Trek to Valle de Lares 2 - climb to first camp

Still on Day 1 of the trek, we headed into chillier climes, ever upward along the valley.








The instructions were to "make the face you just did when chewing the coca leaves"







The clouds seemed to close in as we climbed higher.







Not much in the way of crops was planted here. Maize would only grow further down and papas (potatoes) were planted closer to settlements - all the way up steep hillside as high as 4000m!







Looking back toward the lower part of the valley we had followed.







Horses everywhere you looked, their owners marking them as their property with little coloured ribbons on their ears







Our "ambulance driver" on the first day.











The first Llama of the day! They have a perpetually startled air about them and shy away from human presence... well they shied away from me, at least.







One of the houses and enclosures of the village of Cancha Cancha; the nearby mountain and stream were also called Cancha Cancha on account of those enclosures. Sometimes a soccer stadium will also be referred to as a cancha.







Our guide Fernando spoke very good English, although we mostly insisted on Spanish.







The soil became drier, the air thinner and colder.







Young Llamas along the way.
















The thing that looks like a cross between a Sesame street puppet and a me on a bad hair day was equally startled at our presence.







The door of one of the dwellings along the way. They build them airily.







Rest stops became more frequent as we climbed







Small children soon found us and drew close to inspect us and ask for sweets.







They wore sandals, a T-shirt, some light woolen jumpers, the boys pants and the girls skirts, whilst we strode by dressed in oh-so-many layers of fleece and goretex.







Sarah obliged my fanciful ideas of what pictures should be taken and proceeded to climb a small rock... for no good reason.




People keep laughing at me when I lay down on the ground to take pictures from unusual angles... oh, well at least it looks good-natured!




King of the world...



...or evil sorcerer, enticing little children...



...to come into my arms?



I still cannot believe 90% of the local people wear sandals for walking... when temperatures drop down to -5 degrees!



About to arrive in the valley where we would have our night's rest.