Snippets of memories

Peru - 2014: 

Now, many months after returning home to Ketchikan as I'm just getting around to writing some posts about the Peru trip and I find these images and sounds still running through my mind: 

• The encouragement and gentle teasing of our  hiking guide Rodger as us gringo sea-level hikers panted at the slightest increase in elevation - - “piece of cake, right?” he'd ask, grinning;
•  Jesusita - the woman of indeterminate age who appeared every day on the stone steps below our hostel, selling her hand-croched mittens, scarves, sweaters, hands always busy working on another piece. Usually her young daughter sat next to her, shyly looking at us;
•  The humbling experience of my rapid heartbeat and  breathing heavily after climbing what, at sea-level would have been a breeze of an incline, but at 11,000 feet was still taxing after several days; 
• The ubiquitous honking of car horns in Cuzco; and
•  The thump/thump at all hours of the discotheque a block or so from our Cuzco hostel; and
• Drinking coca tea several times a day before the hike...until my niece (30 years my junior) suggested: "Ah, Aunt Kerry, you might not want to be drinking coca tea at 8 o'clock at night...didn't you drink some this morning?" (That's why she has a doctorate! - a little bit smarter than her ole' aunt).

Joining a guided tour brings some anxiety about the other individuals who will be part of that group. Even though our hike was only to be 4 days, that is enough time for grating on each other's nerves. But, wow, Carie and I lucked out.   In Rado and Leslie, we had two compatible and fun team members in our small hiking group, plus our awesome guide Rodger.  Leslie lives in New York City and is an editor of reality television shows; Rado is a banker who hails from Zurich, Switzerland. 

 Whether we would gel or not was not apparent at the orientation meeting, as we introduced ourselves, but not much more as finding out about the hike was the main objective.  Rodger introduced himself and gave us an overview of each day and instructions on not bringing anything other than what we really needed. (As is typical on these hikes, we would only carry a daypack and our sleeping bag, tent, food, would be carried by a packhorse. On the Inca Trail, human porters do the work.) 

My ears perked up when Rodger described our first day. We would have an easy first day hike and arrive at our campsite at lunch time. After food and a nap (later found out how important that was), we would hike up to a lake at a higher elevation as an acclimatizing activity. We might want to cool our feet there, he suggested, although occasionally some people  swam. From the way Rodger said this, I got the impression those clients who opted for this were rare, and slightly crazy.  Well, I immediately thought, no way am I not going to meet that challenge!.  In the last decade of so, I've acquired a propensity for jumping into COLD alpine tarns on summer hikes - it's my own personal Polar Bear Club.  I looked at Carie.  She looked at me.  “We’re going swimming,” I declared. (I knew Carie would be up for it. I'd witnessed her own interest in lake plunges while traveling with her and her family in Switzerland and Germany, but that's another story.)

I almost backed out on this high-altitude  Peruvian lake dip, but Carie convinced me--probably something about being a weenie. The photos show our entrance into Umantay Lake, emerging from our dip,  and exiting. Our new hiking "buds" were most impressed, immediately knew we were crazy,  and took the photos to prove our hardiness.