Didn't Take Long.....(message from Chad)

...to get sick. Man, we were supposed to acclimatize today on Vallunaraju, but yesterday, I woke up with a nasty headache, and then the diarrhea began. I wasn´t so sure if it was the greasy chicken I´d had the night before, so I waited a bit. By 10:00 am, I had a fever, and I took my first Cipro. I´d had some Banana pancakes at Cafe Andino (beautiful place for even Portland, much less Huaraz) to try to quell the diarrhea, and it didn´t work. [I've selectively deleted some of the graphic contents of this email] I shivered all of yesterday under the covers, and I finally came out of the fever at 3pm, only with a gnarly headache. The fever was mainly gone, so in order to sleep, I took a couple tylenol 3 w/ codeine to help. I woke up today without any diarrhea (though I took a couple Immodium just in case), and ate a full breakfast. I'm a bit shaky, but I should be able to acclimatize with the boys tomorrow morning. If I start feeling bad, I'll turn around. A little acclimatization is better than none.

The guys and I are all doing great, as far as dynamics. It's been really fun so far. As far as the cost goes, I imagine it'll end up being somewhere between what you and I had guessed. Less expensive than your guess, more than mine. I thought there would be a better place to cook, but it's all the way at the end of the hostel, and no good place to store food, so it's not as well set up to cook yourself dinner as I'd thought, but that's okay...I mean a stack (I mean a STACK!!!!!!!!) of banana pancakes cost 10 soles...three bucks! A 1/4 chicken, and french fries cost 7 soles!!! Other than that, bottled water adds up, but it's a necessary evil. The taxi/collectivo rides do add up, but there's no way around that. Basically, what we would spend in Portland for a taxi ride into the mountains would be astronomical, and what we pay here to get from Huaraz to Yuangay, then from Yuangay to the Llanganuco Valley costs about 10 USD...and it's a long ride. It'd cost over a hundred dollars I'm sure, to get up to Mt. Hood. By the way, that $10 cost is ROUND TRIP.

On another note, I'm glad we're able to talk, and I'm happy to hear of your support, and If I can return it in any way, I certainly will. I know you're going to be a talented NP, and it's just going to take some time to cut your teeth on it (and we all know cutting teeth is painful). Keep good thoughts, accept the lessons, swallow the pride. I have to tell myself that on a daily basis, here. Not everyone learns in the same way, acclimatizes at the same rate, has the same fitness, and everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. It's part of being human.

Love you lots, talk to you in a couple of days, if not sooner. I tried to call you on my cell phone, as it says that I have service, but when I try, it sends me to some weird message; I think the technology uses a different signal/method here.
Love,
Chad

Vallunaraju
Elevation: 18963 ft / 5780 m
Link to Vallunaraju climb by other climbers: http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150639/vallunaraju.html