Today, we woke up early at 7 a.m. and quickly gathered our belongings to leave the dorm tent, avoiding further interaction with the eccentric person sharing the space with us, who bizarrely tried to buy our sleeping bags as we were packing.
After breakfast, we attempted to call the restaurant to modify our New Year’s Eve reservation but couldn’t get through.
By 10 a.m., we departed from the camp and began our hike down the Horcones Valley, heading back to the park entrance where the helicopter pad is located.
The hike started through the grey-brown valley, where we passed mules traveling up and down the trail. After some time, we arrived at “the beach,” a large, flat riverbed where we stopped for lunch and enjoyed steak sandwiches.
Following the break, we continued hiking for a few more hours as the valley gradually became greener the further down we went. After about six hours of walking, we reached a large gorge that we had to climb out of—a grueling uphill stretch—but we pushed through and arrived at the Confluencia Camp, which we remembered from the first day of hiking this route. There, we took a well-deserved break and were served some fresh fruit.
We pressed on for the final two hours down the valley. As we neared the end, we could hear the helicopter circling above us, a reminder of where we were headed. About 30 minutes from the finish, we reached a bridge once used in Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt. Our guide, Chacho, stopped here to perform a ritual: he placed a stone on a small pile at the bridge’s end, explaining that it was to thank the mountain for safe passage—a tradition where one stone is placed upon entering and another upon returning.
From there, we continued to the helicopter pad, which was empty since the helicopter was busy elsewhere. We took a quick photo of the sad seats we had waited in after the helicopter rescue in 2022, reliving the memory briefly before moving on.
We then boarded a jeep that drove us back to Penitentes. Upon arrival, we dropped our bags in the reception hall and sat down for dinner, enjoying a satisfying steak meal. Finally, we were shown to our rooms where we could rest. Unfortunately, we couldn’t shower yet because our soap was in a bag that hadn’t arrived. At this point, it had been 13 days without a shower—what’s one more day?