10/27/06 - Colca Canyon

The Colca Canyon trek was PHENOMENAL. It was also tough and trying at times, but definitely well worth it. We walked through a mountain-side Quechuan village, and had dinner by the light of a single candle in a lean-to kitchen on the floor of the deepest canyon I've ever seen. We traversed rickety rope "bridges" suspended high above a rocky riverbed, we swam in natural springs, and we slept under a roof through which we could see the stars. We laughed and we loved and we fought and we struggled. We couldn't stand each other in the heat and sweat and strain of the afternoon sun, yet we instinctively supported each other in the truly difficult moments. An invisible wedge was working its way between us and it ironically drew us together as much as we grew apart in its presence.

You know how people say that one of the true tests of the strength of a relationship is whether you can travel together? Well I think it’s more than that. I think that equally telling is whether a couple can travel with a group, while continuing to nurture their relationship with each other.

The Group Dynamic is one I hadn’t considered before Jax and I set out together, but it’s a big one, and it surprised me. In traveling with people we both got along with really well, Jax and I began spending less time with each other and, after the Colca Canyon trek, we began staying in dorms more frequently, sleeping in separate beds more often. After all, we’re all friends and we’re all on a budget and we’re all going to be up late anyways, so doesn’t it just make more sense to stay in the dorm? Sure. Yeah, it does. But after awhile, it also changes things.

I’m not saying that a couple should be attached at the hip – not in the least. In fact, I think that having time apart is crucial to a healthy relationship. But whether two people are physically together or not, a certain tenderness needs to be reserved especially for each other…which can be easy to forget in the midst of an amazing travel adventure. So things began changing for me and Jax – not in terms of negative or positive things, but simply in terms of the Grand Scheme of things. In the moment, while it was happening, I almost didn’t even notice. Almost.

I don't want all this relationship stuff to detract from the Colca Canyon adventure - it's just part of the deal. Welcome to my brain...you may want to brace yourself for the ride. :)

The next travel email was sent out from Cusco, after Jax and I returned to Arequipa from the Colca Canyon trip. As mentioned before, these emails are posted exactly as they were sent out from the road......

Hello from Cusco!
Date Oct 27, 2006 5:11 PM

Buenas noches!

I hope everyone is preparing fabulous Halloween costumes! As you know, Halloween is one of the most fantabulous holidays in the universe. Today I bought a showgirl-type dress from a Goodwill shop in Cusco- fun fun!
Our trek into Colca Canyon was incredible. I have now survived my first truly SCARY bus ride. Did I mention SCARY? Well it was freakin SCARY. Oh course Jax didnt´t think it was SCARY, but he´s traveled on busses in India. Ha. So we´re on this bus. It´s a big bus. BIG bus. Lots of pèople. LOTS. And we´re going on and on on LITTLE roads. Mostly dirt or gravel roads. Oh yeah, and we´re on the side of a freakin moutain. At one point we passed a sign which, with my mediocre Spanish abilities, I was able to translate as saying something about crossing a huge FAULT. As in earthquakes. Then right after that we go through a big tunnel. Then, while going/rocking around a blind curve on this dirt mountain-side road that is surely about to crumble in an earthquake that will hit at any second, we pass an OIL TANKER. Every now and then we swerve to miss cattle or other obstacles in the road. And the movie of choice on-board said bus, you wonder? A horror film. Wel we survived. Phew.

We arrived in the town of Cabanaconde (3900m?) in the early afternoon and began our trek down into Colca Canyon straight away. Most tourists go into the canyon with a guide, but we spoke with other folks who did it with a guide and got a pretty good idea of where to go. A couple of friends - Claire from South Africa and Steve from Australia - were with us. It took about 3.5 hours to get to the canyon floor, and by that time we were exhausted, hungry, and very very dirty.

We met a woman in traditional Quechuan dress who offered us rooms at her house for the night and we gladly accepted. She led us UP the opposite side of the canyon for about 30 minutes (OUCH) to a beautiful and extremely rustic set of huts. She prepared dinner for us on a wood-burning stove and we ate by candlelight. In the morning, she drew a map in the dirt for us, indicated how best to travel down-river to the oases. The hike to the oasis was just over 3 hours - up, up, up (OUCH OUCH OUCH) the canyon wall, opposite that which we climbed down, then flat, flat, flat (PHEW), then down, down, down (surprisingly - OUCH OUCH OUCH).

On the way, we traveled through two remote mountain-side villiages that actively used land tiering for growing crops. The views were stunning - I´ll send photos soon. In one of the villiages, a little old toothless woman approached us but no one could understand a single word she was saying. Finally we realized she was speaking Quechuan (s/p?), a language which is currently only used by the older folks in rural areas and is rapidly dying out. Just like we did not understand Quechuan, she did not understand Spanish. Fascinating.

The oasis was incredible - truely complete with lush greenery, waterfalls, and swimming pools - right in the middle of this dry, dusty canyon. Yee haw! That night we slept at the oasis in a simple bamboo hut with a dirt floor. There were actually vines growing through the roof above Jax´s head! In the morning we got up early and hauled ass straight up the canyon wall, gaining 1200m elevation in about 3 hours. Whew! We did not ride the mules, but we did send our packs on one.

I was pretty sick that night and the next day - I think a combo of the altitude and some sort of bug - but I´m better now, and I´m very glad for the experience (let me know if you need tips on how to puke on a public bus). We´re in Cusco now - we´ll probably stay here for about a week, then head over to Agua Caliente. I hope everyone is doing well! Will send more updates soon.

Take care,ç
Aubrey

so much to do...

I'm booked on a flight bound for NYC in a few hours, and have yet to even DENT my to-do list, inclusive of laundry, dishes, bills, general organization, self-pedicure, shower, shave, and packing. Yes, shower/shave are absolutely on my to-do list. But at this rate, I'll be luck if I can just get my bag packed! Oh, and I need to stop for gas on my way to the airport. And I should stop at the bank for cash. And I'll definitely need coffee. I could make coffee here...but I left my travel mugs (yes, plural) at the office. Sheesh.

I can't wait to tell you about the Colca Canyon trek, and look forward to posting the story with pics next week, when I get back from New York. Take care, and have a great holiday weekend!

10/22/06 - Arequipa

Jax and I stayed in Lima just long enough to store surf gear at the hostel, enjoy fresh ceviche at our favorite market stall, and spend a night out on the town with Daniella, the Dutch bartender at our hostel, and a few other backpackers. We decided that our next destination would be Arequipa, an historic mountain city in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru, with an elevation of about 2,500 meters, or just over 8,200 feet above sea level. The elevation was crucial in our decision-making process, as we wanted to take our time in gradually ascending the mountains of Peru on our way to Macchu Piccu, with hopes of avoiding altitude sickness. But alas, going from sea level in Lima to more than 8,000 feet in Arequipa was still a bit of a jump, and we both spent a couple of days battling headaches and fatigue. The local coca tea helped a lot with our altitude symptoms though, and before long we were up and running again. Coca tea is made by steeping coca leaves in hot water, then mixing in spoonfuls of sugar and slowly sipping – unlike the processed drug (cocaine), use of the leaves for tea or chewing is very public, and we often enjoyed glasses of coca tea in sidewalk cafés around Arequipa’s beautiful Plaza de Armas.

We stayed at a great little hostel in Arequipa, where we met a few fellow backpackers who became amazing friends and travel companions over the next few weeks. There was even a go-cart race track near the hostel, where we spent more than a few evenings with our new friends, drinking warm beer and chasing each other at break-neck speeds around a tire-lined track – it’s amazing no one ended up with permanent injuries!

From Arequipa, we decided to endeavor a three-day trek into Colca Canyon with two of our new friends – Clare from South Africa and Steve from Australia. Most travelers undertake this trek with a local guide, but Clare had spoken with some folks just returning from the trek and, with a little help from their hand-drawn maps, felt confident that we could do it on our own. Steve, Jax, and I were easily convinced. The trek would involve pretty significant changes in elevation, along with extreme physical exertion over a short three-day period, so we carried coca leaves with us to compensate for our bodies’ expected reactions to the altitude. While we were hiking, the leaves were used by softening them in one cheek, then tucking them behind the bottom lip with a tiny quantity of llipta (a dark, bitter, ash-like plant derivative), which acts as a catalyst for the alkaloids in the leaves. It helped a lot in battling the headaches and fatigue of altitude sickness, especially on the last day, when we ran out of water on our long hike out of the canyon – as it turns out, the leaves help to relieve hunger and thirst as well (go figure)!

The trek was very difficult, but amazing – definitely an unforgettable experience! I’ll tell you more about it in my next post. For now, here’s the next email I sent out from the road, and a little more about Arequipa...


Hello from Arequipa!

Date Oct 22, 2006 1:06 PM

Hello all!

Jax and I are now in the moutain city of Arequipa, at about 2500 meters (I think one meter is equal to 3 feet and 3 inches...at least that´s the conversion I´ve been using!). We´ve been here for a few days now, acclimating for ventures to higher ground. I wasn´t feeling too hot the first day or so, but now my body seems to have gotten used to it. Jax was even quicker to adjust than me. Arequipa is actually the second-largest city in Peru, next to Lima (although when we were in Trujillo they told us the same thing about that city).

This place is very beautiful - from the roof of our hostel you can very clearly see El Miste which is an active volcano, snow-capped and all! True to its name, there is mist soaring around the volcano´s peak. Arequipa seems far more calm (tranquillo) than Lima and Trujillo - the other big cities we´ve been to. The streets are made of cobblestone and most of the buildings are made of stone and brick. The buildings here are less colorful than in Lima, but the stonework has a very different and distinguished charm to it. The streets are relatively narrow and many of the buildings are several stories tall. Walking around town, it´s fun to look up every now and then to realize that you´re surrouded by stone walls!

There is also a famous monastary in Arequipa, which is several square blocks in size and entirely surrounded by MASSIVE stone walls. Apparently inside the monastary is a separate little city, complete with a market, school, security, and everything else that the surrounding city of Arequipa has! We wanted to go in for a tour, but the hours for touring are very restrictive and we seem to miss them every time we´re in town.

Most cities in Peru have a ¨Plaza de Armas,¨ which is the town square. The Plaza de Armas in Arequipa is bordered to the north by a HUGE cathedral with two spires - one at each of the northern corners of the square. The west side of the square is lined with little restaurants and cafes, along the south side is a drug store and other shops, and along the east side are dessert (postres) shops. Delish! :) Unfortunately I have´t taken many photos around Arequipa - up until today, I´ve been feeling pretty low-energy (typical altitude symptom) and I also finally got hit by the dreaded travel bug, wherein one of the primary symptoms is a strong desire to know where the nearest toilet is at all times. Ick. But I´m better now - perhaps will get some photos before we leave town tonight.

Tonight we´re catching a bus up to Cañon del Colca, which is supposed to be deeper than the Grand Canyon and the second deepest canyon in the world, although there is apparently a debate about that. Suffice to say that you wouldn´t want to fall in! We plan to head through the town of Chivay (3700 meters [~12,200 feet]), which is the southern-ost town along the canyon rim, and instead stay (at least the first day or so) in the town of Cabanaconde (3290 meters [~10,800 feet]), a couple hours down the road, in order to ease into the altitude. From there, we can trek down to the canyon floor, where apparently there is an EPIC series of hotsprings and a bungalow-type hostel - fun fun!! :) Perhapos the not -so-fun-fun part will be the trek back up....although I hear there are mules available for folks who get down there and can´t make it back up. I wonder how many people feign incompetance for a free mule ride! Ha ha.

Our plans from here have developed a bit over the last couple3 of days. Whereas originally we were going to head southwest, through Chile, when we get out of the moutains in Peru, it looks like we will now we will head southeast, through Bolivia and Argentina, entering Chile in the very south. We´ve been talking with a lot of other travelers who have spent time in South America and the general consensus seems to be that the Bolivia route is preferable for backpackers (not to mention cheaper)! I´ll send more info as our plans develop.

Before I sign off (there is a line waiting as usual) --- we heard that there was a big earthquake off the shore of Lima recently, although we were in Arequipa at the time and didn´t feel a thing. So don´t worry - we´re fine! Also, just so you know, we won´t have any internet access for the next 3 - 4 days while were on the Calon del Colca adventure. Take care, and I´ll write again when we get back from the canyon!

Hasta luego,
Aubrey