The day is finally here. The climb to Chicon. I apologize in advance if this post is not to your liking because as I write this because I am absolutely exhausted.
Starting in the morning, we drove from Urubamba to the city of Chicon, which is at the base of the mountain leading up to the glacier. 18 of us started the trip but only 16 reached the top. At the beginning of the hike, I honestly thought I had made a colossal mistake. There was no resemblance of a trail, and much of the hike was composed of strenuous rock climbing and moving through dense forests. In fact, after only about five minutes, I was already exhausted. It would be this way for the rest of the hike; seven or ten minutes of hiking followed by a two or three minute break. I thought I was in good shape. Apparently, I was not even close to fit enough to climb Chicon without any worries. Adding to the pain was the backpack, which had excellent padding but was still 35 pounds. Trying to hike up Chicon with that kind of weight really takes a toll on your muscles.
The first part of the hike was through a forest, and took about two hours. We waded through streams, climbed through trees, and went up steep mountainous terrain. However, this wasn’t even close to the hardest part of the journey. After lunch, we had to hike up a series of rocks for three hours. This honestly was more like rock climbing than hiking. We had to grab onto a rock two or three feet above us before hoisting ourselves, backpack and all, onto the next rock. Doing this for three hours was extremely painful, and by the time I reached the top, I didn’t think I could take another step. Adding to the pain was the altitude, drastically reducing the amount of oxygen available. I started to get a headache and my chest started to tighten up. Additionally, I think I am starting to get sick, since my throat hurt for the last three hours of the hike. Once we got the house, we stopped for a minute to enjoy the amazing view before eating dinner and going to sleep.
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