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Hey Hivers, I took a little vacation at the beginning of 2022, it was an unforeseen plan that my great friend @edgarafernandezp invited me to, at first it was just a weekend, but in the end it ended up being more than a week for me, I was a little stressed the last few days really, but I'm home and I feel very excited about what this experience has been for me.
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¡Hey Hivers!, me tome unas pequeñas vacaciones en este inicio de 2022, fue un plan de imprevisto al que me invito mi gran amigo @edgarafernandezp, en principio seria solo un fin de semana, pero al final termino siendo mas de una semana para mi, estaba algo estresado los ultimos dias realmente, pero ya estoy en casa y me siento muy emocionado de lo que ha sido esta experiencia para mi.
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<center><h3>We are going camping!</h3>
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¡Nos vamos de camping!</blockquote></center>
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In 2020 I bought a tent and since then I had not had the opportunity to use it until now, we organized to go to "Laguna Grande" to camp, this is a known place in the State of Tachira - Venezuela that I have wanted to go since I was about 17 years old but it is complex to get to the place, to start we must get to the starting point of the whole hike: "Portachuelo", which is about 3 and a half hours from my house by car, after that we had to get where to keep the vehicles and start the hike that we had planned to be about 5 hours (Spoiler: It was not 5 hours).
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En el 2020 compre una carpa y desde entonces no habia tenido oportunidad de utilizarla hasta ahora, nos organizamos para ir a "laguna grande" a acampar, este es un lugar conocido en el Estado Tachira - Venezuela al que he querido ir desde que tenia unos 17 años pasa que es complejo llegar al lugar, para empezar debemos llegar al punto de inicio de toda la caminata: "Portachuelo", el cual se encuentra a unas 3 horas y media de mi casa en auto, luego de eso debiamos conseguir donde guardar los vehiculos y empezar la caminata que teniamos previsto serian unas 5 horas (<b>Spoiler:</b> No fueron 5 horas)
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First of all before the trip I had to equip myself, to begin with I had nowhere to keep my tent since I bought it used and it did not come with its original case, in fact they gave it to me in an old sack, from there my father helped me and we turned it into a bag using some strings from a curtain that was no longer used at home, can you believe it, it was useful after 10 years, who would have thought it? I tell you, without this invention it would have been impossible for me to get the tent to the site.
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Lo primero antes de todo lo que seria el viaje tenia que equiparme, para empezar no tenia donde guardar mi carpa ya que la compre usada y no venia con su estuche original, de hecho me la dieron en un costal viejo, de alli mi padre me ayudo y lo convertimos en un bolso utilizando unas cuerdas de una cortina que ya no se usaba en casa, ¿pueden creerlo?, nos fue util despues de 10 años, quien lo diria... Les digo, sin este invento que hicimos para mi hubiese sido imposible llegar con la carpa al sitio.
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I don't have any other camping gear, only my beach tent, so I took all the jackets possible to keep my body warm during the night, I had very clear that we were going to a cold place, in fact I was the only one who didn't take sleeping, but instead I had five pairs of socks and two pairs of gloves, I think that in the end my bag weighed about 23 kilograms, I had a long way to go, the night before the trip I did not sleep much, I was anxious about how everything would go, deep down I was worried about suffering from hypothermia or something like that.
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No tengo nada mas de equipo para acampar, solo mi carpa playera, asi que lleve todas las chaquetas posibles para mantener el calor de mi cuerpo durante la noche, yo tenia muy claro que iriamos a un lugar frio, de hecho fui el unico que no llevo sleeping, pero en su lugar tenia cinco pares de medias y dos pares de guantes, creo que al final mi costal pesaba unos 23 kilogramos, me esperaba un largo camino, la noche previa al viaje no dormi mucho, tenia ansiedad con respecto a como saldria todo, en el fondo me preocupaba sufrir de hipotermia o algo por el estilo.
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After sleeping just about 3 hours the time came, we started talking on our whatsapp group waking up everyone to be ready as early as possible, I left home at 5:30 am with my motorcycle and my luggage, fortunately in the group was a car, otherwise it would have been uncomfortable to carry the sack throughout the trip on the motorcycle, by the issue of the weight of our luggage ended up taking @edgarafernandezp as a passenger, so far no problem, the vehicles did not have failures or anything like that.
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Despues de dormir apenas unas 3 horas llego el momento, empezamos a hablar por nuestro grupo en whatsapp despertando a todos para estar listos lo mas temprano posible, sali de casa a las 5:30 am con mi motocicleta y mi equipaje, por fortuna en el grupo iba un carro, de lo contrario hubiese sido incomodo llevar el costal durante todo el viaje en la motocicleta, por el tema del peso de nuestro equipaje termine llevando a @edgarafernandezp como pasajero, hasta alli ningun problema, los vehiculos no presentaron fallos ni nada por el estilo.
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<center><h3>The hardest part begins!</h3>
<blockquote>¡Empieza lo mas dificil!</blockquote></center>
After 3 and a half hours we arrived at portachuelo, which as I said before would be the starting point of the hike, the people who worked there are very friendly, in fact from my experience so are most people in the shout, they allowed us to store the vehicles in their house and even gave us the key to their satellite WiFi to notify our family that we were about to start the hike, it was very useful to all of us, I was eager to start.
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Luego de las 3 horas y media llegamos a portachuelo, que como les dije antes seria el punto de inicio de la caminata, las personas que trabajaban alli son muy amables, de hecho desde mi experiencia asi son la mayoria de personas en la grita, nos permitieron guardar los vehiculos en su casa e incluso nos dieron la clave de su WiFi satelital para poder avisar a nuestra familia que estabamos a punto de iniciar la caminata, nos fue muy util a todos, yo estaba ansioso por empezar.
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I always tried to maintain a single pace, I did not demand more than I could, I am very aware of how my physical condition is now, I do not have enough cardio to rush on a hike like this and less at the altitude in which we were, in fact at some times it was difficult for me to breathe and I had to stop, we were not all together on this journey, sometimes I was last, sometimes first but mostly in the middle, most of the way I was alone.
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Siempre intente mantener un solo ritmo, no me exigi mas de lo que podia, estoy muy consciente de como es mi estado fisico actualmente, no tengo suficiente cardio como para apresurarme en una caminata asi y menos en la altura en la que nos encontrabamos, de hecho en algunos momentos se me dificultaba el tema de la respiracion y tenia que detenerme, no fuimos todos juntos en esta travesia, algunas veces iba de ultima, otras de primero pero sobre todo en el medio, la mayor parte del camino estuve solo.
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In this part of the trip on foot we did have some setbacks in the group, one of the guys had a broken ankle and one of the girls suffered from what is known as "paramo sickness", so we were delayed a little more... However, after thinking it over we decided to move forward a little faster those of us who were well, since the best thing was to get to Laguna Grande and set up the tents before so that they could rest, we had already advanced most of the way so turning back was never an option at this point.
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En esta parte del viaje a pie si que tuvimos algunos percanses en el grupo, uno de los muchachos de doblo el tobillo y una de las chicas sufrio lo que se conoce como "mal de paramo", por lo cual nos retrasamos un poco mas... Sin embargo, luego de pensarlo bien decidimos avanzar un poco mas rapido los que nos encontrabamos bien, ya que lo mejor era llegar a laguna grande y armar las carpas antes para que asi ellos solo llegaran a descansar, ya habiamos avanzado la mayor parte del camino por lo cual regresar nunca fue opcion en este punto.
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<center><h3>The happiest moment of 2022 so far</h3>
<blockquote>El momento mas feliz de 2022 hasta ahora</blockquote></center>
In the end it was not only five hours as we thought at the beginning, it was extended to seven because going with more than 20 kilos on the back does not make this easier, I was exhausted we even considered the idea of camping on the road but the truth is I did not want to do it, the cold is too strong and there were no rocks or anything like that to help us with the breeze, we focused on getting there no matter what ... We passed too many mountains, we arrived to the first lagoon "El sienagon" after there I didn't want to continue counting them for my mental health, in fact there it started to be more difficult because everything is uphill and the altitude is about 3500 meters above sea level.
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Al final no resulto ser solo cinco horas como pensabamos al inicio, se extendio a siete pues ir con mas de 20 kilos en la espalda no hace que esto sea mas facil, yo estaba agotado incluso nos planteamos la idea de acampar en el camino pero la verdad no queria hacerlo, el frio es demasiado fuerte y no habian rocas ni nada por el estilo que nos ayudara con el tema de la brisa, nos enfocamos en llegar sin importar que... Pasamos demasiadas montañas, llegamos a la primera laguna "El sienagon" luego de alli no quise seguir contandolas por mi salud mental, de hecho alli empezo a ser mas dificil pues todo es subida y la altura es de aproximadamente 3500 metros sobre el nivel del mar.
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I thought it was only affecting me, but no, it turned out that a couple of guys in the group made a little scene before reaching the big lagoon and I understand them, they were exhausted, even one of them was the one who hurt his ankle but we had no alternative, it was about to fall the night and we had to get there... After some fights and moments of tension we finally arrived to "the window" where the script writer gave us the best view of this year so far, we were above the clouds and there we could see the sunset and of course, to the left our destination: Laguna Grande, we hugged each other and some even cried.
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Pense que solo me estaba afectando a mi, pero no, resulto que un par de muchachos del grupo hiciceron una pequeña escena antes de llegar a la laguna grande y los entiendo, estaban agotados, incluso uno de esos fue el que se lastimo el tobillo pero no teniamos alternativa, estaba a punto de caer la noche y debiamos llegar... Despues de algunos pleitos y momentos de tension por fin llegamos a "la ventana" donde el guionista nos regalo la mejor vista de este año hasta ahora, estabamos encima de las nubes y alli pudimos ver el atardecer y claro, a la izquierda nuestro destino: Laguna Grande, nos abrazamos y algunos incluso lloraron.
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I can't even describe what we felt, it was a shock of emotions, we finally saw the place, we had hope and we discarded the possibility of dying of hypothermia which was my concern 😂, although it turned out that we were not so close after all, from there the road was all downhill but full of stones and I remind you that there were more than 20 kilos on our backs, it took us another hour and in the end we ended up arriving at dusk, exactly at 7:03 pm.
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Ni siquiera puedo describir que sentimos, fue un choque de emociones, por fin veiamos el lugar, teniamos esperanza y descartamos la posibilidad de morir de hipotermia que era mi preocupacion 😂, aunque resulto que no estabamos tan cerca despues de todo, a partir de alli el camino era todo cuesta abajo pero lleno de piedras y les recuerdo que eran mas de 20 kilos en la espalda, nos tomo una hora mas y al final si terminamos llegando al anochecer, exactamente a las 7:03 pm.
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We arrived exhausted and when we found the perfect place to set up our camp we had no light, first we arrived 4 people and my friend @edgarafernandezp and I were in charge of setting up the tent, we did it alone, the other two were tired and one of them had a bad ankle, the cold was punishing us, as soon as we put the roof over the tent we all stayed together inside the tent, there began the headaches and of course muscle aches, although personally I didn't have a bad time that night, I wore 3 pairs of socks and 4 sweaters, plus I hugged almost all night to those who were next to me, honestly it was not uncomfortable for me 😂.
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Llegamos agotados y cuando encontramos el sitio perfecto para armar nuestro campamento ya no teniamos luz, primero llegamos 4 personas y mi amigo @edgarafernandezp y yo nos encargamos de armar la carpa, lo hicimos solos, los otros dos estaban cansados y uno de ellos tenia mal el tobillo, el frio nos estaba castigando apenas pusimos el sobretecho nos quedamos todos unidos dentro de la carpa, alli empezaron los dolores de cabeza y por supuesto musculares, aunque en lo personal no la pase fatal esa noche, me puse 3 pares de medias y 4 sueters, ademas de que abrace casi toda la noche a los que estaban a mi lado, sinceramente no fue incomodo para mi 😂.
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We were all bad with the food issue, because we had the whole market but the group that had stayed behind had the kitchen, so we waited there until 9 pm, we were worried about what had happened and in the end other people who were camping went to help our group, we honestly were not in the conditions but still we were about to return on foot to look for them .... Fortunately they went ahead and brought their bags, from then on everything was easier for everyone.
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Estabamos mal todos con el tema de la comida, pues nosotros teniamos todo el mercado pero el grupo que se habia quedado atras tenia la cocina, asi que esperamos alli hasta las 9 pm, estabamos preocupados por que habia sucedido y al final otras de las personas que estaban acampando fueron a ayudar a nuestro grupo, nosotros sinceramente no estabamos en las condiciones pero aun asi estuvimos a punto de devolvernos a pie a buscarlos... Afortunadamente ellos se adelantaron y trajeron sus bolsos, a partir de alli todo fue mas sencillo para todos.
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<center><h3>The next day in the morning</h3>
<blockquote>La mañana siguiente</blockquote></center>
That day we started to walk along the crest of the mountain to see all the other nearby lakes: The morochas, the greenish and the last one that nobody really knew how it was called, in fact it is drying up, and around it began to leave a more lively vegetation, people make figures with the rocks in it, it's great, and from afar it seemed very small but no, when we arrived we realized that it was also big, we went to the morochas and the last one... The green one was very far away and honestly I don't know how much I would have been able to climb another mountain that day.
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Ese dia nos pusimos a caminar por la cresta de la montaña para ver todas las demas lagunas cercanas: Las morochas, la verdosa y la ultima que realmente nadie supo como se llamaba, de hecho esta secandose, y alrededor empezo a salir una vegetacion mas viva, la gente hace figuras con las rocas en ella, es genial, y desde lejos parecia muy pequeña pero no, cuando llegamos nos percatamos de que tambien era grande, fuimos a las morochas y a esta ultima... La verdosa si estaba muy alejada y sinceramente no se que tanto hubiese aguantado subir otra montaña ese dia.
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<center><h3>at night</h3>
<blockquote>Esa noche</blockquote></center>
We made friends with the other campers, fortunately they came to chat when they saw that we arrived at night, they wanted to know if we were okay, so we met to drink some of the typical liquor of the paramos and make dinner, it was fun, a night of karaoke in the middle of nowhere, I want to repeat everything again the truth, and what I am most thankful for is that it did not rain during the camping days, we took some good pictures of the sky that night, it was clear, from that height the stars look spectacular, although at about 11pm I could not stand the cold, I had to go into the tent, it was a bit rude of me because I did not say goodbye, although it was not long before everyone did the same.
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Nos hicimos amigos de los demas campamentos, por fortuna ellos se acercaron a charlar cuando vieron que llegamos de noche, querian saber si estabamos bien, asi que nos reunimos a beber algo del licor tipico de los paramos y hacer la cena, fue divertido, una noche de karaoke en medio de la nada, quiero repetir de nuevo todo la verdad, y lo que mas agradezco es que no llovio durante los dias de campamento, tomamos algunas buenas fotos del cielo esa noche, estaba despejado, desde esa altura las estrellas se ven espectacular, aunque a eso de las 11pm ya no soporte el frio, tuve que entrar a la carpa, fue algo descortez de mi parte pues no me despedi, aunque no paso mucho tiempo para que todos hicieran lo mismo.
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That night the temperature was below 0º, so much so that the water that we had in the dishes was frozen, we could even see the ice on the roof of the tents, I think it was eternal for everyone that night and for me especially because I had no sleeping or mattress, I would believe that I only slept about 4 hours between those two nights camping.
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Esa noche la temperatura estuvo por debajo de 0º, tanto asi que el agua que teniamos en los platos amanecio congelada, incluso podiamos ver el hielo en el sobre techo de las carpas, creo que fue eterna para todos la noche y para mi en especial porque no tenia sleeping ni colchon, yo creeria que solo dormi unas 4 horas entre esas dos noches acampando.
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I did not get into any lagoon, I was really afraid of suffering some hypothermia and the last thing I wanted was to carry wet clothes in my luggage, on the way back I did not take many pictures, I had little charge in the cell phone and I had to keep it for any emergency on the way back, but fortunately there was no setback, the road was long, it was difficult for me, even more than the initial walk, I stayed last with the one who was in charge of carrying the kitchen, I think we returned with the heaviest luggage that day, we stopped to rest the back, it was nice, after that I stayed a few days visiting my family in La Grita, I was extended to a week the whole trip, there is not much to highlight of what were the other days.
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No me meti en ninguna laguna, realmente tenia miedo de sufrir alguna hipotermia y lo ultimo que queria era llevar ropa mojada en mi equipaje, de regreso no hice muchas fotos, tenia poca carga en el celular y debia guardarlo por alguna emergencia en el retorno, pero afortunadamente no hubo ningun contratiempo, el camino fue largo, fue dificil para mi, incluso mas que la caminataba inicial, me quede de ultimo junto a al que se encargaba de llevar la cocina, creo que volvimos con el equipaje mas pesaod ese dia, nos deteniamos a descansar la espalda, fue grato, despues de eso me quede unos dias visitando a mi familia en la grita, se me extendio a una semana todo el viaje, no hay mucho que resaltar de lo que fueron los demas dias.
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The last few times I have been there I have taken some afternoons to ride my motorcycle, photographing roads, animals and sunsets since most of them are rural areas, I think I got very good pictures.
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Las ultimas veces que he ido tomo algunas tardes para hacer recorrido en mi motocicleta, fotografias vias, animales y atardeceres ya que la mayoria son zonas rurales, creo que logre muy buenas fotos.
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<center><h3>Images taken by me using a Xiaomi Redmi 9T</h3>
<blockquote>Imagenes tomadas por mi utilizando un Xiaomi Redmi 9T</blockquote></center>
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|<center></center>|<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edmanuelvera/">edmanuelvera</a>|Personal|
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<center> Ediciones de imagenes complementarias en photoshop cs6</center>
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