I am back home from my AMAZING adventure to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. I have been back in Lima since Monday morning but have been waiting to update so that I could share pictures. Now that I finally have them uploaded I can tell you all about it :D
So my friends Colleen, Kelly and Leia (all girls from Madison) left immediately after class on Wednesday and boarded a bus headed to Arequipa, which is the second largest city in Peru. The tickets were bought a day in advance, we had absolutely no plans, no reservations, only four adventurous young women equipped with a guide book and many hours of bus time to dream up ways to fill the coming four days. So we did just that! We read all about Arequipa in our Lonely Planet book and decided the coolest thing we wanted to see there was the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is the second deepest in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon--take that USA!) The actual deepest canyon in the world is the Cotahuasi Canyon and is a few hours away from the Colca Canyon. It is only about 150 feet deeper, and since it is much harder to get to and much more dangerous and time consuming to travel, we decided to stick to the Colca and just say that it's the deepest. (It does sound cooler to say you hiked to the bottom of the deepest canyon in the world than the second deepest, doesn't it?) Much to our dismay, we realized on the bus to Arequipa that it takes another 6 hour bus ride from there to get to the Colca. This meant we would spend a total of 44 hours on a bus in one weekend. However, it was important enough for us (and this is exactly why we made our schedules with no classes on Thursdays and Fridays) so we decided to go for it!
We arrived in Arequipa and took action. We bought our tickets home first, then took the combi into the city, found a tourist agency, asked a few questions about routes (because we decided we would like to do the trek unguided :D), then took another bus, bought tickets to Cabanaconde (the small city at the top of the Colca Canyon) then took a taxi, found a hostel, and finally got a second to walk around Arequipa for a bit. It was a beautiful place, kind of like Lima but cleaner, and with mountains all around. Also, it is sunny there. And very very dry. All of the buildings in the center of the city are white, so it is sometimes referred to as the "ciudad blanca" We wandered the streets for a bit, and down one avenue we got a whiff of the most enchanting scent of fresh baked bread. Naturally, being the ever hungry travelers we are, we immediately turned into a little alley and encountered the cutest panadería ever! I cannot even begin to try to describe the pan de mantequilla I ate there. It was bliss. We sat there for awhile, then called it an early night as we had to head out at 5:30 the next morning.
Six hours through the mountains later we found ourselves in Cabanaconde. We each bought a 2.5 liter bottle of water, ate a small lunch at a little restaurant, procured the shittiest "map" ever, and head out for our big hike down to the bottom of the deepest canyon in the world! The first 45 minutes were not reassuring. We pretty much had no idea where we were going, there were no signs anywhere, we saw a few trails but didn't know which one was correct, and most of the locals weren't of much help either. Somehow we chose what we thought was the right trail, and by some amazing stroke of luck it ended up being correct. By this point we were in a race against the sun, as the hike is supposed to take 3-4 hours and it was about 3:00 pm. We didn't know when the sun set there, but it gets dark around 6 in Lima so we were worried. (And of course, not one of us intelligent young women thought to bring a flashlight). So out of pure necessity we hauled our little asses all the way down the mountain with no real problems. We got to the bridge over the Colca River at the bottom of the canyon just as the sun was threatening to disappear, and there a miracle occurred!
A lady at the tourist agency had suggested we stay with a woman named Gloria at the bottom of the canyon. That was the only information we had to find our hostel. Somehow this mysterious Gloria character just happened to be on the bridge at the same time as us, and when we realized who she was she very graciously showed us through the town and to her humble abode. I am absolutely positive that without her help we would have gotten very lost and ended up crying in the middle of the woods, eating the last of our crackers, huddling together for warmth and clinging to each other for dear life the whole night through. Although the beds at Gloria's were some of most uncomfortable I've ever felt (but what can you expect when you pay less than $2 US to sleep on one) and I spent most of the night sitting up having trouble breathing, it was certainly better than the alternative. Plus she made us a beautiful, delicious warm meal when we arrived and made us banana pancakes in the morning. She was our guardian angel and the trip would not have been the same without her.
The next day we headed back out on trail around 8:30. It was supposed to be an easy three hour hike to the "Oasis", which is a series of pools fed by the natural springs for hikers to relax by before beginning the four hour trek back up the mountain. I don't know if we were just out of shape, exhausted from the day before, not acclimated to the altitude, or (most likely) a combination of all of the above, but it was NOT easy to get to the oasis. I just don't understand why trails insist on going up just to go back down. We hiked a fair amount back up into the mountains before descending back down into the valley to head back up to Cabanaconde. It was very rough and we had to stop a lot, which is one of many reasons it was great not to have a guide. Once we reached the top of a particularly difficult climb we encountered a mother and her two children. They had a couple benches set up underneath a straw roof. We gladly accepted the shade and bought some water and fruit from their stand. We spent about 15 minutes chatting and playing with the kids, and it was exactly what I needed. Speaking Spanish with locals and laughing with little ones revitalized me enough to keep moving. Right before we headed back on trail Kelly took out her sunscreen for everyone to reapply. As we were using it the woman timidly asked if she could have some for her daughter. Most of the children there have very chapped cheeks that appear scabbed due to the extremely dry climate and harsh sun and wind. Kelly told the mother she could of course use some sunscreen, and upon seeing how grateful the woman was Kelly told them they could just keep the whole bottle. It was a very sweet gesture and we were all touched by Kelly's generosity. As the lady put sunscreen on Brenna, the little two year old Andreas asked for some. So I helped him with the sunscreen on his face and then he put out his dry, chapped hand and said "¿Y mi manito?" (And my little hand?) and I just about died. It was very sad and sweet, and I'm happy we could help them in some small way. The short encounter was one of the highlights of my whole trip.
After that we set back out on the trail for a couple more hours. Shortly into day two Kelly and I had decided that we would splurge the $13 US to ride a mule back up to Cabanaconde, and later in the day Leia twisted her ankle and decided she'd join us. Colleen, for some crazy reason, had her heart dead set on doing the hike, so she chose to do it all by herself. I still have no idea how she did it, but she made it up in a little over three hours. I kid you not, it would have taken me DAYS! The mule ride was scary but very fun and I think it's pretty cool to be able to say that I rode a mule through the Andes, no?
We arrived at the top of the canyon at dusk, slept in another cheap hostel, and spent 22 hours on the bus home to Lima the next day. It was one of the best weekends of my life, and I must say hiking to the bottom of the deepest canyon on earth is pretty high on the list of the coolest things I have been blessed enough to have the opportunity to do in my short 20 years.
P.s. The title is a snippet of our conversation with a guide we met at Gloria's hostel. He was the guide for a German couple that was also staying there, and we asked if many people did the hike alone. He replied that few do, and most get lost or hurt. We felt pretty badass! :D
P.p.s. Most of you already know where to see all my pictures. But for those of you who haven't sold your soul to Facebook, you too can see the whole experience in picture form if you so chose! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018347&id=1605360106&l=5ac6b620e9
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