colcapampa to la playa

this was my favorite day of the whole trek. the route was mostly downhill with some short climbs. the trail was a blast! there were waterfalls and we were next to the santa teresa river the whole day. at times the trail was only about a foot and a half wide and was on the edge of a sheer cliff overlooking the river. i can only imagine some clumsy trekkers falling off the cliff! so scary, but very exciting! there was a dog that followed us almost the whole day. i had to include a picture of him since he was such a big part of our day. at times he followed us and other times he led us. it seemed like he was there to make sure we were okay. hahaha. i wanted to take him home and name him sam, but i can´t imagine how sad he would be to leave the andes for los angeles. less than an hour before we reached la playa, we ran into a local mother and daughter also walking to la playa. they walked with us the rest of the way and then the daughter hung out with us at our campsite until nightfall. she was so beautiful i couldn´t believe it. the campsite was on an enormous soccer field and was full of tour groups and local kids playing soccer and camping. it was a great little town in the andes. there was also a road out of there, so most of the trekkers on tours drove out the next morning. the next day we were quite alone on the trail, which was pretty nice... mostly because there was almost no horse poo on the trail. :)