Guane Guane (5100m)

Ha, finally proceeding to the posts about the mountains!

After another stop in Arica, where we met Frank, we finally reached Putre (north of Chile, at the border with Bolivia). Putre is a lovely little village situated at the altitude of 3500 m. It has a square shape and about 4 important streets. The first thing we did was to go to the tourist office and find out as many info as possible. This is where we met Marco Antonio. When we asked about the weather he said, "mui mal, mui mal" which really contradicted with what we saw outside. It was summer and there were no clouds in the sky. But, he says, there's this nasty winter that hits the altiplano around this time of year. Of course I knew that, because that's what it said on summitpost as well! But it was really hard believing it once we were there and the weather seemed soo nice. Anyhow, we had to wait one day in Putre for our permits to arrive, which was all for the best, since we had to acclimatize anyway.

Just minutes after I had arrived in Putre I started running. Why, you might ask, would you start running on your first hour, for the first time at that altitude? I think I was rushing to tell them that I found a hostel for us to sleep (we were looking for camping places). Anyhow, my form of altitude sickness hit me: severe palpitations and dizziness. MA suggested that I drink a local tea which really helps with the "soroche" (altitude sickness). This tea is called "mate de coca" and is made out of coca leaves. They sell it in restaurants, kiosks and supermarkets, and yes, 0.5kg of coca leaves = 1 gr cocaine. The high altitude workers in Peru munch on coca leaves to give them strength and keep their hunger at bay. I don't know what more those leaves had, but I can vouch that after munching on them my right jaw felt like it had been given an anaesthesic at the dentist! So this short break at 3500 really helped me, because the tea didn't (until much later, in Aconcagua).

MA also recommended that we go climb Guane Guane (5100 m) to acclimatize. To reach Guane Guane, we had to go to the even smaller village of Parinacota (4300 m) and from there to about 4500 m where we would have to leave the car and continue on foot until the summit. He also gave me a hand-drawn map of the area. This map will come in handy for a lot of times.

The next day we started early, at about 7 am, and we reached Parinacota at about 9 am. It wouldn't matter because there was nobody there, except a dog. We named him Manuel. Manuel followed us around Parinacota, around it's beautiful old church and up some small hill. From that hill we got a glimpse of Guane Guane and, for the first time close-up, of a slope of Parinacota. We took some more pictures of the place and then, just when we were about to leave, an old lady was opening up her shop. We had mate de coca and sweets and my favorite, baked corn kernels mmmmmm. She confirmed the direction we thought was towards Guane Guane, and we were on our way.

After some extraordinary 4x4 driving done by Marius up a hill full with rocks (I tell you, I really felt like I was in a washing machine) we reached about 4300 m. There was nowhere else to go by car, so we started on foot.

I think this should be the time to tell you about (two of) my team-mates. Ahem. First, there's Dan. Dan, if you keep reading this blog, you'll see that he was quite a figure. He had climbed high mountains about 15 years ago, and nothing ever since, but had been talking about those high mountains ever since. He once caught me unaware and spent 4 hours telling me about them. He is a very thin man, I think weighing less than me (so not prone to carrying heavy stuff). He is also about my height, but, when walking next to Marius, who I guess complexes him with his height, he sort of walks on his toes such that he seems taller. Anyhow, when we were in Putre he started telling us how, if he walks too fast, we shouldn't try to keep up with him because we will loose our rhythm and eventually not reach the summit. [Gimme a break!] Then, still in Putre, he started asking about what happens if somebody gets altitude sickness and cannot go on. And what if that person is Lili, our novice? Lili on the other hand, was so scared at being considered the weakest link, that whenever we asked her how she felt, she would say she was ok and that there was nothing wrong with her. This approach was quite bad, because it was obvious sometimes that she was not ok and we actually needed to know. Ah, well ...

This is how we started climbing Guane Guane. Lili, in order to prove herself I guess, started walking very fast and took a path known only to her, which made her end up on some bofedal (sort of like a green swamp) and some tough boulders. Dan dashed after her, and Catalina, Marius and I walked following some stone pyramids. No vegetation around us, no flowers, no nothing. Just red volcano dust. Everywhere. In your socks, mouth, cutlery, food. This dust will be our enemy (or friend, because at one point I gave up) for the next month or so. There is some vegetation, which the chileans call llareta, similar to some form of moss, very well adapted to the cold, dry climate. And of course, some cacti. Other than that, dust and volcanic debris. Yeyy!!

So Dan was in pursuit of Lili, Lili was clambering up boulders and we were watching the show. At about 4800m Lili had to take over Dan's backpack (she didn't have one before) because Dan was unwell. At about 4900 m Dan started feeling really really bad and had to stop and give up. Around that altitude, we had the first good view of the Payachata (twin) mountains, Parinacota and Pomerape. [How I actually saw them is that I went to pee after a small hill and saw them and started yelling to everybody to come see! they were quite impressive!!]

Thus Catalina, Marius, Lili and I continued to the summit of Guane Guane. It was an uneventful climb. I think the reason we could all do it is because it takes the body about 12 hours to figure out that it really is at altitude. I think that if we would have waited one day and then go to Guane Guane, we would not have made it. Dan retreated and we met up with him at the car. We descended the hill (again, in full spin dryer mode for the washing machine) and found a nice place to camp near a lagoon. We set up camp, taking care to set up Dan's tent first and take care of him (he was really beat, and we were starting to feel dead as well). We would be here a this lagoon for two days.

This lagoon is populated during the weekends by the local lama and alpacas. I suppose that during the week they go to a local herd or something. They come to the bofedal in the morning by themselves to graze, and in the evening when they're done they go home. They are wonderful creatures, really cute and funny to watch. Also very curious, because I went and sat in their middle and they came up to me to ask , "yo mamma, watcha doin here?"

The locals watch over them though, because one lama gave birth to a baby lama and left it behind a boulder. Then a ranger came to tell us not to leave rubbish around and we told him about the baby lama. He took it from behind the boulder and left it on the bofedal (the baby lama was still not able to stand up). The other lamas and allpacas came and snuggled him, one of them even layed herself protectively between the baby lama and us. In the evening, when all the lamas were leaving and the baby still was not standing, another local came and took him away! We had a bit of excitement in our lives, wohoo!

Oh, and need I say what perfect sunsets and sunrises and what perfect views we had?! Judge for yourselves. Parinacota (lago/lugar de parinas = flamingo place) dominated that valley, omg!! We did notice though a small change in the weather: every day around one or two there would be heavy clouds around Parinacota, but they would clear in 3-4 hours. Unfortunately this would not last.

PS. I hope somebody read till the end! If not, I just wasted 1 hr and a half of my life, boo hoo!