Too bloody high!
Certainly an interesting and unique day. It started off quietly with another late start as we weren’t being picked up until after 2pm. We walked down to the central square again after breakfast and pottered around, looking at some more small poky garden squares; some with a statue to Simon Bolivar. Coffee time saw us back at the Cappuccino Cafe and we got to enjoy the central square once again. Again our routine followed and we had lunch at Jacks and then returned to our hotel to await our pickup.
Almost exactly at 2pm our guide, Brian arrived and we got into the van to head for our accommodation for the night; SkyLodge. Now, for those not used to the hype from me, let me fill you in. SkyLodge is a set of four ‘pods’ secured to the vertical side of a cliff, 400m above the ground. You get there normally by a system of via ferrata, which is Italian for ‘with steel’ and in this case means a series of iron rungs fastened to the cliff which you can use to climb. It was thought up by a mountaineer who wanted to give people the opportunity to experience what it is like to camp out on the side of a cliff, supported by cables. Each pod is basically elliptical in shape with an aluminium frame and Perspex shell. It is held onto the wall by 12 cables, each one capable of supporting 1 tonne. Three of the pods are set up with 4 beds and a ‘bathroom’ area with a chemical toilet. The fourth pod is the dining room and kitchen.
We went through our safety rules and instructions, got kitted up and then walked over to the cliff. I have to admit that it was daunting. We let the four other companions go in front and then Fran and I brought up the rear. We were climbing with one Canadian and three Mexicans, all in their 30s. Charlie was off in StarLodge, a more sedate walk and a lot lower. It was not the easiest climb that I have done, but it certainly wasn’t the hardest and after about 1 1/2 hours we had made it. We stayed in the dining room, rather than our pods and dinner was served. First course was pumpkin soup, with croutons, grated cheese and a bowl of papitas and chia seeds. This was followed by salad, chicken cordon Bleu with potatoes. All of this washed down with a small bottle of Malbec. Dessert came afterwards which was mango with small cubes of cashews with some form of sugar paste binding it.
We talked for a while and we’re then escorted to the room, showed where the lights were, the shortwave radio and how to run the chemical toilet.