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Published: September 8th 2009
Buenos Dias!
We've literally just got back from our 3 day trek! We thought we should fill you in on whats been happening!
On Thursday night we got a coach out of Lima which would take us to Arequipa overnight. We set off at 6pm and arrived in Arequipa at around 10am. The coach trip was fine. They served us dinner and breakfast and we got to watch some movies. I think Laura put a request in because none other than The Little Mermaid was put on in the morning! There was only a little leg room for old lanky here but the seats reclined quite far back so we could get some sleep in. Some poor little Peruvian kid got really travel sick and I'm slightly surprised that we didn't!
We got a taxi out to our hotel in Arequipa called the Casa de Avila which has well and truly put the Stop and Drop Inn to shame! It's a really nice little hotel with a central area for sunbathing and beating Laura at table football. There are Spanish lessons going on all the time and there is a tortoise wandering around somewhere but I haven't seen it yet! We went into the centre of Arequipa in the afternoon and I bought myself some sunglasses and a cool wide brimmed Peruvian hat. These were two of my best buys for the trek since the sun is soooo bright and there is not a cloud in the sky. It is sunny 360 days of the year according to the guide book! We had some food overlooking the main plaza and came back to the hotel to read our books in the sun. We went back out into the town centre in the evening for a really nice Mexican meal for only about $5 each. We got an early nights rest because we needed to be up at 3am to set off for our trek the next morning!
Day 1 - The coach came to pick us up at 330am and we were intoduced to our guide for the trek - Ruth. We slept on and off for the next 3 hours before arriving at a small lodge for some breakfast of bread, jam and coca tea. We then travelled to the Cruz del Condor for 9am. The morning thermals in the canyon cause the largest flying bird to come out and swoop above us to look for food. It is really rare and only happens between 9-10am and we were lucky enough to see about 6 condors! They are absolutely huge - about 4 foot high. I also managed to get a movie of a couple of condors flying together. I know Gran will be jealous!
We then got back in the coach to travel to a small town called Cabanaconde where we had lunch and finally introduced to the 4 other people who were on the same trek as us. The coach was filled with a group doing the one day Cruz del Condor, a group doing the same trek as us but over two days and then our group who spread the trek over three days. Our group consisted of two Israelies and two Dutch but we all spoke English. We had a lunch of soup followd by rice and beans which was nice.
We then travelled all the way down from Cabanaconde to a small camping/hostel place called Roy. We stayed in this little shack at the bottom of the canyon which was really idyllic. The six of us also ate by candlelight a meal cooked by Ruth from a stone oven. It was really great and we got to bed really early because the sun sets at 6pm here so by 8pm it feels really late! We were all tucked up in bed looking up at the southern sky ready for the second day!
Day 2 - We set off from the site at 8am after a breakfast of pancakes. Ruth came into her element on this part of the trek pointing out really interesting plants and trees - including a white pepper tree! The effect of the altitude is bizarre! We felt like we'd been running for 5 miles even when we'd only walked for about 5 minutes. It not so much our legs which were tired but how much energy it took to take just one breath! We walked for about an hour before stopping off to watch a football match between two 'local' teams. This is mental for two reasons. Firstly, it would have taken each team about 2 hours to get to the pitch before playing and secondly, it was so hot and the altitude tired us out to such an extent that the thought of playing football in such conditions was ridiculous!
We passed through a few small villages which Ruth explained what the name meant, how many families lived there (ranging from 3 to 15) and if they had a school or not (one school only had 3 pupils!). The aim for this day was to go to the bottom of the canyon where there was a series of lodges called Sanguelle which was coined the Oasis! We arrived absolutely shattered but the lodges and the natural spring swimming pool was a very pleasing sight and we were soon bathing in the pool and drying off in the midday sun. We spent the rest of the day here and Ruth cooked us a two course lunch and dinner! We weren't use to eating so much at home so we really struggled to eat all of it! The six of us slept in a really nice bamboo hut with bamboo beds. Nice but basic! The Milky Way was clearly visible and the night sky was just awesome. It got quite cold by the middle of the night and I woke to hear two dogs fighting near to the hut!
Day 3 - Unfortunately we had come all the way to the bottom of the canyon (about 2000m) so we needed to go back to the top! We'd all secretly been dreading this day but we also couldn't believe some people were able to do it in two days! Myself and the Dutch guy both suffered with spraypainting the walls in the morning so neither of us were really up for the challenge ahead! After sinking a couple of immodiums (cheers Mum) and forcing down some scrambled eggs we began climbing at 5:45am to avoid the heat. The climb was exausting but not as bad as we all anticipated and we managed to climb up to Cobanaconde by 10am which was 3300m up! We then got a coach to the hot natural spring baths which were about 39 degrees. They really brought out our sunburn (especially Laura who's back is as red as a tomato) but I think all of our muscles needed it!
After that we went for lunch in a nice little town called Chivay and wandered through the markets getting some fruit. We got back on the minibus and travelled back to Arequipa stopping off at some great vantage points (including our highest point of the holiday at 4910m high! You could hardly breath and Laura nearly passed out! *Christine begins to panic!!!) and saw some really interesting, and rare, wildlife. We got back to the hotel at about 5:30pm and we're about to go out for some food in Arequipa!
Ciao!
Tink and Laura
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Dom
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Now then, hope all is well! Just settling down for another day at work as you're sunning yourself in Peru, Mum and Dad are getting windswept in Whitby and I'm home alone worrying where my debit card has got to! Jon might have glandular fever but we're praying he doesn't as we're playing with Bury Tomorrow next Monday in Sheffield - if we bring 25 people and put on a good show then we're main support for Forever Never in Sheffield in October. Been confirmed to enter the studio in November for a February release and I made the greatest steak and chips ever! See you soon guys x