Fun at INESAD Serious fun at work
This year’s Palca hike got postponed several times due to rain and other impediments, but Sunday the 13th of September was a perfect sunny day and we finally managed to do the annual hike. Here is the group at the beginning of the hike. This year a couple of Swedish students from MIT joined our team.
We were also soon joined by a local dog that accompanied us on the whole trip.
The dog got especially attached to Raphaela.
Raphaela was generally in front, scouting out the route. That meant that she was also the first one to sink into an invisible mud hole. Karim did not hesitate for a second to jump in to pull Raphaela out of the mud, and the dog was quick to show its appreciation for the heroic effort.
Even with the warning from Raphaela and Karim, several other people walked right into the muddy area.
After contemplating the trade-offs between muddy feet and wet feet, Raphaela and Natalia decided that wet would be more comfortable.
Due to constant erosion, the hike through the Palca canyon is different every year. This time we found this big rock blocking our way.
It was not a big obstacle for us, but the dog was wimpering when most of the people had passed, and there was no way for him to get by. To the delight of Montserrat, Gabriela lifted the dog up on the rock, so that he could accompany us on the rest of the trip.
According to a majority of the hikers, there is nothing quite like an ice cold Paceña in the middle of nowhere.
While all paths eventually lead to Palca, it is not always clear which one is the easiest. When the creek route got a bit tough, a sub-group decided to take the high way with the view instead. However, after comparing experiences over lunch, we all agree that it is best to follow the water, if at all possible.
After the lunch break, we thought we had lost the dog, but after a while he came sprinting towards us, to the big applause of everybody. Having taken him so far away from his home, we couldn’t very well leave him in Palca. So when Osvaldo picked us up from the central plaza in Palca, everybody and the dog got on board.
Here is Montserrat and the dog enjoying the wind in the back of the pick-up truck.
When we got back close to the place he had joined us, we let him off the car, and he walked back to his regular family. We were happy to have borrowed him for a day, though.
