Colca Canyon

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Another early start to head to Colca Canyon, some say its the deepest canyon in the world but there is a little contraversy I think! Arequipa is 2400m above sea level, the journey to Colca Canyon took us up to nearly 5000m. Luckily we stopped off on the way to buy some coca leaves and coca sweets to try and avoid the altitude sickness. The coca leaves are disgusting, they have such a minging smell to them, if you felt queasy to start with you wouldnt want to chew any of them! One of the guys on our tour chewed the leaves and swallowed them all which apparently is the wrong thing to do, it can give you serious stomach issues! I made sure i didnt swallow them, with 5 hours on a cosch thats the last thing Id need! The coca sweets were much better! Our tour guide for the journey had a herbal remedy which she gaves us all as well. When we actually got to 5000m everyone just seem to pass out for about 15mins. I felt reallt dizzy and light headed, I wasnt sure if it was because of the altitude sickness or all the remedies to avoid it! I kept drinking water as that is meant to help loads too, plus the brand name was sogay so how could I not drink it?!

The hotel was lovely, it had a real log cabin feel to it! We were staying at about 3800m so by the time we got there I had started to feel much better. We had some lunch, they had done a BBQ buffet. Ann tried Alpaca but I opted for chicken this time round as I was still feeling the effects of the altitude and wanted something I knew i could stomach!

Later in the afternoon there was an optional hike for about 2 hours. I was feeling so much better so we decided to go. It was goping to be a good indication of how well the Inca trail would go too so we couldnt pass that up! It started off fine, a nice flat trail with a slight incline, nothing too strenuous! Oh, how naive I was! I definately underestimated how much more tiring things would be at altitude. We climed from about 3800-4200m and I nearly collapsed! Im not an unfit person but that was so hard. I was last to finish but I didnt care, I made it to the top and thats all I was worried about. If Ann hadnt been there spuring me on I think I would have turned round and gone back! My chest felt so tight and I could hear my heart thumping in my head! I stumbled back into the hotel feeling really good that I managed to get to the top but very apprehensive about the Inca trail.......

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