1. Looks innocent enough I know. 
2. This is the view of the mountains on the other side of the river. Take note of how high they look from this point of view….. cause later, not so much.
3. This is where we are aiming to arrive at…..
4. These are the types of plants/grasses they plant on the edge of the roads to stop erosion. They are apparently very effective!!!
5. Coming up to the first chakra….
6. Patrick and Mali charged ahead, I took pictures so I could walk slower (haha). This is them heading to chakra 2….
7. I have taken a shot of the gravel road across the valley (shown in the distance) here at each turn that shows this view so you can see how it ends up below me in the end….
8.ok we are rounding chakra 4 and heading to 5. This is the steepest part of the climb. As you can see Patrick is about half way up and Mali closing in….
I’ve lost ‘em…..
9. Patrick is pretty much at the top of the hill, just about to turn the corner. This is one of the curves where you have to back up to get around it (YIKES)……..
10. Patrick is around the corner and that speck in the red circle is Mali as she arrives at the corner.- yup it is a very steep climb, I wore my runners this time and I have to say my cloth soft soled shoes were better to climb this with. I think because of the flexibility of the sole, it was easier to get a grip …..
And then there were none…..
11. This is a short of the valley that I was looking up at in the beginning. You can see that it is pretty level now that I have made it (almost)to the top of that steep climb.
12. This is the valley. Those specks are houses we walked past on the flats. We were level with them before we got to…… “The Driveway…..”
I had this much further to go when I took the valley pictures above….
13. I’m almost at the top of this chakra – Horay!!!
14. Here is that same road that was once above me…..
15I know this looks short and easy too, but if you are able to enlarge the photo, you will see a black speck at the corner that is Mali waiting for me. (I should have put a circle around her. She is surprisingly far away (but faithful and patient as ever 🙂 )
16. The is the view looking down from that corner Mali was waiting for me at. Without something to give reference to, it is difficult to see just how far you drop. That was as close as I dared to get to the edge….. (this is another of the backup to get around the corner turns…….just sayin’
17. As you can see the top of the mountains that I once looked up at are now straight across from me.
18. Another shot of the road from this corner. That is the road when you continue to walk along it takes you to another Gringo’s home that we visited. Where I am looking now is the point where it does a switchback as it climbs. I actually found it easier to run down it on the way home. It kinda looks like that road joins to this one from this picture, but there is a big valley between us. 
19. Another view of that same road….
20. The home that in the red circle is the castle on the hill (the half a million $ home, that got broken into) You can see that it is quite isolated, on the other side of the river as it is. The only way to get there is by the trolly cars they set up to cross the river. 
21.Kind of looks like I’m higher than that side of the valley now as I turn the corner to head up the last leg of the climb….
22. Mali and Patrick are waiting patiently for me. I take comfort in having seen him stop on occasion to bend over or sit down to catch his breath as well :). 
23. We have reached the summit, just a short low grade climb now as I turn the last corner……
24. The view from the top. Actually there is someone living higher than this, above their property. It is spectacular, isn’t it?
We had a lovely day, after I caught my breath, visiting, talking about anything (in English!) and enjoyed a lovely meal. Everything was made with ingredients from their garden (no chemicals – big Yay). I read an article the other day about avacados – are they really green? Because they take so much water to grow. Well here, on this land of theirs, there were something like 400 trees planted (by the previous owner) – so avacados a plenty!!!!
We finished the day with a game of beans (kind of appropriate here in the land where one of the staple foods is…..beans). I can’t remember what the game is called, but it’s kind of like playing “Go Fish” only you plant bean fields and swap bean cards.
It was kind of like learning Spanish when they first explained the rules (her daughter and husband), a bit overwhelming. But unlike learning Spanish, I did catch on after the demo round. It was quite fun and it was so nice to do something like that, something I have not done in a very long time. It was dark when we left, so they drove us home, but I couldn’t see the drop, so it wasn’t so bad…….He is a very cautious and careful driver, so for that I am very grateful!!!
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