Day 5 - Yanama (3500 m / 11500 ft) to Yanama Pass (4550 m / 15000 ft) to near Totora (3700 m / 12150 ft)
We followed the Yanama river through the Yanama valley right up to Yanama pass. The first part of the trail through the valley was spectacular. We saw many large waterfalls on both sides of the valley and the lush greenery made this trail spectacular. We also saw a permanent glacier on the top of Corihuaynachina a we crossed the pass. When we crossed Yanama river to begin our ascent to the pass, our guide told us of a Quechua tradition of bringing a rock from the river to place on the pass. We all took rocks and Bob foolishly took a rather large stone that he had to lug to the top.
Yanama pass is the highest point in the trek and we really felt the altitude at this point. It didn't help that it started hailing when we were 50 meters from the pass. We had heavy rains at our campground that night. We fortunately missed the few feet of snow that came down on the pass, which rendered it impassable.
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