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[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.6: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 6: hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

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SinceI landed in Lima I have been reading “Turn right at Machu Picchu” by Mark Adams, a quite funny account of Machu Picchu “discovery” by Hiram Bingham in 1911, and of the (often hilarious) adventures the author lived when he set out to retrace Bingham’s path, I was therefore really looking forward to hike the […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.5: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 5: Cusco

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Togo from Puno to Cusco one has to traverse the delirious town of Juliaca (so close to the Bolivian border to have based most of its economy on smuggling…), then cross the La Raya pass (and its gift market!), then stand probably the most boring Peruvian guide through innumerable impressive Inca temples (and again their […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.4: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 4: Lago Titicaca

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Whenwe arrived in Puno, we could have easily mistaken Lake Titicaca for the sea so much it was big, but being at 3800 m we were quickly reminded of the altitude: from my vague headache to the feverish sickness of my companions, we had to take our time to acclimate.The Titicaca islands could not […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.3: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 3: Carretera Interoceanica

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Perùis huge and the Andes are high! To move from the Canon del Colca to Puno on the Lake Titicaca our guide E. had to drive for 6 hours on the Carretera Interoceanica, passing the highest point at 4910 m on the Cordillera. And while E. drove we chatted, sang, played old songs o the […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.2: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 2: Canon del Colca.

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Anyonewho knows me knows how much I love the mountains: hiking, trekking, climbing, I simply crave moving on and off the trails, with everything I need in my backpack and a sense of adventure in my heart. The mountains have always been a sanctuary for me, a place where I feel at peace and connected […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 3.1: looking for adventures in Perù with long-time friends. Part 1: Arequipa.

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Imet M. and P. 38 years ago in a humid cellar-like storage room the local church in Turin San Salvario, gave to the boy scout group for their activities. At the time the we were about 11 years old, the youngest of the pack, and we have been friends ever since. Many things have happened […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 2. Discovering new mountain spots with my family

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Irenehas been hiking the mountains around La Thuile all her life, and I have been following her in the past 25 years. One might imagine we did roam those valleys trough and trough, but this year we were able to surprise ourselves. In a week we managed to hike a couple of peaks we never […]

[The Summer I Turned 50] 1. One week as a “guinea pig” for the ENSA alpine guide trainees

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2023began with a lot of cool ideas to celebrate my 50th year on Earth, quickly followed by life sending a nasty overdue notice: an annoying medical problem menaced to cancel all projects I had in mind, and partly did. I was lucky enough to recover in time to attend the ENSA “Stage d’Application Alpinisme” as […]

La luce è più della somma delle imperfezioni

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Thepondsby Mary Oliver (from “House of Lights”)Every yearthe liliesare so perfectI can hardly believetheir lapped light crowdingthe black,mid-summer ponds.Nobody could count all of them --the muskrats swimmingamong the pads and the grassescan reach outtheir muscular arms and touchonly so many, they are thatrife and wild.But what in this worldis perfect?I bend closer and
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