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Road to Ausungate
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We started the day not too early with a bus ride to the town
of Ocongate. The ride itself took over two hours and once again, my legs begged
for mercy under the pressure of the seat in front of me. After winding through
the mountains, watching the big mountain get bigger, we arrived in the town of
Ocongate. Once off the bus we gathered our gear and grabbed lunch with our
guide Yoel, a young Peruvian guy who looked about 15 years old, but was
actually at the ripe old age of 21.
After lunch we met Louise, cook for the trip, and his wife
who brought the two horses that would be carrying most of the gear for the
trip. Louise was a nice guy who has climbed to the peak of Ausungate more times
than he can count and he had a good air about him. The two horses looked
somewhat weathered from probably too many treks to count in Ausungate. Once the
things were ready we headed out for our five-day trek around the mountain.
The first day of the trek was about 3.5 hours to the small
town where Louise, his wife and children and brothers live. We walked a dirt
road, basically the whole way, passing children begging for candy, women
herding alpaca and men working on houses. It was a difficult walk, not because
of the terrain, but because I never took my eyes of the pure beauty of the
landscape that was surrounding me and often tripped over the baby head boulders
that crowded the road.
We arrived at the house of Louise just before dark and our
tent was already set up in his front yard. We tossed our things inside and
headed to his kitchen for coffee. Stepping into the kitchen, I nearly passed out
from the amount of smoke and looked up to see Louise’s wife tending the fire and
sitting beside her was a 3 year-old girl with a face covered in soot. On the
table were coffee and a huge pile of popcorn to be eaten before the main
courses. As we sat and talked over the pre dinner food, the surroundings of the
kitchen grabbed my senses. Dinner was the traditional soup followed by rice and
chicken. This would be our dinner, and usually lunch, for the rest of the trip.
We ate and talked for a while before having hot tea and calling it a night. We
were to leave in the morning for the base of the mountain.
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| Walk Home |
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| Locals |
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| Local |
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| Hair |
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| Cozy Kitchen |
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| Front Yard |
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