One day I went walking

Trujillo is beautiful, from the town centre it is possible to see 15 snow covered peaks! Yesterday i went hiking to a nearby lake fed from a glacier, the walk was to aclimatise myself to the altitude here (3500m) in preparation for a 4 day trek into the mountains. i went with an English couple staying in the same hostel and several other Irasalis that were staying in another, altogether our group totalled 11. We had been given maps and after a spectacular drive were dropped off and told we would be picked up 5 hours later, off we went. The walk, to begin with was fairly easy and the scenery was breathtaking, all around it was possible to see the snow capped peaks just above us and in the valleys we walked past long haired cows and ponies. The walk soon became more difficult as we had to climb to the highest point of the hike, 4600m, and i was pleased to see that everyone was struggling not only me- we all made it and after 3 hours walking were treated to a view of the lake. We stopped for lunch and even could have a cup of tea as someone had brought a gas stove, enivitably we to speculate how cold it would be to swim, pretty soon we had all paddled and fairly soon after that some of us decided to jump in. Never in my life have i been in such cold water, the shock almost killed me and then my whole body felt as if i'd was being stabbed by a million little daggers- i got straight out again! and needed several more cups of tea until i could feel my fingers again. The descent took only 2 hours and was much easier than the uphill climb earlier, even so by the end i was well and truely exhausted, ready for my bed and definately decided that a 4 day trek was a little beyond my un-aclimatised lungs!