Danger Baby Giraffe, DANGER!

Llahaur from the cliffs above. See our tent and the hot springs?
see all photos »

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianandkim/collections/72157602557873366/

We made it to Peru unscathed, unrobbed by the taxi driver, and with all of our luggage in tow. Lima is another big city, and we made plans to head directly down to Arequipa to do some trekking in the Colca Canyon.

We hopped onto another night bus, and arrived in Arequipa 13 hours later. The bus drivers in Peru seem to be much more mellow than those in Ecuador. Then again, maybe it is just because we actually fell asleep on the bus. . .

The burro rode me later.
see all photos »

Arequipa is a town of about 1.2 million surrounded by volcanoes, some of which are still active. No signs of activity since we've arrived though.

Allegedly it is easy to do treks in the Colca Canyon without a guide, and being the independent (cheap) travelers that we are, we decided to go it alone. Finding a map of hikes in the canyon, however, proved to be impossible. We stopped at no fewer than six travel agencies, information kiosks, and book stores in search of a map (even the crudely drawn one that most of the tour agencies seemed to display on their desks), and each would send us to yet another place. Nobody was selling a map of the Canyon. In the end, we resorted to distracting the travel agency guide with Brians confused good looks, and snapping a picture of a trail map on the counter. Genuis!

Farming the old-fashioned way.
see all photos »

We loaded our bags with Ramen and Mac&Cheese (thank you!!!!), and hopped on a big bus for the 6 hour ride to Cabanaconde where we would start our trek. We enjoyed some nice dry desert scenery and chatted with a peace corps volunteer who was heading back to his assignment. An hour into the trip, the bus pulled over to the side of the road, not an uncommon happening down here, but we started to wonder when the copilot popped his head into the back of the bus and asked if anyone had a cell phone that they could use. Yes, we were experiencing our first bus breakdown!! Not bad for having been busing around for five weeks! We all piled out of the bus, found our own lavatories in among the desert scrub, and sat down to wait for what we hoped would be prompt salvation, or we would be hiking in a deep canyon, without a map, after dark. The good thing about the wait was that we had food and water with us since we were packed for backpacking, and that we met some people who actually had a map! Two hours later the replacement bus arrived, and we drove at Ecuadorian speeds towards our destination. The Inca terracing that lined the roads was incredible and was still being farmed by hand by the people who lived there!

Sucio our Cabanaconde mutt
see all photos »

Miraculously we arrived in one piece, and were dropped off in an empty town square to try and figure out where the heck we should start walking down. We did meet a nice puppy who we fed some bread scraps to, and named Sucio (dirty in spanish). Our plan was to adopt him and bring him home with us. You´re down for a couple of months of dog sitting, right Katharina?

Luckily we spotted another group who were heading down with a guide, and tagged along behind them to the trail head. We politely declined the local guys solicitation for mules to carry our bags. C´mon, do we look that delicate??

Our morning shower (Oasis pool).
see all photos »

Down, down, down we went for the next three hours led by our trusty new dog Sucio. I only fell about 10 times, and never fell over the edge (thanks for the quick hands Brian! --no problem Baby Giraffe). Dang that canyon was steep & deep!! Colca Canyon is actually twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, and like Ecuador, you´re required to be responsible for your own actions--no silly safety railings or clearly marked paths. (what the heck?!) Because the steep and unknown terrain wasn´t quite enough of a challenge, we ended up finishing the last 30 minutes of the hike in the dark. There´s no electricity down in the Oasis, so it isn´t visible after dark, and there is the occasional trail marker--an arrow spray painted onto a boulder. Real nice-like. We thought that we had arrived after a bit of bush-whacking as the lay of the land wasn´t quite as steep, and there was actually a small stream and some vegetation, but then we were met by a fast-talking Peruvian kid who told us that we were on a private path. Oops! He led us through a donkey docking station to another path, and after a bit more bush whacking and stream crossing, we followed a small flicker of candle light to our camping spot under an avocado tree. Sweet salvation!! We actually remembered how to fire up our stove, and managed to fend off the curious kittens and then promptly passed out.

Broken bus.
see all photos »

After a leisurely breakfast and refreshing dip in the oasis the following morning, we set out to find Llahaur, a lodge with hot springs that our crude map indicated was a short 4 hour hike away. If we thought our hike down the previous day was steep, we really weren´t prepared for the hike UP in the other direction. As we were leaving the oasis, we met 4 different groups who were just finishing the hike from Llahuar. Each of the guides gave us a ¨what the heck are you two doing hiking with those huge packs in the heat of the day?!!¨ look, asked us if we had enough water, and wished us lots of luck. Gulp. This is where I started having doubts. As if the near vertical hike up, the scalding sun, and the heavy pack weren´t enough, the skepticism from the guides was a boon to our spirits. We trudged up and up, and after about three hours of up, we started a slow descent that according to the map would run us smack into the hot springs. After not passing a single soul for a few hours, we saw a local and asked how far to our destination. ¨¨one hour¨¨ Two-plus hours of hard trekking later, we arrived and dove straight into the hot springs. Claudio, the old guy who ran the place even sold warm beer!!!

Man chases ass, Cabanaconde.
see all photos »

Neither of us could really walk the next day, and we figured, why leave hot springs if we don´t have to? So, we stayed another day to swim in the alpine stream, rest our feet, and soak our aching muscles, and defend our tent against the wild chickens and roosters who were hell-bent on scratching and pecking through our stuff all the while making the area around our tent a shit minefield. That rooster was an aggressive beast!! Brian finally managed to shoo them away with some waving of the trekking poles.

We hung out with Claudio in the afternoon and learned about mule grazing habits, the diet of Andean condors--they have a 6-ft wingspan, and eat wild cattle and mules!! One condor will put its beak through the spine of a cow, and then the crew of condors will come and disembowel the poor beast while it stands there paralyzed. ´We´re glad we´re not wild cows. We also learned about desert plants and bugs, and Brian climbed some pacay trees to pick fruit. Good monkey.

Later that afternoon, it was apparent that I wouldn´t be able to walk out of the canyon under my own power since I had walked a good portion of the skin off of both of my heels the day before. With my tail between my legs, I asked Claudio if he had a spare mule for me to ride out. Brian reluctantly agreed to ride a mule as well, and we agreed that the mule train would leave at 5am sharp the next morning.

If there were one ornery mule in this world, we found three.  Of course I cant really blame them since they were forced by whistle, smack, whip, and slingshotted rock all the way up a cannon twice as deep as the grand cannon while carrying some heavy loads on their backs.  I did some Ã¡ss smacking´  but Wilbur the guide crossed the line when he started slinging the rocks.  OK... maybe I couldnt reach the rocks perched so high up on the beast... but I would have only thrown small ones.  Juanita, the mule carrying the bags really didn´t want to walk, and would often take off running and bucking up and down the treacherous slopes. Poor Wilbur had to chase her all over the place! We´re just lucky that our mules didn´t decide to follow suit.

Along the way, we were treated to some Andean condor acrobatics, and near the top of the canyon, farmers plowing their terraces with huge bulls attached to yokes and hand plows.  I´m still amazed that things haven´t changed much here in centuries.  No private vehicles or tractors, and in many places no electricity.  Four long hours on the back of some stubborn sweaty mules, we reached the top of the canyon and waited for our bus back to Arequipa.  Tomorrow, another 9 hours on the bus and we´re in Cusco!