I did not want to get up. I had fever all night yesterday. I was cold. I did not want to get up. I looked outside and it was grey, it was cold, it was windy. My body was weak, my bones hurt, my feet were cold and my legs were empty. I stayed in my tent and was hoping the day would pass, hoping nobody would call me, hoping all activities would be cancelled.

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I heard my name, yes I was called for breakfast but I denied, I wanted to keep my diet and wanted to keep my agreement. I heard my name again, this time to get up and get ready for the morning tour to “the window”.

I needed all my energy and all my mental strength to convince myself to get up and participate in the tour. My shoes were wet, my socks were wet and I could not imagine entering with my cold feet into wet socks and into wet shoes. My mind had made a decision and I put on the wet socks and got into the wet shoes, funny that actually it was not that bad and kind of a feeling of warmth entered my body through my feet. I was on the top of Mount Roraima and I did not expect too much of ups and downs and also not too much of distance.

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The plan for today was to visit “the window” in the morning, come back to our hotel and visit “the jacuzzi” in the afternoon. From the map I had taken at the posada I could tell that the distance seemed not to be a problem and somehow I was confident enough that the ups and downs as well were manageable.

I left the hotel last and climbed down and followed the group. The nature, the rock formations, the small streams and lakes, the grey mist, just everything looked to be on a different planet. Maybe team Enterprise had done some magic and Scotty had beamed everybody to this different planet. The group made various stops on our way to take pictures and inspect certain phenomena in detail. This allowed me to keep my slow pace and still be in touch with the rest of the group.

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The walk was really short and we arrived at “the window”, an edge with views towards Mount Kukenan, down the steep rocks towards the valley and towards a small stone formation which seemed to be a natural stone diving board, equal in size and shape.

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The weather was not really in favor of the two or three passionate photographers and definitely a great disappointment to the selfie maniacs. All this effort, all the suffering, three days of walking, hiking and climbing for this one picture, for this one post. Proof to yourself, proof to your friends and families, proof to the social media community, you have made it, you were there, you were on top of the world, you have been on a different planet. A childhood dream, an esoteric journey to the indigenous gods living on this mysterious tepuy, a first extreme sport experience, a search for balance to your stress from work or relationship; every member of my group and all Mount Roraima tourist had all kinds of personal motives to be here.

 

I wanted to test my physical limits and clean my body with a diet; I wanted to take good pictures and write my story, I wanted to see a different planet and I wanted to feel a little bit of the mystery that surrounds the tepuy’s. We were at one edge of the mountain and everybody had his personal edge feeling.

We walked back to the hotel the same way. I arrived last and went straight to my tent and to my sleeping back. I had fever, was cold, was tired, was exhausted and wanted to rest, sleep, recover, be on my own lonely planet. I fell asleep, woke up, fell asleep, woke up, heard my name, just said no, fell asleep, woke up, was cold, had fever. I do not know if I have ever felt that exhausted in my life before, I had to recover somehow.

Group Gregory

Operator – Gregory

Guide – Omar

Cook – Cleidymar

Cook – Keila

Carrier – Julian

Carrier – Jesus

Doc McCoy – Alejandro Izaguirre

Chekov – Yanjos Ave

Uhura – Maria Jose Lopez

Rammstein – Omar Rivas

Dreamcatcher – Joselyn Godoy

Photographer – Gianfranco di Campo

Journalist – Mariolga Gomez

Ecuador – Juan

Belgium – Sylvie

Guacharaca – Claudia Valenzuela

Guacharaca – Yolanda di Sevo

Guacharaca – Yuli Viloria

Gringo – AlexK

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