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Published: July 22nd 2008
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Barren landscape
Pretty amazing, but depressing at the same time. Blogger Bec This morning we drove from Arequipa to the amazing Colca Canyon - a beautiful drive spoiled a little by our REAL dose of altitude sickness. About 15 minutes into our 6 hour journey, we stopped at a shop to buy some coca leaves - a natural remedy to alievate the symptoms of altitude sickness. They taste horrible (like a wheatgrass shot only stronger and without the OJ chaser!) and you have to bundle them up with a piece of soft ash in order to digest the juices properly. The leaves kickstart your saliva glands, making your mouth water. They also make your gums, tongue and cheeks numb which didn´t sit well with me - I felt like I couldn´t breathe! Still, I dutifully chewed away as the thought of getting really sick petrified me. The image of my brain bursting under the pressure kept flashing before my eyes (drama queen...)
Anyway, the first 3 hours of the trip were fine and I was beginning to think this whole altitude thing was a crock created by a pharmacuetical company to sell their drugs (which everyone but us had bought). BUT NO!
As we crested the
Vicuña
A much rarer species of Llama. biggest of the big mountains on the way to the canyon, we lost the first of our group to the dreaded sickness - she fainted while sitting up! One minute we were all happily reading, talking, listening to our ipods then all of a sudden everything goes deathly quiet as we all feel simultaneously dreadful. A couple of us start feeling nauseous, one faints, everyone gets a headache and the mini van is deadly silent. The 4, 800m of altitude tends to do that to a person...
Everyone whipped out the coca leaves again and started madly chewing. The horrid taste was forgotten in our desire to just stop feeling so disgustingly awful!!
Luckily, we started to decend a bit and most of the hard core symptoms went away. Everyone but one (who had a fever and probably the flu) recovered enough by the end of the journey to go on a short hike to a local hot springs. Along with about 30 other gringos, we all stripped down to our bathers (in about 10 degree temps!) and slipped into the delightfully hot water. With pool side service of Pisco sours, we were like pigs in poo for
Alpaca grazing
Large herds could be seen grazing in the fields. about an hour. When it got dark, we grabbed our van back to town to catch dinner and a show of Peruvian dancing. I got up close and personal with the male dancer as he picked me up from the concrete floor where I had fainted on my way to the outdoor loo - guess that altitude sickness is real... That shook me up quite a bit so I couldn´t really concentrate on he dancing but I do remember our guide getting the royal treatment by the female dancer!!
The next morning we had an early start to see the condors, but it was light enough to appreciate the spectacular surroundings our hotel was built in. Nestled right up against towering cliffs, the hotel was totally solar powered and decked in earthy colours to blend in with the local environment. The setting was obviously appreciated by locals also as there was a movie crew on location there!
Til next time!
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Riles
non-member comment
Coca
I thought the best way to it is to snort it up your nose?