Santa Cruz Day 3 - It can also be relaxed

From Marius' perspective

Today we get out of the warm sleeping bag into the icy cold of the morning at 7am. Our tent is covered in frost and under the girls' tent there are even ice plates. We have our standard breakfast, a few oats with apple, banana, and nuts, and everything is packed up again. We quickly leave the camp, located at 4200m, and continue down the valley. As every day, we are presented with a great landscape. After about an hour, we reach a desert-like section in the scorching sun, which we follow to a deep blue lagoon. There, we take a longer break to dry our equipment and take a dip in the 4°C cold water. After a hearty lunch (bread and tuna), we continue down the valley. We hike through a maze of rocks and after just an hour we reach the next official campsite. However, since there are a lot of tours here, we decide to keep walking and find an incredibly beautiful spot above the river. Huge boulders and grazing walls protect us from the wind and it feels like being in a castle. The rock maze offers the opportunity to scramble a bit and admire the evening glow in the valley. The third day was definitely the most beautiful day for hiking and enjoying, and we also had some energy and time to admire the unique landscape.

From Max's perspective:

Day 3. New day, new luck?!

Early in the morning, there was rustling in the neighboring tent and the voices of the girls reached our tent. It's shortly after 6 o'clock. The day had begun. We got up, inspected our tent, yes, there was ice on it. But I didn't freeze during the night. We quickly made our breakfast because we all had one goal. Quickly towards the sun and the mountain lake in the valley at our feet. There we wanted to rest for a few hours. Ultra surprised by my regenerative ability at 4200m altitude, the hike today felt like a breeze. At the beginning, we walked through Middle-earth (Lord of the Rings) again and quickly reached the edge of a stone and sand desert crossed by a river. What a sight! In the background, the mountain lake can be seen. Full of motivation, we crossed the "desert". Caravans consisting of donkeys and donkey drivers on horses carrying the luggage and equipment for the night camps of the guided tours of the Santa Cruz Track came towards us on the way to the valley. It's amazing what donkeys can carry. After a few hours of walking, we finally reached the lake. Full of joy, we spread out our wet tents and damp sleeping bags and relaxed in the sun sheltered behind a rock. The mood was cheerful and relaxed. After soaking up some sun, we took a dip in the ice-cold lake. Admittedly, my bathing time was a maximum of 4 seconds, but the feeling afterwards was simply indescribable. Almost like being born again. After we had all relaxed enough, we continued towards Camp #3. After a few more hours of walking, we reached it and decided on the spot to look for our own overnight spot further down the valley, as we still had plenty of time and it was still light. So we walked another 3km until we found the perfect spot. We entered an interior area of probably a former pasture through a small stone wall. Surrounded by stone walls and large rocks, we had found our "fortress" for tonight. We set up our tents. After a hearty dinner consisting of delicious instant noodles and liters of coca tea, we eventually went to bed with the onset of night.