Hola!
So I am back in Arequipa now after a whirlwind trip to Cotahuasi Canyon. The original plan was to leave the night of the 6th, and spend five nights in the canyon, and come home on the 13th. Hence, the day of the 6th was spent running around like chickens with our heads cut off searching for gear, food, and clothing for our six day trek. The guy who rented us gear wanted to keep our passports as collateral- we thought that was a rather terrible idea, and so instead we left him 100USD. He seemed to think this was a novel idea. So we quickly packed and then ran to terrepuerto- the local bus station, only to discover that all the tickets for that night were already sold out. That was the end of plan one.
We ended up leaving the following night at 4:30, and for some silly reason I decided it would be a good idea to drink two glasses of strawberry juice at around 3:00 that afternoon. Naturally, after about an hour on the bus I really had to go to the washroom. However, this is generally frowned upon while on Peruvian buses. Nonetheless, I managed to talk to bus driver into stopping to let me off to find a bathroom. Then I got back to the bus, and the bus was gone!!!! My heart just about stopped. Apparently the bus driver decided three minutes was an exorbitant amount of time, and had decided to leave without me. Luckily, some other passengers were looking out for me and managed to convince him to stop about 100m up. Since then I have learned it is better to dehydrate oneself before all 12 hour bus trips, and so now I don´t drink anything for about five hours before getting on the bus- much safer :) Other than that, the bus ride was quite tame. Oh wait- we had to go through a 6000m pass, which was freezing and gave me a horrible headache. The air is just so strange- you try and breathe deeply but your lungs stop expanding long before you feel you have enough air.
Finally we arrived in Cotahuasi at 4:00 am completely exhausted, only to be told that the bus that goes to the drop-off for trekking leaves at six that same morning. Unable to fathom hiking for eight hours on two hours of sleep, we decided to get a hostel room and crash for a couple of hours and then go to the hot springs, which I have decided are my new favourite thing.
The next morning we got up at five and began our hiking adventure. Trying to find any information on how long it was between villages was quite an adventure. The locals would all say you could trek to the furthest village in about a day, and then you would talk to a guide who would tell you it takes about seven hours to get to the first village! All in all we were quite confused, and mildly apprehensive. However, we set out with high hopes.
Day 1: Hiked to Sipia in about 2 hours- which was a 150m waterfall- really beautiful with very nice rock plateaus to sit above the drop off. Emily and Kurt (A traveller from Iowa we picked up in Arequipa) just about had a heart attack watching me climb to the edge :) From there it was a three hour completely uphill trek to Chaupo, and then a two hour trek to Mayo. I very nearly died! I have decided I don´t ever want to gain 40 pounds- it just makes life so much more difficult. I was out of breath after like 12 steps upwards. The altitude probably didn´t help either. We finally arrived in Mayo and I pretty much collapsed- the backpack bruised my collarbones and my hips!! Ridiculous.
Day 2: Woke up and trekked to Quechualla, which was very cool! It is the main village in the canyon- max 50 people! Their agricultural systems are absolutely stunning though. They manage to construct these plateaus that are on a small angle. Then at the top of the plateau they somehow manage to dam the river. When they want to water their fields, they open the gate, and the water, very slowly and perfectly, flows evenly between each row of alfalfa, or potatoes or whatever they were growing. We were all very impressed by this. I don´t know how they manage to grow anything at all- it is just soooo dry!!! We were drinking at least six litres of water a day, and we were still dehydrated at the end of it. But they manage to grow grapes, and oranges, and papaya, and other things! We tried their homemade wine- nastiest thing ever but Kurt enjoyed it.
Day 3: Hiked to Ushua, the deepest point in the canyon. Emily got a cactus/burr thing stuck in her foot. It was vicious. And touching it just led to being stabbed. Kurt just about died laughing watching the two of us try and remove the damn thing.
Day 4: Hiked back to Mayo, swam in the hot springs- these ones were more lukewarm springs, and all that kept going through my mind was the large quatities of bacteria I was sitting in. yuck! The stars that night were amazing. There is no light, and so you can see pretty much everything. The milky way is bigger in the southern hemisphere! I thought this was exciting. And you can still see Orion´s belt :) Other than that, Emily and I resorted to creating our own constallations. We found running man, upside-down eiffel tower, ninja star, and cheshire cat :D
Day 5: Trekked all the way back!
I don´t think I have ever had such chapped lips in my life! They actually have scabs, and are constantly in pain. It was an amazing trip and the locals were all so accomodating and helpful! One day we met this traveller named Rick. He was an American who went through what sounded like an ugly divorce, and decided to trek around the world. He must be about 70 but he looks about 50. He was hilarious! He is convinced that coca leaves (you chew them, and they are supposed to help fight altitude sickness and aid digestion) are the solution to all life´s ailments, and consequently all the pharmaceutical companies in the states have banned them because it would ruin their business. He is also convinced that both the avian flu and the swine flu were engineered by scientists to make the flu vaccine seem necessary. Through this vaccine, the US was going to carry out a mass genocide - to what end, I am still unsure. What a character! He recently bought a burro (a donkey is the same I think), which was quite cute. I must say, by the end of the hike I was quite envious.
We finally arrived back in Cotahuasi city where we met a couple of Germans, a guy from New Zealand, and some other travellers from the US. That night was the beginning of the festival of Senor Chaycalla, and so everyone in Cotahuasi was out in full force. We discovered that there are actually nearly 500 people in town! So many! The festival was a lot of fun. One of the prize foods is french fries, covered in chow mein, slathered with mayo, and then sprinkled with hot dog bits. It made my stomach turn just looking at it! They also had fireworks that just about took out a couple of people! They didn´t aim them high enough and so sparks kept hitting people. It was actually really funny :) They also had this really crazy 15 foot high, bamboo man constructed with a whole bunch of fireworks attached. At the end of the night they lit it on fire and the entire thing burned to the ground. It was really cool, but I was midly terrified because the power lines were perhaps ten feet in front of this large firework man (shake head).
Note to Laura- you thought our ladder placements were sketchy this summer- nothing compared to those in Cotahuasi!! They had three 15 feet wooden ladders, that they then tied together with some rope to make a rather tall extended ladder. They then placed this on a rocky bank against a telephone pole at perhaps a 60º angle from the floor. Three people then had to stand on the bottom while one climbed up to fiddle with the power lines. The thing was swaying and creaking- I was just waiting for someone to die, but luckily all was well :) So funny!
Tonight we head to Cusco. From here on out, it is pretty much just travelling for the purpose of getting to Potosi where the real work shall begin :) Cusco is rather high though, so we might have to stay a couple of nights to acclimatize. We shall see. Plus, I really want to see Macchu Picchu!!
Miss you all,
T