Lares Trek for CRY Day 2

After our first night of camping in the freezing cold, we were awake just after 5 (usual morning timing - really not my idea of fun!) and had a big breakfast before our warm up and the real start of the day. There had been several theories about which way we´d be heading out of camp, but to be honest all of them were uphill so it didn´t really matter! I´m going to add in some of the place names when we have them to hand, as spelling is something of an issue otherwise.

Anyway, we made our way up for a few hours, and after a brief flatter section alongside a gorgeous lake we made our way up a very steep section leading up to the 4400m pass. By this stage the group had spread out over quite a long way - here is a view from near the top of some of those who were behind us and believe me there were plenty ahead of us too!
















Fortunately for us by this stage we were in a small group of particularly upbeat trekkers who shared our approach of taking plenty of breathers as well as laughing lots - you know who you are, thanks guys! Bearing in mind that we had been told that adding another 20m in altitide could be enough for us to get sick, you can imagine the relief we felt at reaching our highest point; I think the photo says it all...















We then had the pleasure of a downhill section, and some amazing views of turquoise lakes:





























We finally reached our well deserved lunch stop. By this stage the headaches has kicked in - mixture of dehydration and the body trying to deal with the altitude. We soon picked up again and after a much more gentle afternoon reached our second stunning campsite at about 5pm exhausted but exhilirated.

You can also see from the photo that there were a few beers on sale from some of the locals who has clearly predicted the mood of many - I stuck to the Gatorade which really says alot about how much the day had taken out of me. The models of those wonderful hats (which came out at every night - like I said it was pretty much compulsory!) are the fantastic Ian & Jane - cheers guys!

Cath (& Andrew)