Pucara Rumicucho – only some kilometers away from Mitad del Mundo – was built by the Incas in the 15th century. The five large stone terraces suggests, that Pucara Rumicucho was once a gathering place for worship of sun and moon. The oval rooms are believed to be built as a representation of equinoxes and […]
Pululahua means “smoking water” and nature was indeed smoking when we came there. We where very glad to see the ground from above. This crater is the only inhabited crater of Ecuador. There are 120 people living and cultivating coffee and potatoes in this strange place. The mountain was once an estimated 6,000m high until […]
For me as a plains(wo)man, it was a complete different experience to drive around Quito by car and always mount and decent several thousands of meters every day. Quito itself is crossed by some really deep canyons which can be traversed by some rare bridges. On one yellow sunset evening, we had a quite nice […]
The Felsenmeer is an enormous agglomeration of huge rocks which is hundreds of millions of years old. Due to the continental drift this strange formation build up and shows us earth’s history ever since. At least since we are here 🙂 Some of the rocks have even been sculpted by the ancient romans. We have been there to explore the rocks and the surroundings.
Today we had to meet our nemesis: A short stretch of about 15m with only a rope above the abyss. Just a hint: swearing helps a lot.
And after the descent, as it was Sunday, there was even some Blasmusik (a bavarian band playing traditional music on brass instruments).
The Kampenwand
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In a kind of kamikaze action we drove 650 km on friday night from Berlin to Rottach-Egern south of Munich to take part in a vertigo class. I highly recommend the useful lessons from our trainer Heike, who was a Höhenängstler (someone who has Vertigo) herself once, which makes her very credible.
Vertigo is not gone after two days but at least I know what is happening inside of me and what I do right or wrong in the moment of truth. The rest is training she says. And in fact: My confidence concerning the abyss has already increased slightly.
All the stress is forgotten when I’m standing on the top of a mountain and see the snow covered mountain tops of the near Austrian alps.
Tegernsee:
Technically speaking I quit the Gran Senda de Màlaga some time ago and I do some hikes wherever I am. Currently I’m in Cartajima, some kilometers south of Ronda at the wonderful Refugio hostel.
I really feel “at home” – if one can say that being on a journey – for the first time since I am here in Andalusia.
Today I went up a mountain to Los Riscos which are some kind of strange jurassic rock formations just without dinosaurs.
Afterwards I met a caravan club from the Netherlands who took me with them to the smurf village wich was painted in blue for a movie. The inhabitants decided – after they had some busloads of visitors from China and all over Europe – to leave it like that.
After that I walked back to Cartajima through a buzzing valley where a little not very shy boar crossed my way.
Cartajima:
HYOH!
Yeah! This stage of the Gran Senda matched perfectly with my current status. My office legs hurt like hell and my feet are just getting used to work and walk. I choose the Gran Senda because I didn’t wanted to struggle again with horrendous climbs and crushed rock all day long like on the GR 221. I just want to walk! On the other hand: I love to be in the mountains. Why can’t I have both? With this in mind I skipped the mountain stages and went directly to Periana. And it was a very good decision.
Caminante que caminas detente y mira como pasa la vida (Wanderer, halte an und sieh wie das Leben geschieht)
It was a buzzing stage. Everywhere around me where bees, butterflies and other strange insects. I saw horses, sheep, goats, millions of different birds, squirrels, mice and lizards. And flowers! Spring kicked in like if there were a crazy beauty contest.
The hike
Compared to Nerja-Frigiliana it’s a very comfortable stage. Mostly dirtroads and even a village with a restaurant in the middle. If it’s like today 28C the only thing my thing missing is shadow. There is water to buy in Guaro, in Cortijo de Zapata you’ll find an outdoor tap and several other springs, at least there was plenty of water when I passed today.
At the house of Mirador del Tramo I was stopped by three dogs. I consider myself a dog whisperer but one of them went more and more crazy and I wasn’t able to calm him down. He finally bared his teeth so badly that I decided to take a walk around. Some 50 meters from the house and parallel to the trail there are some olive tree fields which are easy to cross and around 300 meters later I was able to join the trail again.
