Day 32 - Rainbow Mountains

Plan

03'20-04'00: pick up + drive

06'00: 1/2 hour breakfast

07'30: arrival, hike 3 hours uphill

10'30: top, 1.5 hours downhill

13'00: lunch

14'00-17/18'00: return home

Reality

03'50: pick up

04'30: drive

07'30: breakfast

09'00: start of the hike

11'00: view of the Rainbow Mountains

11'30: descent

13'00: arrival at the bus, waiting

14'10: lunch

15'30: return home

19'45: arrival

The start of the hike was at 4300m, the highest point at 5200m. From there, we had a beautiful view of the colorful mountain. In all the travel agencies, the Rainbow Mountains were depicted in exaggerated bright colors, and I didn't have much hope of seeing more than a faint color shimmer through the gray. But when we were there, I was surprised at how clearly the colors were visible, especially the red and green tones.

The path was really exhausting, and it was getting colder. On the ridge of the mountain, there was even icy wind, which froze our fingers within a few seconds. Already on the way there, there was a lot of snow on the edge of the path, and at the top, there were mountains with snow-covered peaks that looked like the Alps.

We were with two other Germans today, who came to our dormitory yesterday.

After six hours of hiking, we are all hungry and waiting for the guide of our group, the 'Amigos de la Naturaleza', as he calls us. It's 13'30 and still no sign of him. It's 14'00 and we are sitting on the bus, waiting. When will we leave?

Now, at ten past two, everyone is looking forward to lunch. We have been awake for eleven hours and have only had breakfast. The rest of the day will be relaxed, and tomorrow, on April 1st, we will take the night bus to Arequipa.

~Lenja