the first days were a test...

They took us through a lot of rain, well I guess it was actually considered condensation. The second day was very, very long. A 20 km hike stood in front of us, (which strangely is the same distance of the mandatory ruck marches which I endured in the army with all my gear, coincidence?) and it went up and down, past rivers and lakes, uphill, downhill, through wind, hour, after hour.

The map which I possessed indicated there was a campsite somewhere en route, but we never caught a glimpse. Instead we continued on, lost our focus and slowed down, the weight of all the food was pulling our shoulder bones a couple inches lower, distracting the mind from the beauty around us, instead it on my back, shoulder, or just the lack of progress that walking seemed to deliver.

After ten hours, when nightfall hit and we felt a sprinkle of rain, we set up a tent, a bit disorganized after having to walk back to a split in the trail. We thought we were off track, lost somewhere, somehow. That night we just passed out, no energy left to cook or enjoy the fact that it was Carolina's birthday.

The next morning we realized that at from the point where we turned around, we hadn't been more than 200km from the first glimpse of the campsite. I was a bit frustrated that I had been so close the night before, but upon seeing it in the morning, a glacier in the distance, two mountains lying in front, giving form to the turquoise lake in front of me that featured a peninsula where the campsite lay, I was quickly seduced by its beauty and declared it a paradise