20th July 2012: Ausangate day 1:

Ausangate day 1:
I start off Ausangate in less than optimal conditions. I had been nurturing a cold for the last 10 days that gradually got worse during the Inca trail. Also been dealing with micro nose bleeds that clog up completely my nasal passage each morning, and to top it all, very little sleep prior to the big day. Little that can be done now that it's all set in stone.
Finally get to meet up Bertine and Jeff at the hotel. For those who aren't aware, I had to look up partners online to do this trek, and these 2 had responded favorably to my desperate plea.
Bertine is this young behavioral science uni student from Holland who is travelling solo for 6 weeks in Peru and Bolivia. Ausangate is her first high altitude trek, and her first multi day trek for that matter.
Jeff on the other hand, in his early 50s, is a regional sales manager dealing in lightning, earthing and bonding equipment in Louisiana, USA. He is a well seasoned outdoor person who has a very interesting hobby: ice cream making...!!!! and he seems to be fantastic at it, having won several regional ice cream making competitions. He is the first to admit that he hardly eats any of his creations, despite being to die for, since that is exactly what too much of it will do to you.!!!
We meet the final 2 on the travel agent mini van, a young couple from South Africa, Kim and Thor.
After nearly 4 hours drive, we reach our starting point, Tinqui, where we have a quick lunch. Quick presentations before setting off. Arthuro is our guide, we have 2 Richards as our cooks, and Geronimo and Arepiquo as our horse men. Add to that 4 mules for the heavy weight lifting, and 1 horse for ailing hikers to get a reprieve, if required.

Nothing really spectacular to start, the views are not that great since it's just dry barren uphill rolling hills leading to Ausangate mountain in the distance. Everyone seems happy to be there, and enjoying just a nice introductory stroll, at the relatively lower altitudes. As we approach the holy mtn (holy because it's the highest mtn around Cuzco, and that it feeds the land with vital water without which the people around cannot live), we witness a small avalanche on one of the sides of the mtn.

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 Natural Hot springs, with boling water...!!!

Now, this trek is quite unlike the Inca trail, in that there are no ruins and interesting stories and facts to be told. It's all about the nature, and witnessing the lives of the people living under fairly extreme conditions.
Our guide points to different types of grass, some with long tough strands that are mixed with clay to make bricks, or braided to make ropes, others which stab you with literally hundreds of small thorns when you step on them (trust me on that one, seconds before he explained this, I grazed the grass with my hand to find myself stabbed by dozens of little thorns), and finally this extremely hard and tough textured type with tiny stalks. What they all have in common, is that they are all much tougher than the grass found at lower altitudes, and the net result can be observed on the animals like Alpacas and Llamas, which feed on them. The mammals at lower altitudes have teeth that protrude, sometimes uncomfortably so, because they feed on relatively tender grass, which requires minimal chewing. The same animals at higher altitude, have more 'normal' looking teeth. Seems like the animals need the mechanical wear and tear from the grinding of the tough feed to keep a healthy dentition.
There are also these spherical cactus that grow some sort of cottony fluff around to protect them from ice and snow. Arthuro proceeds to explain that if you take the same cactus, and grow them at much lower altitude where the temperature does not drop below zero, they do not grow the fluff at all.

We reach camp, by the foot of mtn Ausangate at around 5 pm, and just like for the Inca trail, tea time with popcorn, cookies and hot drinks and humongous dinner at 6.30. As the temperature drops down, my coughing flares up, and Jeff hands me a couple of super upper respiratory pills for the night. With my medical condition, I decide to stick to static trail shooting (15 mins tops compared with hours for trails), and bedtime by 8 p.m...!!!!!

First day was fairly easy, starting from Tinqui (3,800m) to the camping site at Upis at 4,450, for a trek of about 9 kms. The group seems to be fairly fit, and the altitude, coupled with my flu, didn't allow me to run back and forth to take pictures as readily as on the much easier Inca trail. Additionally, as soon as the sun drops below the horizon, so does the temperature from a respectable 9 deg C, to -5 deg C...!!!!!