December 07: Vilcabamba

(1) A perfect morning in Vilcabamba. Generally speaking, these waking hours are a gift to those who earn them, for it takes a certain amount of discipline and humility to get yourself up so you can gaze upon the sun shining on things with that soft, delicate light. I'm certainly not that dedicated, so I make an effort to enjoy the gift whenever I can. Just look at that.

(2) I was told that the Mandango Loop could be dangerous and slippery at certain points, and that it's best not to go it alone. Of course, being that nobody else was interested in joining me on a tough 4-hour hike, I ended up making it a solo trek.

(3) Not a bad hike, save for the fact that if you slipped on the ridgeline one way or the other you would likely fall to your death. The most difficult part was, not so much the getting lost at the end and having to jump several barbed wire fences, but circumnavigating the two bulls that stood right in the middle of the path. Amazingly, the map actually warns the hiker to look out for these two particular bulls at a precise point on the trail... and there they were. They seemed less than interested in killing me, but I still had to climb through thorned bushes to get around them. All in all, it was a terrific hike.

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