Graham declared an apparent full major medical emergency requiring elastoplasts from the nearest first aid kit. Once supplied, the emergency was quickly ended and Graham’s iPad will make a full recovery.
Those of us who were first to add the hot milk supplied at breakfast-time to our coffee quickly discovered that coffee and porridge do not mix in the same cup.
Today was “Onward and Upward”- the hardest day of the trek, climbing to 4,212 mtrs. (We were later to find that our trek involved over 25,000 steps up and down). The letters PCU took on a new meaning of either pleasantly climbing upwards or painfully climbing upwards, as the gradient varied.
All of us struggled with the ascent at the higher altitude:
Peter genuinely started to hallucinate. This nearly ended the intended bonding with his son when Ben had to point out to him that he was not seeing the roofs of the campsite at an oasis.
Ann had a real excuse for her difficulties. Her 5kg day pack had assumed the gigantic proportions of those of the porters. She has however been acclaimed “Peru Visitor Shopper of the Year” as she has bartered for goods at every shop that we have passed and in her case has not passed.
At the last resting place before the final ascent, Debbie treated us to a very credible mime to the song “Knees up Mother Brown”. Despite assuming a rather un-lady-like pose for some considerable time, no-one guessed the title of the song. It did, however, reduce the recently acquired swelling to her knees.
Participants of the Malaysian trip were slightly un-nerved when Disco Dave took up “pole” position for the final ascent. Endeavouring to re-assign his name to “Indiana Hodgson”, he reached the summit some time before the remainder of the group. Fortunately on this occasion, this was without the need for hospitalisation.
It was an emotional ascent with tears of anxiety in anticipation and tears of joy when we all eventually reached the summit. An added joy was when the clouds that we had climbed through parted for the banner photo shoot with some awesome scenery.
The descent was not without incident:
James attempted to take the title of “Head-Banging Champ”, (or was it “Chump”), from Disco. He failed miserably with his fall and only managed one black eye and a grazed face.
Carrie was rewarded with a view of the local wild life when a puma dived across her path. She then had the need for an immediate toilet stop before she concluded her descent at three times the speed of that before the sighting.
Peter has acquired a taste for chewing on the local coca leaves. He clearly was affected from overdosing and turned up for the evening meal thinking he was a moth and was attracted to the calor gas light. The additional light from his burning hair was a welcome in the darkened tent but added nothing to the aroma of the evening meal. His new hairstyle is work in progress.
Tonight, our welcome sleep to nurse away the aches and pains of the day will be to the chorus of the local Peruvian Frog’s Choir. Hopefully this will drown out the sound of the snoring from the tent of the two Daves.
Dave Hodgson (aka "Disco Dave")
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