May 10th & 11th: Day 3 & 4, We arrive at Salta de Agua and we get to rest :) 4200m/14,000ft

Fortunately it was a pretty short haul to Salta de Agua and Fredrico was there to greet us...he was kind enough to suggest the second most sheltered camp site (he had secured the best) and also concilled us on our tent set up...pretty much insisting we doudle the amount of tethers on the tent in case a bad storm came in...I guess he didn´t want us crashing at his place at 3am ;)

Meet Fredrico....he´s been coming hear for 10 years. He uses a bamboo trekking pole and makes some of his own outdoor clothing to save $. Hunter was very impressed with his dirtbagging skills :)

Neal and Hunter setting up camp at 14,000ft...we had to dig out the snow for the tent with out pot and manged to lose our pot lid in the process...i think Fredrico was a bit amused :)



It looks close but the peak behind is Pico Plata at around 20,000ft, 6000ft above camp.

Low on fuel, we used some of our emergency candles to melt snow....FYI, 4 candles = 2 liters of water :)

Hunter doing some stove maintenance...it didn´t really like the benzene blanca we purchased in Mendoza

Salta de Agua is an AWESOME place....surrounded by massive rock walls, glaciers and peaks that reach up to 6000m/20,000ft...you also get to look down on the foothills of the Andes and even down to the plains beyond them...its an amazing feeling to be sandwhiches in between.