Up and down again

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Well, it has been little while since my last blog, mainly because I had hoped spending a month of working at an animal refuge would give me plenty of time for such things. I was wrong, but more on that later. We´ve also had a few issues with cameras, with mine gone in my first few days in Peru and Shauns broken a few weeks after. Just heard that Shauns replacement was stolen as well. However I did managed to save most of our photos before things went astray, and have augmented these with pics from fellow travellers cameras. So you can still expect the pretty pics and witty captions!

Back to the story. After all the dilly dallying we´d had in Cusco we decided to increase the tempo again when we reached the picturesque city of Arequipa. On arriving in the city early in the morn´ we went straight to the travel agents and booked a 3 day trip to the Colca Canyon followed immediately by a 2 day ascent of the tallest of the three mountains forming Arequipa’s backdrop, Chachani.
Colca Canyon

The $20US 3 day tour started off with a rather dull bus ride (even the ancient ruins around every corner were starting to get tedious). On arrival I got off the bus and noticed two large birds over the villages´ main square, looking remarkably like the condors we were getting up at some foolish time in the morning on the last day to see. They were gone before I could point them out to any other gringos, but found out from the guide later they were indeed condors. I was not quite sure how I should feel about this.

After a very lackluster lunch things got better with the first spectacular view of the Canyon itself. It has recently been demoted to the 2nd highest Canyon in the world, its successor another canyon only a few kms away, but not nearly so impressive (barren and much wider). The winding trail down was pleasant if a little repetitive, and the mud springs at the bottom were great to see up close (none of the barriers or precautions of Rotorua). The river gave life to the canyon floor, with many beautiful vistas to be enjoy on journey to the village we were spending the night in.

As the Canyon doesn´t (yet) have electricity or roads we weren´t expecting much from the tiny village, and we didn´t get it. The nearby hot pools were inviting however, and the hut I was in managed to keep its walls and roof through the night, unlike some of the others. Apparently wind isn´t common, so they don´t bother constructing the huts to stand up to it. The trout we had for dinner was tasty enough, and I managed to get attacked by a dove in the lead up, though as only a couple of travelers saw this I had difficulty convincing the others (particular Shaun) this was a true story. No idea why they wouldn´t trust me.

Three of our 9 person party was down with food poisoning the next day, luckily my Indian trained stomach had no issues. Everyone managed to climb up around 500m up the other side of the canyon for another photo opportunity and back down to the next nights accommodation, though not without a few pit stops. Or cliff stops.

Our second and last night was spent at ´the oasis´, a very attractive and lush wedge of land next to the river, complete with impressive swimming pools. Huts were still ´rustic´ however, with a great view of the stars overhead from my bed.

The last day was probably my best day in Peru to date, surprising when it started with a wake up call at 1:30am. The 800m climb that followed had limited views of the canyon but great ones of the stars. I was more set on my training for the upcoming summit attempt by trying to match the guides’ best time to the top, one and a half hours, then observing the wonders of the universe (that would come latter). With ego and pride to spur me on I reached the top before dawn, right on time. Elated, and pumped with endorphins, I sat down to wait for the others only to see and HEAR a meteor shoot down and loudly explode in the sky nearby. No doubt my reward for getting to the top first, as I gladly told the others.

The day continued in this vein at the condor viewing platform. A condor hadn´t been seen there for three days and we were losing hope of seeing one ourselves when suddenly one circled into view. And kept circling closer, and closer, until eventually I had a condor right at my eye level flying directly for me, only veering off a few meters from my head. Three more similar passes, and plenty of pictures, later and it was off again. The rest of the day wasn´t quite so fortuitous, but did include a nice long swim in some hot pools before returning to Arequipa.



Chachani

At 6075m Chachani was certain to be the highest, and hardest climb I´d ever done. Waking early we took a four wheel drive with our guide and two other travelers up to the end of the old road, around 5000m. From there it was a short, but ominously arduous, walk to the base camp at 5200m. Here we set up in the freezing conditions for the night. Sleeping in the afternoon proved difficult, as every time you were about to drop off your body screamed ¨Suffication!¨ and jerked you awake. Coca tee, a good meal and altitude pills helped somewhat.

Another absurdly early start (1am), this time in truly freezing conditions, and the ascent proper began. Donning every layer of warm clothing I had (a fair collection) together with the outer gear provided we started plodding up the trail.

The first few hundred meters and long traverse that followed weren´t so bad, but near the end of the traverse I began to feel quite nauseous and light headed. I took another altitude pill but still got steadily worse, to the point were more then 5 steps in a row seemed like a marathon and I was seriously considering giving up. I turns out Shaun was having similar thoughts, but we were both to proud to admit this to each other, so continued.

The second to last climb has hell, but after that something must have kicked in because I started feeling much better. This made the final ascent a relative breeze, although as you can see by the photos only the word relative makes a great deal of difference. After convincing Shaun, who looked half dead, that the top wasn´t the best place to rest, we began the descent. This was more difficult than I would have expected but at least manageable, so eventually we reached base camp again. In the end not only did we complete the journey which only half the attempts are successful, but shave an hour of the ´average´ time. Another great ego boost.


Arequipa

That mad rush out the way we decided a few days to recover were in order, so booked ourselves in for 4 days of Spanish lessons. While these helped a great deal with my understanding of sentence construction, both in Spanish and in general, at the time of writing it hasn´t added much to my conversational ability. Still a pleasant few days in which both Shaun and I had our birthdays and enjoyed the food and liquid refreshment available in the white city. We almost manage to squeeze in a tour of the 16th century gigantic monastery, and the Inca mummy of a child sacrifice.


Bolivia Begins

After a quick peak at the floating reed islands, and the pretty Isla Tequila, in Lake Titicaca, it was off to Bolivia. First stop La Paz, the countries biggest city, and somewhat disputed seat of government. The trip in was quite spectacular, as the city is effectively in a large whole scooped out of the dry earth, with great mountains in the background.


Pampas Tour

After a few days exploring the surprisingly modern city (with shotgun and automatic weapon armed guards everywhere) we booked in to see the jungle, Bolivian style. The flights to the set out point, Rurrenabaque, involved a 16 seater plane, a grass landing strip and, accordingly, many postponements. However it bypasses the 19 hour bus which sounds more dangerous by far than the plane.

The gods were with us, for our flight went on time, and managed to miss (somewhat narrowly in my mind) the surrounding cloud covered mountains and hit the muddy landing strip. Back to tropical heat and mosquitoes.

The three day Pampas (tropical savanna) tour certainly delivered animals, although the grouping together of all the agencies tour groups and hands on approach to animals did detract from the experience somewhat. However we did manage to see plenty of cayman, a fair few monkeys, hoards of fire flies, an anaconda, and best of all, heaps (a great 'New Zealish' word) of river dolphins. We did plenty of boating up and down the river (the only way to get to our lodges), walked through the Pampas, played soccer with the locals, fished for and ate piranha and swam with the dolphins. The last was a little daunting, given the amount of cayman and other unfriendly creatures we knew were lurking in the murky depths. We escaped unscathed however, although didn´t managed to get within reaching distance of a dolphin, perhaps a good thing as they like to ´play´ with you by coming up underneath and biting your foot. No such a fun game with all those other critters about.


Back to La Paz

The day after the tour we were safely back at 3600m in La Paz, enjoying the airport's Burger King. The next couple of days were spent with our collected traveling companions seeing the a few of the sites, including the ´bad lands´, the cities art house and the infamous Death Road. The road got its name when it was the only route down to the lowlands on that side of La Paz, and still retains it for tourism purposes even though the motorized traffic goes down a new road now. The mountain bike down it was still breathtaking however, as much for the views as the adrenaline.

One final party at our hostel (70´s theme) and La Paz was officially done. After evading a parade that tried to prevent us leaving the city, it was off to Cochabamba and then to the animal refuge in Villa Tunari.


In the next episode…

You´ll hear of monkey madness, the night the Cochi Cochi came, the taming of the Puma and other tales from the deep dark jungle

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Photos

Oasis - Colca Canyon
A great little oasis by the side of a river in the bottom of the dry, barren canyon.

Close up with a Condor
No zoom necessary

Base Camp
5200m up Chachani, where we got the little sleep we could manage.

Happy Faces
Me half way up, and Shaun at the summit.

Tenuous Ground
We´re standing on an Island made of reeds on one of the highest lakes in the world. People have been living like this for centuries, but now is more for the tourist dollar than the threat of aggressive neighbours.

Landin´ Strip
The ´ is to emphasis the abreviated nature of said strip.

Darwin who?
These guys couldn´t fly fast or far, and had issues landing (sometimes breaking or missing the intended branch), but somehow escaped the law of their surroundings and seem to thrive in every jungle we´ve been to.

Hands On
The semi-tame alligator who at our huts with Shaun demonstrating how the tour is a little to hand on.

Death Road
Before the plunge.

Comments

[Steve Undies]

Fantastic
Great account of your travels Daggers, keep up the dialog. Im as jealous as hell!!!