Hiking the Cordillera los Frailes: part 2
Previously on Old Piles of Words: Matt and Venla embarked on a four-day hiking trip to the Cordillera de los Frailes, taking in the wonderful scenery and village life. They spent their 2nd night in the settlement of Maragua.
(Theme song.)
On the third day we headed out of the village, not without being offered a bowl of chicha (a fermented corn drink) and made our way out of the 'crater' towards another highlight of the route: dinosaur tracks set in solidified mudstone. After taking a look at the two sets of tracks (a brontosaur-like quadruped and a t-rex like biped), we had a nice lunch at the house of the caretaker, cooking in the courtyard as the lady of the house was gone, and chatting with the friendly owner. We then started hiking again through fields and hamlets, up and down the colorful hills. Just before sunset, we made it to a little piece of heaven down in the valley: hot springs that seep into the river to form the most wonderful hot bath you can dream of after three days on dusty dirt paths. The bad news was that after relaxing all of our sore muscles, we had to walk back up the steep mountain in the dark, our stomachs screaming with hunger.
We finally arrived at a little village on top of the hill, where a family was to host us and cook for us. The lady of the house, as luck would have it, was also gone, and Pablo once again took up cooking. He built a wood fire in the inner courtyard of the little mud house, and started washing the few dishes available as well as he could, scraping the one burnt pot clean with his knife. As we were cutting the vegetables, the friendly man of the house, who had had a couple of drinks (taking advantage of the lady's absence, we assumed), kept trying to convince us in his best Spanish that we needed to learn Quechua as we were now in Bolivia, and was rather amused at my attempts to repeat his words.
Meanwhile, Joanna, his youngest daughter, hung out and played with Matt and I. We watched in amazement as she wolfed down the bowl of food that we served her. After a pretty entertaining meal, we laid down on what were probably the most uncomfortable beds we'd ever slept on. I was convinced that the bed had no mattress at all, but it actually did have a thin straw one - and we far were better off anyway than our poor guide, who slept on the rocky ground with just a couple of blankets underneath him.
The next morning, after what was not an exceedingly restful night and after finding out that there was no food whatsoever to be had for breakfast, we said goodbye to our hosts, and especially to our little friend Joanna, and started toward our final destination, the village of Quila Quila, just a couple of hours away. Pablo managed to buy some pink pop corn and some crackers on the way, which we turned into a surprisingly happy, if not very nutritious, breakfast. We were supposed to have an hour to spare in Quila Quila before the camion to Sucre arrived, so we had a lady throw some eggs and potatoes on the fire. However the camion decided to actually turn up early, and we ended up having to bear the rocky, three hour ride to Sucre on an empty stomach.
We got back to the city covered in about half a centimeter of dust, our muscles aching from holding on during the bumpy ride, starving and sleep deprived, but very happy about our trip, and ready to celebrate with a hot shower, a good meal, and a couple of days of rest.
June 14th, 2010 - 17:27
Is that the “Indiana Jones” Theme song I hear??? Loved the pic with Joanna. You’re a natural, Venla!!