Sorroche

It sounds like another kind of booze or maybe an exotic Latin American dance, but sorroche is not part of a good time. Still, it's a cooler name than the more generic "altitude sickness." Symptoms include headache, irritability, vomiting, and sudden death. So I'm spending a few days acclimatizing at 3000 meters before I tackle the Huayhuash circuit, which meanders to a maximum and worrisome height of 5000 meters. Today, I did a day hike to a beautiful mountain lake called Laguna Churup. It lay just beneath a lovely, snow-covered mountain of the same name. That was at 4500 meters, and I didn't suddenly die, so I'm feeling confident I'll survive the next ten days. If I'm incommunicado during that time, it means the internet hasn't made it to the traditional Andean villages of Ancash.