I have already covered 600 kilometers on stage 7. My goal for this year is to hike 1000 km on the GPT and then to have covered a total of over 5000 km on this journey on foot.

Trailblazer

While philosophizing about the cows, I realized how important they actually are for me as a hiker. The paths I walk here in the mountains only exist because the cattle are driven here. They are not created, at least not most of them, but are the result of constant use. Every step, every hoofbeat contributes to the creation of the paths. It is interesting to note that when the cows flee from me, they usually move along the paths instead of deviating from them to escape me.

Something seems to bind them to the paths. I’m not sure if it’s a trained behavior because they are always driven up the same paths into the mountains, or if they instinctively stick to already established paths. So I am directly dependent on the cows. Thanks to everyone who likes a steak.

Section 8

After three days’ rest in a hut a few kilometers from the Antuco volcano, in the village of the same name, we set off full of energy.

We had food for 8 days and a buddy in tow, Frazer, the Kiwi I had met in Cusco. But the very first day was to disappoint us. After a strenuous ascent to the first pass with a literally overwhelming view of the volcano, which we had circumnavigated days before, and the adjacent reservoir, we realized that the snow, which had still not melted, would once again put a spanner in the works.

I was the first to attempt to cross the steep, almost vertical slope in the snow. I managed to get to the other side without any difficulty. Frazer, who was hot on my heels, unfortunately had no grip with his shoes. He kept slipping and bending one of his walking poles in the process. The other two watched our exploration tour from a safe distance.

Frazer didn’t want to give up and tried to climb the mountain despite all objections in order to walk around the snow. Unfortunately, without success.

Defeated, we all made our way back. The initial motivation had disappeared from everyone’s faces. Disappointed, we were left with only one conclusion. We all agreed that it hadn’t been worth taking the risk without knowing what awaited us on the other side of the pass. According to the map, we would have had to walk several kilometers along the snow-covered ridge.

Each of us drew a different conclusion. Yannick and Nolwenn wanted to retreat for a few days to make new plans, Frazer wanted to stay in the mountains for a day and then make another attempt at the easier stages 9 and 10, and I wanted to choose a different route that didn’t take us so high up.

Somehow, as fate would have it, we ended up back in the same hut that we had left full of energy the day before.

After initial plans to split up, the couple and I are now hiking together again. We skipped section 8 in favor of section 7, which was only a day’s journey away with six buses and an Uber.

On the other side of the river

Every time I cross the river, I realize how much easier I have it because I’m so big and heavy. The other two have to fight much harder against the current. They often even have to look for another spot further upstream or downstream where the current is less strong. Yannick often gives it his all and likes to get a little wetter than necessary.

His legs were pulled away during the crossing. When he got to the other side, he saw that there was no way Nolwenn was going to make it. So he swam back to her to help her.

As they couldn’t find a better spot, they signaled to me that they would take the two kilometers to the next bridge. To my surprise, they reached the camp quicker than expected. Further down, two riders took them to the other side. A story that jumped out of their faces with joy. Yannick was also sitting on a horse for the first time in his life.

Elections

For the last four days of section 7, my friends and I split up on various alternative routes. But the sudden loneliness didn’t last long. After just an hour, a cattle herder invited me into his hut for breakfast and a little chat.

The man, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, lives out here alone all summer, from November to April. Then he rides his cattle to the coast, where he spends the winter. He doesn’t seem to see his family, two brothers who also live somewhere in the area, very often. I ask him how he spends his days.

A little confused by the question of how he spends his days out here, he just said that it was a lot of work looking after the animals. To me, as an outsider and uninformed person, it doesn’t sound like much work to watch the animals eat and take them to a different meadow from time to time. I couldn’t get any more details out of him.

Suddenly he asked me how the elections had gone. Ignorant as I am, I had to admit to him that I didn’t even know there were elections. But that also shows how isolated he and I live. He doesn’t even have reception on his little radio. Now that I’m writing this, I wonder what he actually has it for.

Apart from a few other cattle herders, someone who brings him provisions on a donkey and, if he is lucky, the occasional hiker, he is alone here most of the time. His three dogs keep him company.

I can’t imagine many hikers getting lost here, after all we are at least two days’ walk from the nearest road.

What must it be like to live such an idyllic life and have no one to talk to? I find it hard to imagine such a life. On the other hand, he simply knows no other life. You can’t miss what you don’t know.

Enthusiasm for greenery

Everyone has their own preferences, and the same goes for the landscape we like to hike in. Yannick and Nolwenn prefer it to be rugged and bare. As little vegetation as possible should grow on the slopes to block their view of the peaks.

I’m more the lush type. I love variety. I love walking through a forest, with its scent of needles and leaves. On the open prairie, you are mercilessly exposed to the sun. The forest offers protection. It cools. The ground is softer. The sunlight turns into a play of shadows that penetrate the leaves and needles.

Add to that, as on section 7, waterfalls that don’t want to end and rivers that couldn’t be clearer, and I’m in my element.

I soon have to decide where to continue my hike. The couple first want to take a break from hiking at a workaway and I want to complete my 1000 km. Preferably in the forests which, according to the description, will take me through sections 15 to 19. However, there is a clear warning for section 18 to take a machete with you to teach the dense forest some manners.

Where do you prefer to hang out in nature? Or do you prefer to stay in civilization?

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