Day 3

A night at 4300m
The pass we take is at over 4700m above sea level and here we are told, to slow down everything; eating, breathing, moving. But, there is one thing I cannot slow down; my bladder. The tablets I am on are strong and I can feel them. I am glad to take my last tablet because I can sense the damage they could be doing to my body. However, they are keeping me functioning at this altitude. In Salta, I was on bottled oxgyen twice because my blood saturation fell below 60; the nurse told me quite frankly if I didn't take the oxgyen I'd fall asleep forever. Here, we test each other's levels and mine is the highest; my tablets are working. My red blood cell count must be very high.
The next morning I wake up with an intense headache and a turbulent stomach; altitude sickness and suddenly I don't have much strength. I'm told to sit down and just do nothing. However, I hate being useless. I struggle on to take down my tent. Later, back at 300m in Copiapó, I repack my bags and tighten the straps on the tent in my bag. I squash the bag more than 5cms- this is the strength I did not have at 4300m. Sometimes our bodies are telling us more than we think. Sometimes we must listen to them more than our head.
Flamingos
The pink graceful birds stand motionless on the green lagoon in front of the 5500m mountains. The mountains reflect in the lagoon and nature is spread out amongst us.

Lagunas Bravas
miércoles el 23 de enero 2019