Backpacking in the Andes: A mule, a tent, and a Swiss boy

"The mountains are calling and I must go."

I have just returned from my most epic backpacking adventure yet: eight days of trekking through the Andes, with mountains over 6,000m surrounding me on every side. Instead of going with a guide, we (Philippe and I) decided to do it on our own, so we bought a map and food for twelve days (we thought it was going to take us that long, but we ended up doing two days worth of walking multiple times in one), hired two mules (we had to hire a mule driver as well), and rented a tent. Our daily schedule looked like this: We went to bed not much after sundown, normally by 7h30 or 8h, and we got up with the sun between 5h30 and 6h (one morning we even got up at 4h30 in order to hike up a hill and watch the sunrise). Then we would walk 6-9h per day, crossing one to two passes (two of which were over 4,800m, the rest over 4,500m), in order to arrive exhausted and ready to cook dinner, and start the cycle over again the next morning. Unfortunately, we had three days straight of rain and clouds where we saw virtually none of the mountains we were walking between, but we did have a few days of sun as well.

Once we were done with our trek, we spent the night with the mule drivers family in a very small indigenous village, camped out in their field with the donkeys, pigs, and chickens. This was a very typical poor farming family, and it was awesome to spend a night with them to see how they live. There, the "houses" were more like three sided structures and there was no electricity (no toilets, no stoves, no nothing). For dinner, we ate cuy (guinea pig) which was good this time, unlike the last time I had it in Ecuador, and we even watched it being prepared (aka them slaughtering the animals). At night, we played football with four of the village kids who had been following us around the whole time (adults passing by would stop and just stare at us as well, we even had an audience while brushing our teeth). Then, for lunch the next day we had a special meal, sheep. Philippe had bought the sheep while we were trekking, and once again we watched it being prepared (slaughtered and then the parts being separated, I will add a few of the less gruesome picture, but if you are squeamish you will probably want to skip them). The meat was then wrapped in leaves, and thrown in a large fire pit that was quickly covered with leaves, tarps, and dirt to keep the smoke in. It was a delicious meal, and a great experience overall.

Tomorrow, we are headed off to ice climb! As long as the weather stays nice in the next two days, this will be the most amazing climb yet because from the top we will see dozens of other mountains on all sides. I can't wait!!