11 th July we embarked on our first foray into the hills . A walk not too far from town so catching the inexpensive local collectivo vans was the order of the day . In the manic centre of town and endless stream of these collectivo’s pass thru , picking up and dropping off . Took us a while to find the right van , among the stream , but eventually we got going . After about 20 min of manic pot hole weaving we where dropped at our destination

Was a simple out and back walk that is about 6 km but unlike any normal 6 km walk . It ascended fairly steeply up the side of this hill , through clusters of local houses built mysteriously on this land with so little evidence of economic activity. A few tethered sheep , cows and even a pig , but an unlikely qrouping of the poorest of the poor .

The lack of oxygen was soon taking its toll and we made excruciatingly slow progress ever upwards on the steep trail . Frequent stops to regain breathe control were essential . Barb also started to feel a low level nausea that didn’t truly end till we got down again . All part of normal high altitude acclimatisation we are told .

The views from the top are pretty spectacular and made the whole effort totally worthwhile , but have also reinforced the reality of just how difficult acclimating to altitude is . We just need to take it easy .. one day at a time .