Caminata

So last tuesday at 10pm I was at Mechy's and one of my colectivero friends Alvaro called her house trying to find me to invite me on this 2 1/2 day pilgrimage to Copacabana that his brother Rolando was doing, along with scores of sinners and supplicants, in order to ask for money to pay for his engineering program. They were leaving in an hour.

I love a good walk and was feeling like my superhero mother had set somewhat of a challenge with her cross-Vermont march to shut down Vermont Yankee, and Mechy encouraged me, so I ran home, where Luchi and Fernando encouraged me more and sent me off with remedios for blisters, soreness, exhaustion, and various other hazards--they also said "hay que traer fé," which I didn't really, at least not in Jesus or the Virgin or what-have-you. Maybe at that point I should've realized that the hike, 120 KM (75mi) over many hills and mountains, would be arduous almost to the point of insanity. But I happily gathered my stuff together and met them at 11pm, bringing blankets and a small flashlight (thanks to Dan and Jay) but somehow thinking thinking they, having prepared in advance, would have a tent, their own flashlights, and possibly even snacks.

But no. We started walking at midnight in El Alto, about an hour before it started pouring down rain, and I soon realized that all they had in their little shoulder bags was coca, socks, and a small piece of plastic on which we were supposed to sleep. And Rolando bizarrely brought 3 hats, one which he only wore for fotos.

I soon also realized that sleep was not really something you do on a hike like this, at least for more than a few

hours at a time. We walked all through the night, in the freezing-cold rain--I was a bit fearful because my hands were clenching up and I actually had gloves but was unable to reach into my backpack to get them. We rested for an hour, from 8-9 AM, then walked for the entire day in the blazing sun until about 11 pm, when we rested (in this very small yet very cold room that some guy was renting out, with about 10 other pilgrims, two or three of whom were snoring dramatically. The first night and day we had walked very fast, and by the second day the boys were complaining and in a lot of pain. I was surprisingly ok--I briefly had 3 very big blisters, but they came and went. When we got to the lake, they wanted to take a shortcut by boat, but I talked them out of it in my machista way. Then, not 10 min later, we passed by some military guys who said "pobre gringita!"in sympathy with me (I was the only non-bolivian we saw on the entire pilgrimage), which I thought was really funny. In fact, Alvaro was a bit upset that I wasn't complaining more--"why are you so stoic? we all have pain." etc--but I was really happy to be outside, and to think, and also (I have to admit) to feel tough and superior.

After walking through almost the whole 3rd night (we stopped to sleep for about an hour on the side of a mountain next to a bone-filled cattle-graveyard but I was too freezing to really sleep), we arrived in Copacabana. We only hung out there for a few hours lighting candles in the church and watching the other pilgrims before heading back to La Paz. I was sore for a few days, but I somehow managed to emerge relatively unscathed. In fact, I felt energized, at least until today when I woke up with mild flulike symptoms. Despite my lack of faith, arriving in Copa with lots of people who had just done a totally grueling hike was kind of exciting.