At 6h30, when I woke up once again, the most beautiful thing came into view; through one of the little "windows" in my tent, I could see the full moon, bright and gorgeous above the mountains that were just starting to be visible! I couldn't resist leaving the tent to go take pictures, which only made my headache worse, it was throbbing now. I drank more water and went back into my comfy sleeping bag, agreeing with my previous decision of not sleeping in El Salto. Two nights in a row of headaches is no fun. And is not restful, obviously.
When Gerardo arrived, I had my day bag ready. He had sent most of his stuff ahead on a mule, so he was light as well.
The trek up to El Salto is slow. There is no flat area at all, just a steady climb, getting steeper and steeper. It took us around 3.5 hours.
The weather was indescribable; one minute, it was sunny and bright, then it got really windy, then it closed down entirely and we could not see a single peak. And then the wind blew the clouds right through us, it seems, and we would see everything again. Disorienting! The weather seriously changed every 10 minutes or so!
We got to El Salto campground for lunch.
I helped Gerardo set up his tent, then started making mate while he finished setting up.
He would be there for a few days. The campground was full! The people who were there were resting, either in preparation for an ascent (the most popular being Vallecitos, at 5500m, and El Plata, at 6300m) or because they had attempted one. Today was not good weather for a serious outing. So socializing is the main activity. I chatted with tons of people. There were 3 Brazilians there, with whom I got to practice my Portugese.
They put up a flag of Brasil in their campground! There were 2 Swiss guys there, Dominic and Andreas, to do some actual climbing, as opposed to trekking. Not easy; the routes are marked, but not rated, so you never know if you are going into something difficult or easy.
We joked that they should do them all and write a book about it. A Tcheck couple, insane in the most wonderful way. A few Argentines as well. The hours went by quickly, punctuated by walks over the hills to go to the bathroom, get water from the stream, take pictures when the landscape suddenly appeared, and the ever-present need to hydrate; mate, soup, water, and more mate, soup, water... you're supposed to drink 5-6 litres per day, and 8 is better. I am doing my best, but I am not getting anyway close to 8!
I left in time to get back to my tent with plenty of time to spare. I had nearly fallen asleep reading when I heard my name; the 2 Swiss, Andreas and Dominic, were on their way back to the lodge. Dominic was not acclimatizing, and was showing signs of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness); headache, nausea, incoherence... Andreas is a doctor and took him straight down. By the time they came by my tent, Dominic was feeling fine again. Descent and water are the best cures for AMS.
And I thought I would sleep now, but no, I had a little adventure. I heard noises around my tent. Still sleepy, I thought it was the wind. But these were animal noises. My first thought was that it must have been that annoying cow that kept on trying to get to people's food at the other campground. Then the thing emitted a screeching sound.
I jumped right up! One of the things I love about camping in these areas is the absence of dangerous animal; no problems with bears, like in Canada, or jaguars, like in Brazil. So this was strange! Could it be a guanaco? I had heard one from far away once, and I did not think it sounded like that. I got myself out of my sleeping bag and looked out: it was a small fox, going around and around my tent, barking this strange bark. And trying to get closer. I barked back at it. We must have seemed highly ridiculous. After a few minutes, he got tired of it, I suppose, and left. Of course, now I was fully awake, and in between laughing at the situation and needing to go to the bathroom again (and again and again!) it was a while before I settled back down.
And for those of you who don't think this is TMI, no, I don't need to leave my tent to pee!
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