Roraima Days 2 and 3 – The Ascent
The last 2 days have been the most physically exhausting of my life and the only word I can think of to describe how I feel is “aghh”.
Over the 2 days we’ve walked about 25kms with 15kg backpacks, which isn’t that much until you carry it all day… uphill. The only thing missing to make this a true “When I was your age…” story was the snow.
Having never hiked before I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the rolling hills and desolate trails that make this land so beautiful have completely exhausted me to the point where I went from being happy to have time with my own thoughts, spec’ing out version 2 of the game I’m going to work on in Mèrida and fleshing out the book/cartoon that I’ve been quietly working on for the last few years, to the point where it was all I could do to place one foot in front of the other without tripping on the loose rocks of the “trail”.
Today, day 3, I woke with a feeling of dread. The walk ahead wasn’t as long as the second day, but it was a lot harder. We had to literally climb up to the top of the mountain.
During the walk we crossed streams, lunched near a waterfall, climbed through jungle and then met… La Rampa, a 45 degree slope of loose rocks. I don’t think I can describe the climb in anyway that does it justice or convey what I really felt, fear, exhilaration and pure disbelief at the majesty of nature, but I took a few photos to help tell the story. Had I known how difficult the climb would be I’m not sure that I would have done it, but reaching the top and seeing the entire Gran Sabana stretched out below, the tepui Kukenàn to our right and the otherworldly surface of Roraima ahead of us made every single step worth it.
The next two days will be spent exploring the top and, no doubt, taking lots of photos. I’m dreading the trip back down, but that’s two days away, so I’ll worry about it then.
posted by Phil Chan @ 3:59 am
1 comments
1 Comments:
I can indeed back date. I use the deprecated analouge technique of "writing" in my sketch "book" with a "pen" (something that should only be used for sketches and class diagrams) then try with all my might to understand my scrawlings once I get back to the civilised environment of an internet cafe... though with all the screaming kids they're often less civilised than the mountain :)
You have no idea how exhasted I was when that photo was taken. The only thing that stopped me taking my ball and going home was the fact that I was so tired it didn't occur to me.
Post a Comment
<< Home