Day 4
I woke up with something falling right on my face. It was my tent. Did a dog jump on the tent last night? Two months of using this one and it had been sturdy. I opened up the zipper. Wow, it’s complete white, it’s all snow. I took a jacket and jumped out of the tent.
“Where are the llamas? Where are the dogs?” I said to myself.
I looked ahead carefully and found all of them there, cozy and quiet, covered in snow. It was 6am in the morning. The snow was still falling. I walked around, with only the sound of my own heavy breathing.
Then a dog joined and followed me around. The llamas were still afraid of human and turned away once I got closer.
This world is magical. Yesterday we were wearing shorts, this morning it’s covered by the snow!
When I got back, my friend woke up too. He ran into the snow and took all the photos. Then we made breakfast, sitting under a hut, occasionally standing up, walk around while eating.
“Did I just sit on a tampon?” He said in a funny way.
Then I saw there was a tampon right on the ground where he just sat. We both laughed for the human trace in this high mountain. I didn’t know when the snow stopped. The sky started to clear out. We wrapped up the backpack and got on the way back, back to civilization.
With the sun rising up, the snow melt quickly, making the way back super muddy. It was such a nice day, warm sunshine, after rain freshness. There were a few more groups coming in today. Porters, guides, tourists, backpackers.
We finally got to the highest point of the way back and stopped to share snacks.
“This time you walk in the front, and responsible to say hi to the people.” He said casually.
“What should I say in Spanish? I only know Buenos Dias, or Como Estes?”
“See those two over there? You can ask if they want some snacks too.”
“How do I say?
He taught me a few words, which I had forgotten while writing this. We then shared the snacks with the two locals and had a good chat.
It was at those moments I simply felt grateful. I always knew I was too shy or face too thin. But somehow someone saw that and was willing to push you forward passing that self consciousness. Even though it was a friend I just met two days ago.
As we got to the Upis camp, it started pouring. My friend got his bike back and started repacking. I just sat in the rustic kitchen making hot water. From here, he would bike out and I would walk back. There were still 5 miles left to town.
I would be alone again. I gotta hurry to get back before sunset.
It was a hard getting back, even though it was mostly down hills. My shoulders hurt so much. There were motorcycles up and down. I prayed quietly, someone please pick me up. This would never happen before because I was always proud of finishing the route all on my foot. But this time, I did pray. And it worked.
A small motorcycle stopped in front of me. The guy asked where Iwas going. Then I was on his backseat. My backpack was so heavy and I had to hold two hiking poles in front of my chest. He started the engine, my legs suddenly swung up and forward to the sky. So close I almost fell off the bike. While sitting behind this stranger, I kept thinking if I should just hug him to avoid another potential fall or just hold his little backpack strap. In the end, I managed to not hug him until we got to Tinki. I laughed at myself again and gave him 20 soles for thanks.
My friend was already back. Perhaps we were the only customers in this hostel.
He looked happy and relaxed. We got dinner together and back to our own rooms enjoy some electricity and the actual beds.
The second morning when I was waiting for the bus back to Cusco. He showed up on the street, looking for the head soup we didn’t get the night before. We said goodbye and I was officially on my way back to civilization.
Two months later I still think back to this experience. The first time I got so sick and stuck in the mountain, the highest altitude the closest to the sun of my life, the people I met, the mountain and its spirit. I was trying to make sense of the things, why I was there, what did it indicate, or wanted me to understand. Then I still cannot make a life philosophy out of it. Just when I think back, I know I have been in somewhere really wild, I have that space in my heart, and it will carry me into the life forward. Maybe in the future I sit in my couch in a busy city feeling stuck, I know I have been once in my wildest dream, and it’s in me, and I always have the option to alter my life again.