The day started promptly at 06:00 when Freddy, my guide for the next four days picked me up. We drove to Calca and had about 1/2 an hour in the market. Freddy went and ate breakfast. I got presents for the children we´d see on the trail and cocoa leaves to give the women we´d see. I also had time to stroll and take some pictures. It was a good break from the car and an interesting market. Check out the pictures in the gallery.
After Calca, we drove to Kiswarani to start the trek. Freddy gave me some Quechan words written down and we practiced those along the way. The villagers don´t speak Spanish and he wanted me to be able to exchange some pleasantries. We arrived in Kiswarani to find that everyone had gone to Lares becuase it was Monday and there was a big market. So, there were no horses to take our gear as planned. So, rather than walking from Kiswarani to Kunkani as planned. We were going to hike to Lares. The bus could carry the gear there and we´d pick up horses for the last two days there. Sure, I´m flexible. Let´s go to Lares. So, we set out to Lares, which is a farther distance, but no altitude gain. . .so really a good deal. Total distance today was 12 km. We stopped for our snack by the Rios Lares and it was beautiful. We saw many villagers along the way coming back from the market. We stopped and talked to most of them for at least a short while. Freddy speaks Quechan well. Early on our trek, we saw someone from Wakawasi and he had horses, so we ended up with horses after all, but were allready on the way to Lares so we still went around the mountain rather than over it to Kunkani.
We got to the town of Lares and went past it to the hot springs where we´d be camping for the night. It did rain on us some during our trek, but not much. It had stopped by the time we got to camp. I think I hiked faster than they planned because we had some down time before lunch, so I went in the hot springs. Then we had lunch. Cream corn soup with veggies. Bread and grilled chicken, rice, carrots and green beans. Very good. After lunch I climbed in my tent to journal and it started really raining so I took a nice siesta. . .Oh that is some of the best sleep in a tent in the rain. After that, it was tea time. We had popcorn, graham crackers, tea. Very tasty. Then I walked around and took pictures before dinner. Dinner was potato soup with veggies, trout cooked with tomatoes, red peppers, onions, mushrooms and soem sort of sauce, rice, and potatoes with cheese. Dessert was a cooked apple in honey with cinnamon. Oh it was yummy! It gets dark by the time we eat dinner so afterward, I just went to bed and journaled and got organized for the next day. Schedule is 06:30 wake up, 07:00 breakfast, 07:30 introductions to my entourage, and 07:40 we are walking!
For a totally unplanned day, Day 1 was awesome!! Beautiful scenery, charming people, not too much rain, and hot springs to soak in at the end of the day. Can´t ask for much better on the trail.
