Today we are going to French Valley, and then to Paine Grande Lodge to for the night.
We started around 8:20 am, hiked 2 KM (30 minutes) to Camp Italiano where people left their big bag behind to go up French Valley.
1. Hiking up to French Valley.
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3. Took us about 2.5 hours to get to Britanico Lookout. It was very cloudy when we got up there, couldn't see much, and it was cold and a bit of snowing.
4. At Britanico Lookout.
5. At Britanico Lookout.
6. We waited an hour at Britanico Lookout before it suddenly cleared up a bit.
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8. It is amazing how fast the clouds come and go.
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11. Going down French Valley.
12. Going down French Valley.
Since we spent so much time at French Valley, by the time we got down to Camp Italiano it was already 4 pm, and we still got 7.6 km (2.5 hours) to go to reach Paine Grande Lodge, carrying our heavy backpacks :(
13. Paine Grande Lodge.
14. Paine Grande Lodge.
15. Our beds at Paine Grande Lodge.
16. Tents outside.
Paine Grande Lodge is huge, but its room is pretty small, only bigger than Torre Central's. There is one power outlet by our beds, so we could charge our cameras. Hot water starts at 6 pm. Dinner starts at 7 pm if you check in early. We had to wait till 8 pm to eat dinner since we got here late. Dinner was cafeteria style, which is way better than waiting to be served with limited staff at other places. The dinner was the best of the 4 refugios we stayed: soup, salad, roasted chicken leg quarter with rice, and dessert. There was a giant ceviche bowl at the dressing table. It was good: had mussels and some other kind of shellfish.
(To be continued)
