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Published: September 2nd 2008
Well, I'm so far behind on updating this thing that it’s gotten well past the point of ridiculous. I’m not only home already, but school has started so it’ll probably take me the rest of the year to finish up the blogs on a just the few weeks of travel. I’ve been told it’s expected though (and I suppose it’s good for me as well to have the record) so I plan on doing it..slowly but surely.
Colca July 19-21
My last weekend in Arequipa I finally did the Colca Canyon Trek. This “trek” (I don’t know the definition, but I doubt this really qualifies) was basically the reason I was in Arequipa to start with. People had recommended it to me last year, but I just didn’t have the time to do it, so I look for a volunteer organization nearby and figured I could do it this time around.
My first week at the orphanage I met Helena from Sweden and we decided to do the trek together. We met up one Saturday (when we also bought the finger puppets) to shop around and choose a tour company that we liked. In the end the first one
we went into convinced us that their (much) more expensive, but also more comfortable trip was the way to go. We figured it was worth the extra money to be well taken care of. Whether or not it was we’ll never know, but we were happy with our decision and I suppose that that’s all that matters.
So, I spent all of Friday night packing my bags for the weekend and, also, all the rest of my stuff to move out of my apartment. I left really early in the morning, leaving my keys behind and hauling all my stuff to Helena’s apartment. The tour company picked us both up there and I left what I didn’t need locked in her room.
They were quite late picking us up (big surprise, I know) so we spent over an hour chatting with the father in the house she lives in and just hanging out. After we did get picked up, we roamed around town picking up the rest of the people on the tour. In the end we were 4 people from the U.S. (a couple from SF, me and an older teacher from Florida) Helena and then 4
people from Holland (2 couples who hadn’t met until the trip).
We headed out and up, up, up in a large van. The altitude really horribly affected several people on the trip and once again I was grateful to feel basically no ill effects. Along the way we stopped to see some herds of alpaca and such. We also stopped at a place where there were great views of a river and hills. The best part, though, was some really spectacular and odd rock formations in the foreground of the views and all around us.
We drove for most of the day and between running on no sleep and no food I was so unbelievably car sick I pretty much wanted to die. After lunch I felt a little better, but when we finally stopped late in the afternoon I was so glad to get out of the van. We got dropped off just a bit away from Cruz del Condor, which is the most popular viewpoint to watch for condors. We hiked for about an hour and got to see one condor in addition to the sunset over the other side of the canyon. It was quite
beautiful.
That night we stayed in a very lovely hotel—one nicer than most I’ve stayed in in South America (cuz I’m usually super cheap!) The next morning the shower was the perfect temperature with great pressure and that’s pretty much the best way I can think of to start off a day of hiking. We were close enough to the starting point to leave on foot from the hotel. After about 30 minutes of walking on flat ground, across fields we hit the point were it was time to start going down.
The good news about this trek is that it’s only about 5 kms. and took us only 3 hours from where we started down hill. The bad new is that in the short distance and time you descend over 1,300 meters. It was pretty steep. Most of it was big rocks that functioned much like stairs, but you had to watch your step carefully going down. By the bottom I think everyone was pretty tired with shaking legs and sore knees. I was really excited that I did it without a walking stick and without knee problems. Thinking back to a year ago, it seems almost
impossible that I could do that with basically no pain (or pain pills!)
Now, we had all heard the description of the lodging for the night and when we had pictured camping at the bottom of a canyon, we had images of a pretty bare-bones campground. But as we got closer to the bottom we could see green palm trees and turquoise pools standing out in contrast to the dry brown backdrop of the canyon. When we asked we discovered that our campground had swimming pools, bathrooms (with flush toilets) and even a shower. Neither the bathrooms or shower were in great condition, but we were pretty excited anyway.
When we got there our tents were already set up for us, so we dumped our stuff in them, put on bathing suits and braved the freezing cold water of the pool. As cold as it was it was really refreshing, especially for my feet that were a bit banged up.
The pool was pretty cool; all the water was just running down a channel, into the pool, and then out the other side and along its way. Later we would see where the water was coming from,
and it turns out it came out of the ground, and then ran along quite a distance and through a few other pools before getting to ours. One side of the pool was a gigantic boulder, so after my swim I climbed up there and warmed up in the sun until lunch.
It actually felt a lot like we were in a tropical paradise. It was super warm and we all came to the lunch table in bath suits and towels. After lunch we had a bit to relax and then Alicia, the woman who was in charge of the mules that carried our heavy stuff took us for a little hour long walk/hike to see some of the area at the bottom of the canyon. It was, of course, beautiful and interesting.
When we got back our guide, Olivia was hard at work making our dinner. We all sort of hung out and played cards (well, I didn’t actually play) until it was ready. I really liked the group of people and it was nice to just get a chance to talk to everybody. I was also really glad that I’d decided to go with Helena as
we had a great time and she made me laugh pretty much non-stop the whole time.
The next morning we had to get up around 4:00 and left a bit after 4:30 (I think). with our headlamps firmly in place. Between the altitude and steepness of the path I was pretty nervous about the hike up. Even though people kept insisting that it would be faster than the downhill, I just couldn’t believe it.
They were totally right. I’m not going to say it was fun, but it really wasn’t that bad at all. We made it to the top in 15 minutes less than it took to go down. It was steep and I was out of breath, but since it really only went on for 2 hours and 45 minutes it was over before I knew it. I was in the front with an insane guy from Holland who sang the entire way—who could possibly have that much air left over?!? But we all made it up within about 5-10 minutes of each other.
At the top, we had breakfast before heading back to Cruz del Sur to see more condors, and this time there
were tons of them. They’re quite magnificent to watch glide so effortlessly, and they really are huge—with a wingspan of up to more than 3 meters. When we were leaving town we could see all the school children heading to class. It was crazy to think that we had climbed all the way out of the canyon and eaten breakfast all before the start of the school day!
On the way back we also stopped at some hot springs. By the time we got there the soreness was starting to set in, and while the 1 minute of stairs down to the pools seemed like an impossible task when we did get there the warm water felt really good. They were much like swimming pools, quite clean and didn’t smell at all like sulfur, which was a plus for me.
We made it back to Arequipa Monday evening and I checked in to the hostal I stayed at for my last two nights there. I went out to dinner with friends and new people who had arrived while I was gone. It’s amazing how much can change in 3 days when your social group is really just consists
Me and Helena--almost half way down
Dad, aren´t you proud I´m finally wearing the hat you got me for Italy?of a constant stream of tourists coming and going.
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Anitza
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And she's back!
Woo hoo! I am glad that you are not abandoning your journal. Quick, write it all down before you forget or lose initiative to do so! :D That plant is really pretty, btw!