracks to Machu Pichu Puebo, Aguas Calentes, The tourist town at the base of Machu Picchu. The entire town is basically there to support the tourism of Machu Picchu.

June 19, 2015June 21, 2015

Climbing Huayna Potosí

Huayna (pronounced Why-Na) Potosí hits 6088 meters (that’s 19,980 feet!) above sea level in the Cordillera Real, about 2 hours outside of La Paz. It’s considered by many to be the first technical mountain above 6000m that most people will ever climb. That seemed like a good enough reason for us to try and tackle it. With La Paz acting as a base camp of sorts for acclimatization at almost 3500m it’s only a 3 day trek to the top. With this being our first technical climb, we went with a guide.

After meeting our Guide we went by the Altitude6000 depot to get outfitted with a few things we didn’t bring on the trip, specifically mountaineering boots, ice axes and crampons! Unfortunately I had sold my crampons in a garage sale before we left – you know, since I only got to use them on one trip down the drive way in Dallas during an ice storm.

After driving up to base camp at 4700m we ate lunch and then took a short hike to Glacier Viejo to familiarize ourselves with our gear. This turned out to be more like an Ice Climbing 101 class and was awesome. Liz was a natural.

Ice Climbing the old glacier to Huayna Potosí

The next day we hiked up to high camp at 5130m with all our gear. After reaching high camp we dropped our gear, ate lunch and then climbed a little higher to try and help us acclimatize a little more. Then it was rest, rest and rest the rest of the afternoon; We would be waking up at midnight for our six-seven hour push to the summit.

With a full moon and headlamps we strapped on our crampons and started up the mountain. Huayna Potosí doesn’t mess around. It starts off steep right out of high camp and didn’t let up. As we climbed we were entertained by cloud-to-cloud lightening off in the distance. It’s something else to see lightening when you’re eye level with the clouds.

We got to practice our newly acquired ice climbing skills in the dark on a 15m wall that marked the halfway point.

From here on out it seemed like every step was twice as hard as the previous. Our guide was a huge help at this point as he was constantly motivating us to keep slowly moving up the mountain. After our Kilimanjaro experience we we’re to big on racing up the hill and were more than happy to the few other teams on the mountain pass us up. The only prize for getting to the top first is that it’s still dark and freezing cold!

As the sun started to peak over the horizon we could see the summit with in reach and that was just the encouragement we needed for our final push.

The summit was glorious… and tiny. I mean just enough room for the three of us, which made us thankful we were the last one to summit as there was no one to rush us off for their photo opp. We hugged, danced, cheered and took a couple of sips of our celebratory cervezas and attempted our now signature “Airplane” move only to realize it was going to take a lot more practice before we can do it with crampons. We made to the highest we’d ever been – 19,980 feet – just 20 feet short of 20,000 FEET!

February 26, 2015March 5, 2015

Torres del Paine: Valle del Francés and Mirador Británico

We woke-up, had breakfast, left our most of our stuff at camp and made our way up the 5 hour round trip hike up Valle del Francés to Mirador (look-out) Británico for some epic views. We were feeling great scrambling up the rocks with nothing but a small day pack. My Osprey usually doubles as our day pack because it’s so light. We threw in a couple of granola bars and our down jackets to enjoy the summit in (it gets chilly when you stop moving) and our rain jackets in case it really starts pouring and started up.

About every ten minutes there is an incredible view we took a ton of selfies and even managed to get photobombed by some of new Chilean friends, who had earlier in the morning shared their Chilean “breakfast of champions” with us – Johnny Walker Red and cookies!

It is so cool to be so close to glaciers. Every 20 minutes or so you’d think you heard thunder, but with there being no lightning in Patagonia, not to mention the clear blue skies, it’s not thunder, it’s a huge chunk of glacier breaking off and tumbling down into to the valley. We saw one huge crack towards the top that we swore was getting bigger before our eye and we were sure it was going to fall at any moment, but despite our stares, it never fell, at least not while we were watching.

Among the many, seeming outrageous, claims Patagonia has made, is the most unbelievable in my book; You Can Drink The Water… from the tap, and right out of the creeks! They say, in the park you don’t need to filter or purify anything, it’s all straight off the glacier and super pure. They say the only place you need to be even a little concerned is at the camps (because not everyone is responsible/respectable). I haven’t googled the validity of that claim but, we didn’t have any issues.

The views from Mirador Británico were amazing! The valley just wraps you up with views of the towers all around.

We hiked back down to camp, packed up our stuff and made the 2.5 hours hike along the windy shores of Lago Nordenskjöld to the most amazing campsite Refugio Los Cuernos.

The Refugio had a wonderful clean and warm kitchen area; Fires are only allowed in very specific, enclosed, areas in the park, and of course, some of them are much better than others. And finally we said goodnight to a glorious sunset.

December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

What I’m Learning So Far: 3 Months of Travel

We have been traveling for three months now. As predicted, it feels like it has flown by! When we were preparing for this trip, we thought through what we wanted to get out of it, what we wanted to learn, how we hoped it would change us and grow us. It was intimidating to come up with those big scary goals, and it was impossible to say how we would grow. But almost daily as we are traveling, Rick and I find ourselves talking about something we’re learning, or something we had as head knowledge, but is really sinking in now.

So I figured I would share a few of those thoughts. As I got into writing this, it turned into a MUCH longer post than I initially thought. So I’m breaking it up into a series of them. Here’s the first installment, in no particular order:

1) Stop Spending Your Energy Looking for The Best

You’re better off making the most of where ever you are, than trying to figure out where you should be. I’m really bad at this. Like really, really bad.

I’m learning that with perpetual travel like we’re doing, you are basically constantly in planning mode. It’s very different from a vacation – where it’s super fun to plan, you spend weeks or months learning about a place, what to see, where to stay, eat, what are the “can’t miss” things there. But when that’s everyday, it’s gets really overwhelming and there’s just not enough time. I can’t plan for the next country we’ll be in because I’m trying to figure out where the heck we are right now, what we’re not supposed to miss, where we’re sleeping and how we’re getting from the train station to somewhere that’s not in the ghetto. So if I let it (and sometimes I do), every moment of every day could be spent planning where to go next, what to see – and even if you have time to do any of those “best things” at that point, you have no energy to because you’re beat down from all of the researching.

Confession: I am TERRIBLE about this!! (And if you knew me back in Texas, you’re probably nodding along that I was terrible about this at home too) What’s worse is that I’ve dragged Rick down into this habit with me – he didn’t used to do it – but I’ve brought him to the dark side. And this habit is what starts the majority of our frustration and fights I think.

As I’m writing this, God is definitely speaking to me, “Liz, why do you think you do that?…. Hint, hint, is it because you struggle with control? Is it because you too often forget that I have a plan for where I want you to be and when I want you to be there? Do you forget to trust my timing and hand on you?” Yes, nailed it, God!

You’re better off going to one of the first places you find, it may be mediocre or flat out crappy, but you’ve saved yourself a ton of stress and you actually have energy remaining to enjoy it. That goes from the smallest things, like the restaurant you’re eating at or which temple to visit, to the bigger travel things like which country in Southeast Asia to go to or which island to stay on.

There’s a danger to always looking for, seeking out the best, always trying to figure it out and get to it. I’m an addict though. I always want to figure out what the best option is and go for that one. But it’s easy to miss where you are when you’re mid-super-research-and-planning-extravaganza looking for the best. And certain moments in a mediocre place can be so much more fulfilling, memorable, and meaningful than the time you would spend in that perfect place. Make the most of where you are, instead of looking for the best place – I’ll be working on this one for the next leg of our journey.

2) I Don’t Have To Have It All Figured Out

Actually I only have to have a very, very little bit figured out – Who God is, and who I am to God. Everything else will work out, as long as I’m focused on those two things.

3) Learning What I Like: Mountains, Countryside

Being free to be where I want, having those options, has helped me to realize things I enjoy most. Previously, living in a city, I kind of assumed that I liked getting out into nature, the country, just because it was different that what I saw everyday. But now that we are bouncing around between cities and more rural places, Rick and I have both found that we really like being out in nature much more that being in even the most interesting and beautiful cities. Not a huge break though here, but good to know. I’ve also determined that I’m a mountain person. I’m just happier at altitude and with mountains as my backdrop. Even when I’m at some of the most beautiful beaches in the world I would rather be in the mountains. I’m looking forward to continuing to learn more of these innate preferences as we continue the journey.

PS – For Rick, definitely countryside over city. He could do beaches or mountains, definitely not as strong of a preference as me, but he leans towards mountains.

…well that’s probably already too long for one post, so I’ll stop there and pick up in another post.

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1) Stop Spending Your Energy Looking for The Best

2) I Don’t Have To Have It All Figured Out

3) Learning What I Like: Mountains, Countryside

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