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Published: August 30th 2007
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Yes that´s right, I officially made it from one to the other in 8 or 9 days..which isnt so good I know, but yeah it was great!
We arrived in Arequipa, the largest city in the south of Peru yesterday. Arequipa is known as the white city since it is...yep white! Apparently most of the old town is built from volcanic rock which sounds pretty cool until you find out that there are scores of volcanos around. One valley nearby has 87 volcanos (according to a guide. guide man not guide book). Whatever the exact number, I saw loads of volcanoes around so the above might actually be true.
I just walked around the old town a bit yesterday, and fixed up a tour to go and see the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. Molly and Liam did their own thing, finding a supermarket and chilling.
The one day tour to Colca Canyon is for idiots like me who didnt plan in advance and dont have time for the normal two day tour. We booked a bus leaving Arequipa for Cusco tonight, so I had to do the tour in the day today. This actually
meant I had to leave at 2AM. Molly and Liam weren´t up to doing it since it was too early, and they wanted to do something in the city so I set off by myself at 2AM.
A minibus picked us up, and squashed up in it I went to sleep until I woke up feeling distinctly uncomfortable. I wasn´t to know it then but we had risen to the highest point on the way to the canyon, a tad below 5000 metres above sea level. Arequipa is about 2200 metres high, so we effectively climbed 3000 metres in a couple of hours. And apparently they way to "acclimatise" to high areas is to do 1000 metres a day!!
Later on in the day I had a few other problems too, but its hard to explain exactly what they were..basically I just didnt feel to good. However since I´m off to Cusco, Lake Titicaca and Bolivia soon, its probably a good thing that I spent some time at a high altitude since I will be a bit further along the way to full acclimitisation, if thats a word.
Anyway so we stopped for breakfast at Chivay the
town at the start of the canyon at about 530AM. I also stupidly did not take enough warm clothing so ended up freezing until the sun came out fully around 8.
The sights along the way, and the canyon itself (which we reached around 10) though were spectacular and more than made up for all my grumblings. The canyon was massive, and no amount of pictures I took could do it justice. The river was slight since it isnt rainy season at the moment, but the sheer size of it, and the ring of snow capped "guardian" volcanoes around made for an amazing sight.
All around are steps (i cant remember the proper word) built for agriculture by ancient civilisations, in the midst of steep rock faces and hordes of dangerous looking cacti.
And then the condors came out, massive birds which just glided around, seemingly enjoying the attention the many tourists were giving them with an armoury of cameras. The remarkable thing about these birds was that they never actually flap their wings, they just glide. I was there for 2 hours and must have seen about 5 wing flaps that´s it.
It did strike
Misty volcano over Chivay
Since we got to Chivay so early, and the town is in a valley, it was still dark. The sun was just rising so the only structures that were illuminated were the volcanoes and that made for a spectacular view. me however that everyone there was so obsessed with taking pictures of each other with the condor in the background (impossible), taking pictures of the condors and filming them, that they forgot to enjoy the sight for themselves and screw the pictures. I spent most of my time just sitting and watching, and had a bloody good time!
We saw several llamas and alpacas (similar looking) and also saw a vicuña, a relative of the llama on the way back. Apparently in mating season when male vicuñas are fighting, they bite each others balls off. Excuse the crudeness, but that was exactly how the guide explained it to me.
I´m quite exhausted now having slept for only a few hours last night and then being stuck in a van for 10 hours. We catch a bus to Cusco in a few hours, where I´m meeting another friend Charlie. Should be in Cusco for a couple of days and then off to Bolivia - really really looking forward to Uyuni: a sea of salt, volcanoes, flamingos, and brilliant coloured lagoons. And the most dangerous bike ride in the world.
Heh heh heh
In other news:
-On
Local ladies
Local women already waiting for the first set of sleepy tourists to sell their wares to. I had a look but was way too expensive. our way back in the tour bus we saw another bus of about 25 men stop, and all of them went to take a piss at the same time. I was too slow with the camera, but its true
-I have forgotten what day and date it is, which means I´m really on holiday!
-I´ve decided to go to the Salar de Uyuni, the world´s largest salt flat and weirdest landscape where you lose all perspective. Apparently temperatures drop to below -20 degrees C at night, so leaving the sleeping bag at home is beginning to look VERY STUPID
-My skin´s gone all horrible, guess the sunburn in Venezuela didnt help. It´s all peeling off, and moisturiser doesnt help, so I´ve just given up
-Sandboarding sadly didnt happen, but Liam and me are planning to go surfing after the Galapagos
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