Laguna 69 and a sick husband!
Again, up at 5:00 a.m. (the theme of this trip is early wake-ups!) to meet Walter, the guide, and Juan, the taxi driver, for our trip to Laguna 69. The trip to the trailhead took about 3 hours - you drive along the valley paralleling the Coridllera Blanca for a few hours, and then turn and head straight up and into the mountains. We passed the Llanganuco lakes and just a bit beyond them was the trailhead.
Tim woke up feeling tired and lousy, but as the 3 hour journey wore on, he looked worse and worse. The three of us - Tim, Walter, and I - headed out toward Laguna 69. Although the trail was very well maintained (it is in the Huascaran National Park) and nothing like yesterday´s hike, it was obvious Tim was not doing well at all. He normally charges ahead of me, but today he was behind by a few dozen yards. As we reached the first set of switchbacks, Tim didn´t think he should go on, but wanted me to see the lake since we worked so hard to get here. So began what I thought was my nightmare - leaving my sick husband in an Andean meadow while it´s snowing, and me, forging ahead with a professional mountain guide who hikes really fast!! 
Actually, I left Tim with as much of my warm clothing as I could spare and still be safe, food, water, sunscreen, and toilet paper. As we hiked away, I was very nervous, but then Walter offered to carry my backpack and also gave me his trekking poles. He led a great pace and I was able to keep up without much trouble. The lake was beautiful, in another cirque with 6,000 meter peaks above it, glaciers cracking and falling into the lake!! I just wish Tim had been there to see it!! I took as many pictures as possible, and as much film footage as I could. Walter didn´t want to spend too much time up there, so we headed back down after about half an hour. I trusted his advice that we should be off the mountains before the late afternoon. This guy grew up in Huaraz and has been hiking these mountains all his life, plus he´s certified in mountain rescues and emergency procedures. I felt very safe.
As we came back down the last set of switchbacks, Tim was sitting in the meadow, all bundled up, asking us to save him from the bull. Indeed, in the meadow, there were two cows and a bull. 
Apparently the bull woke Tim up from his nap with a few snorts. He was only 10 feet away from Tim and stared at Tim for a full 10 minutes. It didn´t help that Tim´s rainjacket was red! We got him back to the taxi slowly, and then made the long 3 hour trip back to Huaraz. He piled straight into bed the moment we hit the hotel. I managed with my very limited Spanish to buy a thermometer (stored behind the pharmacy counter at the local farmacia) and orange juice and take it back to Tim. He had a fever of 100.8. Poor guy! I can´t even do anything because a fever just needs to burn itself off. It´s miserable to be sick at home, but to be sick in a foreign country is even worse!! Let´s hope it breaks soon and he can recuperate his energy. I need some recuperation time too... these two dayhikes have been long and hard. I figure that in the last two days, I´ve hiked between 14-16 miles with an incredible UP factor. Tomorrow, we are doing NOTHING but enjoying this mountain town!!