This year's Thanksgiving was pretty nondescript. In fact Thanksgiving Thursday was really boring. Due to some shoulder pain, I spent most of the day hanging around the clinic in Huaraz. Don't worry, it's nothing serious, just a little discomfort as I was diagnosed with Level 5 Awesomeness with a severe deficiency in humbleness.
So with my Thursday shot, I was excited to get out on Friday and do a little hiking. There were a lot of Peace Corps volunteers passing through for the holidays, and Ben and Katy (Peru 18ers) organized a nice hike for us, above their site. The hike, as with most hikes I've done around here, was spectacular. We climbed for 3 hours up one of the canyons behind their house to a couple of mountain lakes. Besides the fact that we went well above 4,000 meters and all 15+ volunteers made it (impressive considering the Turkey Day Celebration didn't end for most until 5:00am that morning), I am very happy to report on the following: I caught my first Southern Hemisphere fish!!!
Boy, I'm happy I brought my fly rod to Peru. That's right, a nice 12-14'' rainbow on a small beadhead fly quickly made up for all the embarrassming times I had to explain what the green tube on my backpack was since leaving for the Peace Corps in June 2011 from Washington, D.C. ("No it isn't a gun, golf club, flute, yoga mat or whatever else; its a fly rod"). Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my trout, as I was trying to release it back into the water as fast as possible. However, I did get a picture of Nico's trout that he caught (using my fly rod... so I get half the credit). Here are some pictures and videos from the hike:
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| The Crew before leaving Ben and Katy's site. |
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| Huascaran in the distance. |
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| One of Ben and Katy's neighbors out for a stroll. |
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| We headed up the canyon to the right. |
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| David and I. We're both bothers from training as we both lived with the Hinajosa Family. He's in Peru 18. This is a shot for our training Mom. |
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| Leaders of the pack. L to R: Jamie (Peru 19), Conner (Peru 19), Ben (Peru 18), and David (Peru 18). |
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| Snow capped mountains are a must in Ancash. |
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| This huge rock wall was for the sheep was pretty impressive. |
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| Brice. |
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| Last break before pushing to the lake. |
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| Resting and looking at the first lake after finally making it. |
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| Me fishing at the first lake after my quick Naked Lake Jump. After this weekend, I now have 9 NLJs. |
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| Conner trying his hand at fly fishing. |
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| Nico's (Peru 19) monster. |
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| Arrived back at the base of the valley for dusk. |
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| The last picture before dark. |
