Fun at 5200m: Source of the Amazon

One of our highlight days 😀: A trip to the 'source of the Amazon River', high up on the slopes of Mount Mismi, with Roly and Hilde. Even though we paid for the trip, it felt like we were simply accompanying two locals to pay their respects to the mountain and the water, and to pray to the virgin Mary at a remote church.

Roly was our driver (we already knew he was cool as he took us to see the condors) and it turns out he is quite superhuman and looks after the trails up at the source and up Mismi. Our lovely host in Yanque, Señora Hilde, asked to join us, and brought along traditional clothing so we could dress up like her and take photos. She was doing this anyway, so I think she figured we'd also like to. Kitsch photos, but it was very much in the spirit of the day!

We had a lot of fun - many laughs, great moments marveling at the wonders of the earth, animals and plants, sharing food, and being silly.

My favourite moments include:
- Watching Roly run about 100m after some birds (apparently very yummy) with a rock in hand, and eventually miss; all at about 4900m altitude
- Dress-up photo shoot
- Giving thanks to Pachamama for providing water for people to use
- Throwing snowballs at Hilde 😊
- Sharing a basic lunch of crackers, tinned tuna, tomatoes, cucumber and fruit (standard fare for a day outside) at a church in a ruined village
- Hearing about culture, traditions, and local governanceЧитать далее