Day 3: Heading into the mountains

Ray and Cristian start out with a flat 20 kilometre highway section before they head into the mountains. I join the team once the road steepens in hopes that the steeper road and slower pace won't exasperate my injury.

The four-lane expressway we've experienced to this point is replaced by a steep, narrow, mountain road with little shoulder but equivalent traffic. It's a terrifying dance as we negotiate blind corners with convoys of over loaded trucks and buses racing headlong downhill.

The temperatures have eased somewhat but the supreme effort continues to take its toll. Cristian needs to stop. The combination of the unrelenting heat and the continuous road pounding under foot has taken its toll on this Chilean veteran but in his unruffled manner he simply shrugs and says, "I will take a rest, I'll be OK soon"

It's all uphill now and the next 20 kilometres wind their way higher and higher into the mountains. The scenery is stunning with jagged peaks marching endlessly in front of us and a raging river rumbling below.

At the end of the day we're joined by two incredible young Chilean athletes that accompany us for our final push to camp. We follow the unused old highway for this section as the young woman is blind and the young man has only one leg. It's amazing how quickly one's own discomforts and complaints dissolve in the face of such inspiring young people.