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Published: December 22nd 2008
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El Misti
View from my hostel So, after an eventful weekend in Huacachina, it was off to Arequipa down the coast where we planned to potter around for a while. We got the overnight bus with some friends from New Zealand called Nick and Hayley who we have actuallytravelled quite a bit with since.
Arequipa is really pretty and sits below a volcano called El Misti. It is also really bloody high sitting at 2,380 metres (7800 feet) above sea level. They say in Peru that you should try and spend a few days in the really high cities to get used to the altitude to try and combat altitude sickness, but I really felt it in Arequipa. I just felt dizzy and had pains in my tummy. Andrea kept getting pins and needles and we all felt rather strange.
Anyway, because we had some time to kill we thought we would try and get into the trekking vibe by doing a 3 day/2 night trek into the Canon del Colca, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. In the pictures it looked really pretty and like a nice stroll, but in reality it was really tough and to be honest, quite dangerous.
The first day we were picked up at the godforsaken hour of 430am and driven to a spot called Cruz del Condor where you can spot, funnily enough, condors. Don´t get me wrong, these birds are impressive and swoop and sound like little planes overhead, but I just don´t get the fascination with birds. I tried and failed to take a decent picture but to be honest, I gave up. I am not a fan of birds and big or small, I couldn´t be arsed to stand there and take a load of pictures of a bird that will look tiny in the pictures anyway. I do have one for your delectation though....so I am not all bad.
After lunch in the village of Cabanaconde, we started our descent into the canyon. The views were amazing, but nothing could have prepared us for the fact that we were actually climbing down a rockface. It was so steep and the path rocky and narrow that four hours of walking down completely killed my knees. Poor Andrea realised have way down that she had a severe fear of heights and couldn´t actually cope with it. Marcello, our guide, helped her but
nothing can prepare you for the shock of realising you are scared of heights when you are scaling a rock face. Yikes.
We stayed the night in a little village called San Juan in the canyon. There was a hot shower, although it was cold when I was in there, and our dorm was basically a barn with beds in. It was a pretty cool place actually,although I wouldn´t want to live there! The next day we walked a shorter distance across the canyon to an oasis which was cool. We basically spent the afternoon chilling by the pool and sunbathing. A false lull of security before the next morning´s ascent.
The thing about going into a canyon, is that you have to CLIMB out of it. Andrea decided to pay 50 soles (about a tenner) to a local to use his donkey which was highly amusing. She had to get out one way or another and decided that she wasn´t going to have another scare so she was going to use the ass as her guide. I probably should have done the same...You see, the problem was that I didn´t get much sleep the night before -
not for want of trying - and we had to getup at 430am to climb out of the canyon. What I didn´t know was that we didn´t get any breakfast! So I basically started my climb on an empty stomach with little sleep. Not a good idea when you have to go up windy mountain roads. About 20 minutes in, the mountains around me started spinning and I felt out of breath and dizzy. Then I threw up. Marcello called out my name and asked if I was ok and I collapsed in a crying snotting heap on the mountain side. I just lay there in the dust and he ran towards me, bless him, and gave me a cuddle. Apparently, I was quite funny. Matt and a girl called Laura were nearby and said I just muttered ´chocolate´- looking a bit like Sloth from the Goonies I imagine - and grabbed a twix out of my day pack while lying on the ground! That, plus a sorochi pill (for altitude sickness) and I was back in business.
But perhaps the funniest thing about my little turn was that as I lay there in my own filth, being comforted
Yellow taxis
Arequipa style by a kind Peruvian, I spotted a pink clad Andrea coming over the horizon on a donkey. It was quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. She was hanging on for dear life being led by a sweet old man who was walking a donkey up the canyon as I lay on the ground. As she passed us all on the way up, the comical image of her pink jumper coming over the horizon saw her dubbed ´Pink Eastwood´- a name she still retains.
After my funny turn and Andrea´s comedy sketch 20 minutes into the ascent, I started my climb again. Marcello took my pack as he was worried about me (so sweet!) and the rest was easy. Well, easier. It is amazing what a bit of chocolate can do. To think that anyone who lives in the canyon has to do that every time they need to get something is utterly nuts. I met a few women carrying babies and heaps of stuff on their backs, it was nuts. There was also a resident canyon pervert who kept trying to grab all the girls as they went past. He grabbed me and
sat me on his knee! Again, Marcello came to the rescue.
Back in Cabanaconde we met up with Pink Eastwood and her donkey, had breakfast and headed to a small village called Chivay where we had a few drinks (Inka Cola - a teeth rotting Peruvian fizzy drink that tastes like Irn Bru) and chilled at some hot springs. We then headed back to Arequipa to catch the night bus to Cusco where we planned to spend a week before heading off to do the Inca Trail.
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Mariana
non-member comment
Brazil
Hey, I want to know about the Brazilian leg of your trip. Did you eat Acai? Did you drink guarana? were you mugged at gun point? ;) xx