Hike to Chicon

In our school we decided to do a fundraising event together with 4 other teachers. The money was decided to be raised to a local school here in Urubamba and especially for art and theatre classes as those kind of subjects are not taught in a local college at all.

We started our trip at six in the morning and the first day we were hiking good seven hours only uphill. We all had our sleeping bags and other stuff to carry so it wasn’t easy at all to go up the mountain. Also the altitude was pretty noticeable and the higher we went the more severe was the headache.

Our stop that day was in a small cottage where were only hays on the floor and plastic on the windows to protect from the cold wind. And yes it was cold that night! As soon as the sun went down the temperature dropped down to zero and we only had a little fire place outside to give us light and prepare our dinner. However, being so tired from the hike, I slept like a baby in spite of the conditions.

Next morning we could leave most of our stuff to the cottage while we were climbing two more hours to the top. Our guide kept telling us that the glacier is just behind the next climb but no it wasn’t just behind the corner…Finally we made it to our goal and the views were absolutely breathtaking! However, the journey wasn’t over yet: we still had the whole way to go back down…

And going down wasn’t any easier than going up… My legs were killing me and the backbag was getting heavier and heavier… Also our guide decided to take a short cut and of course we got lost in the forest! The last couple of hours was definitely an adventure crossing a river many times and going under trees of many spikes. The sun was going down already and we thought that we will be stuck in the forest for another night but luckily we just made it on time back to the starting point just when it was getting dark.

That trip was definitely the hardest thing I ever have done but I’m glad I did it and at least I can say that I’ve climbed up to a mountain now!