Saturday was a day with an incredible experience, as my first big excursion was planned. Unfortunately, there is also the burdensome problem here that you have to get up at 4:00 in the morning. Well, but what wouldn't you do to get to a very special place. So, 45 minutes later, we stood at the bus stop where we were supposed to be picked up. Actually, the bus ride should have come now, but well, as I said, the Peruvians are not so good with punctuality. So instead of sitting on the bus at 5 o'clock, we stood an hour in the middle of nowhere, in the truest sense of the word, "as ordered and not picked up". However, the wait was rewarded with a beautiful view and sunrise.
"Sunrise" Joking aside. At 6 o'clock we finally sat in the bus on the way to Cusipata, which took three hours. There, we had a nice breakfast and something warm to drink, unfortunately I still don't know what it was but it definitely tasted delicious. When we continued, I already regretted the breakfast, because apart from my seat neighbor who thought it was comfortable on my thigh, our bus driver drove like a wild boar at full speed along the tightest curves. Everything face to face with the abyss. We survived that too as if by a miracle. But what awaited me now was going to be a completely different story. A 3-kilometer uphill hike to reach an altitude of 5036 meters. I thought it would be okay until halfway. Well, unfortunately that wasn't the case, because apart from the fact that a snowstorm awaited us at the top, I was already out of breath after damn five steps and seriously wondered how I could endure 1.5 hours. Okay, but my inner fighting spirit was awakened and after an hour and 45 minutes, as well as several episodes of nausea and the fact that I almost passed out twice, I made it. Okay, I admit it, I rode a horse for 5 minutes, but that doesn't count. I climbed the Rainbow Mountain. The view from 5036 meters altitude is simply indescribable and the pride you feel when you have made it is priceless... but it is still damn exhausting and I'm sure you have ten times no more desire and want to go back home. However, it is an incredibly beautiful place in this world, which is completely natural by the way, created by the simple reaction of minerals with air. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and you have to go back the whole way, I can only say genius here. Miraculously, I reached the bus alive, where we were then given drops in our hands to smell. Allegedly, it helped against the symptoms of altitude sickness. I'll tell you, my dears, that stuff really made me dizzy. It was probably not allowed in Germany either, but thanks to that stuff, I felt great even though I had the worst headache before. I fell asleep right away, like most people on the bus. After a delicious lunch, we went home where we were all pretty tired and just wanted to sleep. It was definitely worth the effort. More information to follow...