Altitude cares very little about your fitness level

The 4.5 hour hike to laguna rapagna in the central highlands of Peru was a moderately difficult hike, except given that we started about 11,000 ft, I'd say it was by far the hardest hike I have ever done. I hiked Bartle Frere in Queensland - 10 hours with leeches covering my legs and falling from trees - and that was nothing compared to the heart pounding, head throbbing, breathlessness that I experienced after hiking only 5 steps at 14,000 feet. I can't imagine ever being able to climb Everest (over 29,000ft).

From the moment we stepped off the coach bus from Lima I was dizzy and cold. It was a mere 2 hours from sea level driving on a beautiful winding road that reminded me of the drive from Loveland to Estes Park, CO, along a nice stream surrounded by sharp mountain peaks. This drive went through more mining towns and the road was very narrow that make it difficult to pass slow trucks and took twice as long as it would in the states. The sky was perfectly clear: baby blue and sunny. I had forgotten what the sun looked like living in Lima for the past 3 weeks where there is always a haze. I'm glad I had sunscreen today!

We packed headed up a rocky road that had endless cut-backs but passed a few farms with hay roofs and rock fences. Generally, I felt out of breath after about 25 steps and had to stop to slow my heart and sometimes find a rock to sit on to catch my breath. I even took my acetazolamide as instructed.

At the beginning, the group of 30 (half Peruvian and quarter Americans working at the Embassy and a quarter Fogarty-related people) were very slow moving as some people could only make it 15 steps before stopping. Two people had to turn around after 30 minutes. Basically for the next 6 hours, the group spread out based on how many steps (30 vs 20 vs 10 steps) you could go without resting. There were three Peruvian guides and their three beautiful guide dogs spread out to make sure everyone knew where they were going.

We hiked along a deep valley and passed over small waterfalls and streams. As we skirted around a number of mountains we were constantly climbing in elevation. As I reached the final clearing before the last big climb, one of the guides was waiting and we had a quick conversation in Spanish. My Spanish comprehension isn't great but I swear he said that it would only take about 30 minutes, maybe even only 20 for me, to get up over that "wall" to the lake (see tired-looking photo below). An hour and 15 minutes later after stopping every 4-6 steps to catch my breath, I made it and it felt great!





I finished my lunch and took a long siesta while I waited for my friends. In the end we all made it to the beautiful turquoise lake at 14,000ft surrounded by snow-capped Andes mountains. It only took about 2 hours to get down and we were very entertained by the llamas and sheep along the way.



It was a beautiful day! The views were unbelievable and my legs are unbelievably tired. I guess it's good cross-training for my half marathon next weekend, eh?


Llama's chasing Christina down the trail.



Llamas and sheep are skeptical of us and hesitantly pass us on the trail.