We were collected about 6am and the first part of our tour was a long coach ride higher into the mountains with a stop to stock up on things we might need like walking poles, water and breakfast in the market. The views from the bus were amazing. By lunch time we were at the start of the trek where the horses and llamas were loaded with luggage for the trek and lunch was cooked for us in a tent (soup then loads of pasta).

We knew the trek would be hard right away as we were out of breath walking a few steps up hill and we had a 4 hour trek ahead! The views were amazing and we saw local people up in the mountains looking after their llamas etc dressed in bright red ponchos, a really amazing lifestyle. One guide led at the front and another guide at the back with the slower ones (us!) and a horseman with the spare horse at the back. Our group was 13 people.

The camping kit, gas for cooking, camping chairs etc was on the other horses and llamas that went ahead of us, amazingly the horses run together without being tied with a horseman behind hurding them in the right direction through sounds and waving a small rope if they went the wrong way.

I have to say the second part of this hike was no longer fun. As we reached hight of over 4000 Meters every step was an effort and, despite the guide saying it only snows above 5000m here, sleet started to fall and it was really cold. Most of the group were not prepared for this as gloves ets were in overnight stuff on the advance horses so it was freezing and we had very few stops as it was too cold to stand still. Day packs were dumped onto the spare horse (Matt even gave up his camera to the horse) to get up the top part to 4300m (higher then the first Everest basecamp). It was heads down against the snow and trudge. The way down the other side was hard as slippery and we were cold and the sight of bunch of orange tents was an oasis. That evening was hard as Matt struggled with altitute sickness and I got a swollen eye from rubbing my eyes and being allergic to the horse hair pickedup from my rucksack. The food was great though, hot soup, meat with rice and potato (very salty again), and even pear in rum for pudding plus hot drinks (this is 5 star camping food). We were in bed by 8pm though, and it was cold...

H