We put on our wet clothes, packed up our damp tent and hiked the first part of the day in a light rain. After a short break at a refugio at 11am, we were soon out of our rain gear and hiking with the wind at our back under a partly cloudy sky. Little did we know what the wind had in store for us. About 5 miles from the end of the trail (or the beginning depending on how you look at it), we were experiencing winds we have never experienced before in our lives. It started with me trying to catch up to Graham on a hill after taking a picture of the scenary. I quickened my step and jogged up the steep hill. Just as I was taking a leap onto a rock, the wind picked me up and threw me on my knees right smack into a rock. I managed to crack open my knee and send blood running down my leg. We quickly bandaged up the wound, not knowing if I´d need stitches or not and carried on. The wind was so strong that on occasions we would be bracing ourselves and with our feet planted firmly on the loose rock and we would be moving over the surface of the rock as if we were on a conveyer belt. It was really weird not knowing how far the wind was going to carry you. One minute we´d be standing at point A and the next we would have the same stance one foot away without having moved a foot. Rocks were flying in the air and the lakes had waves like the ocean. We took advantage of the breaks in the gusts and quickened our steps but would begin bracing ourselves as we heard the wind approach from behind us.
We arrived back where we had started with an hour to spare before the bus would pick us up. Graham retrieved a jar of Nutella out of a trash can that someone didn´t clean out all the way, and polished it up while I layed behind a birm out of the wind in the sun.
While we experienced snow, hail, rain and some of the fierced wind I have experienced in my life, we are both glad we did it and are very glad to be in a warm hostel where plentiful food awaits.
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