Small stream makes a waterfall as it heads toward the river that we paralleled for much of our day	One of our many short rests on this tough day	The "cloudy forest" is a dense rain forest	It has begun to rain, and there is no place to sit as we grab a quick lunch	Our guides drank from the rivers -- we avoided that but drank water that our hosts said came from springs
Most of the pics this day were taken by Barb -- I was too tired to dig out the camera, and conditions were too wet for most of the walk anyway

Los Morritos

The Los Morritos camp site is situated just at the beginning of the páramos, a high, cold, and relatively bare zone just above the tree line.  We arrived in drizzle, but were able to take some photos that afternoon and more the next morning, when the clouds had not yet moved in.   We were met there by two new guides with new pack animals.  Our two former guides continued on up the route to lodging for the night; we would meet them the next day as they headed back to their home where we had had lunch on day 2.   Our new guides were not chefs.   In their defense, their "kitchen" was just a low board in the abandoned stone house adjacent to our tents.   Dinner consisted of a very runny soup in which if one were diligent one could find a small piece of a potato or, if one were really lucky, a small piece of chicken.  Of course we were also served arepas and salty cheese.  The soup had to boil on the camping stove for a very long time in order to cook the potato chunks; water boils at a low temperature at that altitude.  (We had noticed earlier at the posadas that most had pressure cookers.)

It was dark by the time we ate, and we retired right after supper, crawling into our sleeping bags still dressed in many layers of warm clothing.  Yes, the páramos do get cold at night, but we were adequately prepared and slept well. 

Breakfast the next morning made supper seem like a banquet.  Corn flakes served with hot milk.  White store-bought bread and jam.   And some left-over arepas and cheese.

But the views in and around the camp were spectacular.

Our camp at Los Morritos. The guides slept on the ground in the stone house.	Behind Devi and Hunter, on the left of the picture, is the path we arrived on	There is a fine mist, but we all try to grab a few pics	The object of Barb's attention	Devi and our new guides, waiting for the potato soup to finish cooking
The makeshift "kitchen"	Chuck focusing on ...	... the many interesting ...	... views around our little clearing	Collectively, we must have taken at least 20 photos of this view

Day 4 -- October 15

On our last day of hiking we walked through the páramo, starting at 3150 meters, going up to a pass at 3640 meters and then arriving at our last posada at 3300 meters.  We began in balmy sunlight, were soon enveloped in fog, and after about 10 AM spent much of the hike in cold rain. During the "fog" phase, we lost the path.   We had gone ahead while the guides broke camp.  Ironically, at all other times on this day and every other day, the path was obvious.   But the first time we ventured off on our own, we lost the path as we passed an abandoned stone house.   We had to double back a ways and then sit, waiting until the guides caught up with us.   Turned out the path went straight up the mountain instead of following the tempting boggy plateau.  Shortly thereafter, it began to rain.  Our wettest day by far, and so we have no photos of the high pass area.  The last few miles were on a road -- the first road of our 60 km. hike.  At about the same time that the road appeared, the steep walls of the valley were suddenly cultivated.  Fields of garlic and carrots and potatoes.

Looking back at Los Morritos	Another view of Los Morritos from further away	And yet a third view, with Hunter in the forground fiddling with his gear	Waiting for the guides to catch up with us and show us the path!	The fog moves in and softens the universe
An empty house -- the owner was said to live now in Mérida	Typical flora of the páramo	The view from the back of a mule	Working the soil on a steep slope with a wooden plow and a team of oxen	Suddenly we have a road -- and a paved one at that!
Descending down toward our last posada and the village of Gavidia.	Bridge created with the frame of a truck	Hunter and Devi and a guide arrive in Gavidia ...	... as does Chuck

Mucuposada Michicaba (and the village of Gavidia)

By the time we got to Gavidia, we were all cold.  But especially Barb, since she was expending less energy.  After we changed into dry clothes and had a delicious lunch of soup, shredded beef, rice and a cucumber/tomato/onion salad, Barb went to bed.  She must have contracted some kind of bug, because she was subsequently under the weather for three or four days.   The next day we had a bit of a wait for the our small bus, so we all went on walks/photo expeditions.

Mucoposada Michicaba from afar	The mucoposada from anear	Very welcome warm lunch in the posada	Downstairs guest sleeping area	The upstairs of the sleeping lodge
Next morning we went for a walk while waiting for our bus back to Mérida	Pack animal loaded with potatoes	Children we met on our walk	Packing produce up the road to yet higher markets	Waiting for the small bus to take us to Mucuchíes, where we would catch a larger bus to Mérida