Day 6

So not everything is peaches and cream. I learned a valuable lesson the other day...May 24th we began our hike of the Salkantay trail from Mollepata, Peru. Needless to say I am out of shape and knew I would have little oxygen climbing a mountain over 13,000ft, however I fought on and on. Out guide was very inexperienced and we suffered many problems. The biggest of which was that several of our group were having trouble as we climbed higher and higher and despite our guide telling us we would have plenty of stops to rest we had none at all. Also we were supposed to stop for lunch at a certain elevation and rest...another problem here was that our horsemen who were to set up our lunch were over half an hour ahead of us so we had to keep climbing more and more, faster and faster. After about 2 and a half hours of nonstop mountain climbing my legs began to quit on me, still I pushed on. I figured if I just made it to lunch I could rest and go on. More problems arised as I was fighting harder and harder to breathe, still I pushed on. Our guide paid no attention to this nor that fact that others were also having much trouble. Half hour later near the peak of a large mountain thousands of feet above sea level I collapsed. I could not breathe and began hyper-ventilating. Our guide carried an oxygen tank in case something like this happened, however he did not know how to operate it. I most certainly would have died if not for Jayme Barton who had worked in an oxygen bar and knew how to administer the oxygen. After several minutes I could feel my arms and my face was no longer blue. Also from the oxygen I was able to move the muscles in my face again and speak clearly letting everyone know that I would be ok. So from that point on I said to hell with the shitty outfitter and my brother Brock, Kathryn, and I turned back and climbed down the mountain. The rest of our group stayed and continued the 5 day hike. We made it back to Cuzco and are leaving early in the morning to meet back up with them in Aguas Calientes. From there we will all go to Macchu Pichu and get it over with. Until then I want to let everyone know I am alive and still kickin. Lesson learned.