The next day, we drove around in the mountains to find a lodge we were told about called The Way Inn (http://thewayinn.com/). We found it in between two valleys and all of us loved it right away, so we decided to stay the night. They have their own garden, water well, restaurant with amazing food, free tea, a massage room and they also have retreats twice a month. They also had a handmade dry sauna which was really cool! This little paradise was located at about 3700m and we were so happy to be able to stay a night.
We took this opportunity to take a one day trek to a lagoon called Churup, which is at an altitude of 4450m. The hike itself is not really difficult, except certain parts at the end where you have to rock climb a little. However, being at these altitudes, in shape or not, your lungs feel it and the oxygen is not what it is at sea level that is for sure. You have to take your time a little more, or take more breaks. JJ and I were quite fast actually, but at some points we were quite out of breath! We all left early that morning and it was nice and sunny! JJ and I got to the Lagoon and were able to have some lunch, look at the lagoon and its snow capped peak. However clouds were coming and so we decided to start our hike back, knowing that we would be caught in rain at some point. We had packed accordingly and had our rain jackets. Soon enough it started raining. What we did not expect however was for it to start hail. And then for the lightening and the thunder to start too. The only thing we didn’t get was snow really! Ahaha. The rock climbing part was soooooooo scary going down, I was freaking out inside and JJ too, but afterwards everything went smoothly and the sauna and sleep that night were well deserved and wonderful.
La chola 