In the morning I head to Andres tent.  He tells me to come in and I tell him what is going on and that I think it is best to go down.  When I tell him I have a fever, Wyne puts a hand on my forehead and then on my cheek and gives a look to Andres.  Andres does not suggest that I do anything different, tough it out, try medication, try to continue.  I have a fever, I have to go.  In a way this was an easy decision, but it is one that I will wrestle with for a long time.  When I see Frank I am in tears with the fact that I have to go down, but I just can’t see going up sick and without sleep, especially with the bad weather forecast.  Too much is conspiring against me, minimizing my summit chance and maximizing the danger.  If they could give me one day to see if I could recover I’d stick around and try, but when climbing in a group you have to stick with the schedule or abandon the climb.  It seems the whole trip has been telling me that I shouldn’t be here right now.

 

There are no guides hiking down today and they won’t let anyone go alone.  I pay for a mule to carry me and another for my gear.  I arrange for a private bus to pick me up in Puente de Inca and take me to a hotel tonight.  I plan on spending one day there to change my flights and be home for New Year’s Eve.  Another climber today found out his father had a heart attack and was helo’d out.  His friend, Nathan, decided to abandon the climb too and is going down by mule and sharing the private bus to the hotel.

 

The mule ride out was (in places) down steep trails that had me leaning way back in the saddle and hoping the mule would be sure footed.  At one point going along high above the river I saw the trail had a gouge taken out of it.  I followed the gouge and saw slide marks down an 85 degree 200m drop to the river, at the bottom was a dead mule.  Great way to instill confidence.  On the flat sections the mules would trot, trot, trot.  They would keep going for 5, 10 or 15 minutes and then just stop dead in their tracks.  Sometimes 20 minutes straight with my innards feeling all scrambled up, my legs sore.  Then crossing a river, the mule splashed up on my back.  It’s getting wetter and wetter.  No, that’s not a splash of water from the river.  The coke bottle I was using has busted a hole from the bouncing and the Gatorade is leaking all over my ass…and my ass’s ass.  And my mule just keeps going and going and going and I can’t stop to take the bottle out.  Lower down the river, the mules take a direct route across the valleys, which means they cross the river several times.  Each time the river gets deeper and deeper.  The water is muddy, so you can’t see the bottom and neither can the mule.  The last crossing I am reminded a story that a climber had told us in Puente del Inca where he took a mule down once and the mule fell over on the last river crossing and pinned his leg to the bottom. The water at this crossing today comes up to the stirrups. I take my legs out of the stirrups. I am envisioning me going over, but not getting pinned as me legs are removed.  And I think about my camera being in the daypack on my back…everything else has gone wrong, surely I will lose my camera.  The mule stumbles a couple of times on large rocks on the bottom but never goes down.

 

So we get back to the park entrance and the muleteer helps me down and we sign out of the park.  Did we summit, they ask.  No.  Then the muleteer rides off with our mules.  He tells us the private bus will come pick us up.  He goes back to the park building and calls the bus.  We look back at Aconcagua and it is covered with clouds.  The wind has picked up to gale force so we duck behind a bus until our bus comes.  On the mountain it is obviously worse.  After 20 minutes the bus arrives, we board and go to Puente del Incas to pick up our bags.  They tell us it will be an hour or two, so I go and buy a few cheap T-shirts.  Then I see a restaurant, actually four.  I check the menus at each one and select the best.  We hadn’t stopped for lunch and the food has been really bad for the last week.  I order salad, Chorizo (steak), French Fries, Eggs and Orange soda.  When the salad comes, it is big enough for a family of four.  I see Nathan walk by, so I run out and tell him to come in and share my lunch.  The steak is huge, the pile of fries…huge, the eggs never did arrive.  Nathan ordered an Orange soda too.  The whole thing came to $10 with tip and Nathan pays it, thanking me for inviting him in.  Like me, I think he really needed a good meal.

 

The private bus takes a long time to get to the hotel and we don’t get in until late.  I take a shower.  Its 11pm and I go out looking for a meal.  The only thing I find open is ice cream, but they don’t take American dollars or credit card and I have used all my pesos.  I head back to the hotel thinking I’ll just eat my leftover bars/gels.  Then I see that the hotel restaurant is open.  I go there and order stuffed hen for about $8.  I see cabernet for $7 and decide I’ll have a nice glass of wine.  That’s the price for the entire bottle - no one drinks just a glass of wine down here.  Dinner is excellent.  I sleep well and by morning my fever is gone.