Day 5 - Moving up to Plaza de Mulas (base camp)

Boom! 3am is here and my alarm goes off. Feeling like 5 bulldozers drove over my body I force myself to wake up and eat 2 pieces of toast. I’m not packed and the team is already outside standing ready to go. I can’t describe how awful I feel.

Off we go. 4 hours of walking in total darkness I just keep telling myself: slowly one step at a time. Boy I am wrecked. Still feel like passing out.

We stop to have lunch at about 8am after 5 hours of walking and we are told that we are halfway there. Not bad! As the sun comes up and I eat a little more I feel a little better.

6 more hours up in scorching heat and at a total of 11 hours, 20+km and 1060 vertical meters we have made it to base camp. I collapse on the floor of our base camp with total exhaustion. Dead. Again? 3 days in a row? 4 days of no sleep? I can’t take this any longer. I start to equation why am I here? Is this worth it? Why would anyone do this to themselves.

As I wake up after a 2 hour nap I am told Nimsdai the super human from the film 14 Peaks (check it out on Netflix if you haven’t) is here! Peter and I rush to get a photo with him. WOW! He just came down from the summit and he starts telling us all about it. He hadn’t slept for 2 days and with a 100% summit success rate he guides up all his clients up to the summit. He still has the energy to talk to us ? What a true champ! With him comes a wave of excitement and a feeling of possibility - that I can do this with the right mindset!

Off he goes on his chopper! Telling us that perhaps he might be back to see us again. YAY!

We eat dinner (which was amazing and tasty!) and I finally get to talk to Adka on WhatsApp over what seems to be a stable but very slow satellite internet/wifi. So happy to hear her voice I then go and pass out on my tent.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rest day? Great! I plan to sleep and rest as much as I can and I hope I will be able to have a good sleep.