Memories of Itza

I've been looking through old photos and came across this one from July 2002 as me and my Mexican friend Mario Andrade tried to reach the peak of Itzachihuatl (5260 m) outside Mexico City. It's a thrilling photo as my body is covered by at least 5 kilos of ice as we went into a snowstorm. We never reached the top as Mario, who was the expert, or 'el alpinista' as he said, considered the wheather to be too bad. But I got up over 5000 m and that was good enough for me. A 'gamberro' I was Mario said; somebody visiting the mountain. The on our way downhill we ran into a cow, 'safely' grazing at 3200 m. Gets you into perspective, doesn't it?

However, I also met a big gray rat on the top of the Gunung Kinabalu (4100 m) on the island of Borneo. It turned out to be the very special Kinabalu rat, only living above 2700 m, feeding on tourists.