Breath Easy - Blogabond

Today's tour consisted almost entirely of a bus ride with photo-op stops. It was a tour of Los Nevados National Park near Manizales. We started in the jungle where some plants had leaves bigger than bass drums and vines dangled on the road. That disappeared and was replaced by midgit palm trees that look more like they belong in the cactus family. Apparently they're only found in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. That was followed by brown pine shrubs and eventually nothing. Absolutely nothing. No life. Just high altitude volcanoes and snow. Desolate.

Thankfully though, that was where the hike began. Today I learned why climbing Everest must be a bitch. The altitude alone can be a bitch and climbing uphill is never easy, but the killer was the relentless wind! When my Great Aunt Irene died there was an incredible blizzard, so we never watched the coffin let down. Instead we ran from the car to the funeral home gagging from the wind. That's what it felt like trying to breath here, except I was 5,125m above sea level and walking uphill. Sure, it was only a 1km walk with only a 300m increase in altitude, but it took close to an hour to walk it!

At the top the snow was fresh and I felt energized - on top of the world! Plus, the walk down (well, more of a skip) took only 10 minutes. :) The tour finished off by relaxing in some hot springs - you could tell it was the real deal from the wonderful sulfuric egg smell. I was a little shy to walk into the pool cause my torso is covered with 40 bed bug bites from Bogotá (I counted in the shower today). Once in the water though, all was good. Muy tranquilo.

written by

ryanmyers on August 11, 2009 from Manizales, Colombia

from the travel blog: Ryan's First Sabbatical

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