La Noche del Diablo

Just when we thought the day was getting better...

In Chivay, we found a cavernous restaurant called Casablanca, ambled in, and sat down at a large picnic table. A cute young waitress came out, and was immediatlely friendly. She brought us a pitcher of wine, which was well needed after the events of the day. Soon, we were bouncing to the 80´s mix on the radio, eating trucha frita (fried trout), and playing a lovely game of jiggle face next to a cozy fire. Susanna, the nice waitress, listened to our story of our rough bus ride, and was amused to serve us. The busy season is winding down, and the flocks of tourists coming into her restaurant yelling "Pisco Sour!!" had greatly decreased. She enjoyed talking to us, and soon offered to find us a hostel. We were relieved, feeling luck had turned back our way. We finished dinner and walked out onto the street where we hopped into 3-wheeled motorcycles with carriages on them-motorized rickshaws-and rode to the hostel. We arrived at the Rumi Wasi hostel, met the caretaker, and were showed our room. On the way in, we were hassled by a few kids, who were about the same age as the kids on the bus yesterday. We lay down and fall asleep quickly, but not for long... The kids were loud. Running up and down the stairs, shutting one another out of the rooms, chasing each other around, and screaming. We woke up. We didn´t fall back asleep. One boy was locked out of his room, and was begging his "friend" Aléc to let him back in. His voice is tattooed on my brain. Niki went out and politely asked them to be quiet because we were sleeping. Surprisingly, it lasted for about 45 minutes before it started up again. Not long after, I went out, and saw two older women (girls?) hanging out, not disciplining any of the children. It´s hard to show emotion at someone in a language with which you´re not comfortable with. But some words came out as I did my best to make the kids shut up. They finally did at 2 am.

They were up and loud at 5 am. Not much sleep for us that night. We resolved to get out of there quickly. As we were leaving, we saw the woman who hounded us from yesterday, smirking at us and demanding payment. I wanted to hop out of the window and skip the bill, but the girls wouldn´t let me. Tired and frustrated, we left Chivay without even getting in the famous hot springs there. Not a fun way to start Thanksgiving.

El Autobus del Diablo

After Chachani, Niki, Amanda, Christine, and I made plans to go to Cañon del Colca, the second deepest canyon in the world and over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the states. The only bus we could find left Arequipa at 2pm, so we spent the day catching up on sleep, emails, and food. Being puntual Adventure Treks instructors, we arrived shortly before 1:30, and eagerly awaited our bus ride. And then it started...

We attempted to get to the ramp to board the bus but the ticket-checker denied us no fewer than 5 times. The bus wasn´t even here, she said. Finally it arrived, 15 minutes late. We got on, opened the windows to decrease the overwhelming stuffiness, and waited until departure at 3.

Next, a young man who we mistook for our tour guide, began his shpiel about something. The only words we could recognize were Amigos and something having to do with Redemption. He handed out candy, a nice thought until he came by 5 minutes later collecting money. Christine didn´t give any. As the bus winds its way up and out of Arequipa, it stops to pick up randoms who need a ride somewhere. This bus stopped and picked up about 30 4th grade kids, and about 3 chaperones. They were well behaved and relatively quiet. Soon though, someone popped in a children´s video akin to Barney, with screechingly loud, high-pitched Spanish character voices. I was listening to my iPod, and barely could hear the music over the noise. The video ended, but was followed by over an hour of equally loud Groupo Cinco, Perú´s music sensations. Finally we arrived in Chivay, at the head of the canyon. We got off the bus, flustered, and shared stories. A man sitting next to Niki was sleeping, and as he snored blubbered spit all over her. She was visibly shaken.

But there´s no peace in Chivay. A slightly heavy woman in her 40´s continually approached us to stay in her hostal. Niki politely told her to give us a few minutes to collect ourselves after a gruelling bus ride. But she hounded. I got firm with her, reminding her that we needed a few minutes, and it seemed to placate her. But as we got out of our cabs on the town square, we noticed her chasing us down again... she had followed us! We took her flyers, threw them in the garbage, and found the closest restaurant where we could get a drink.

Chachani, Part 2

Lead guide Iván offered to guide us along the route through the dark. I think he was happy to have us along, as were we to have him. Despite Amanda´s stomach ache and my headache, we felt pretty good. We reached the halfway point in 2 hours, but knew the hard part was still to come. We watched a sliver moon and the sun rise at the same time, while Arequipa´s lights faded away.

As the sun rose, the hiking got harder. The lack of oxygen made it difficult to do anything. None of our bodies was sore or tired, but our brains were exhausted from the concentration put into forced breathing and the discipline needed to go forward.

We reached the summit at 7 am, after 5 hours of hiking. We descended, thinking that we would instantly feel better. Our headaches got worse. We had to cross some scree fields with hanging ice above-sketchy as the warm sunshine melted ice and released rocks. We reached campamento base 3 hours later, mentally exhausted and physically tired. We packed up and hiked down to meet Jacinto, who brought us beers to celebrate our summit. Even though the road was bumpy, we slept most of the ride back to Arequipa.

After showers and naps, we met Inti and Iván for some pizza and beers. They are amazingly nice people, and we are happy that we met new friends in Perú. Their connection with the mountains and their integrity towards responsible guiding is worthy of respect and admiration. We appreciate their service and their friendships.

More pictures can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/laingrob/Chachani#

Chachani, Part 1

I arrived in Arequipa on Saturday evening, after a 10 hour bus ride from Cuzco through the altiplano of Perú. The landscape was like southern Wyoming most of the way, with snow-covered peaks and grass-covered highlands. As we descended into Arequipa, we could see the high volcanoes, including El Misti, Ampato, Picchu Picchu, and Chachani. The Peruaños were filling me in on all the names.
El Misti

I met Niki, Amanda, and Christine (my Adventure Treks friends) and we began the preparation for our ascent up Chachani. Chachani is one of the easiest 6000+ meter peaks in the world to climb, topping out at 6075m. However, we knew it wouldn´t be easy. We met Iván at Quechua Explorer, who arranged a ride up to base camp for us. We then wandered around and bought food, a map, and other supplies for our trek.

Monday morning, Jacinto and Ínti picked us up in a 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser. We climbed in and got settled for our 3+ hour drive.

We sat next to Clauss, a German who hired Iván as his guide. He arrogantly chatted our ears off, and was perturbed when we stopped to get out his jacket when he complained it was too cold. However, the drive was fantastic. The pavement ended and the road bumped and grinded its way between Chachani and El Misti for 2 more hours up. When we got out, we were giddy and excited, and also breathing heavily. After a labored hour-long hike, we reached campamento base.

After setting up camp, we hung out with the guides from Quechua Explorer. They had a warm and roomy tent, and in it we played cards with another guide, Jávier. It was 5:30 pm, and we decided to hit the sack. Sleeping proved to be very difficult at 5300m. Labored breathing, sore neck, and cold weather made the 7 hours in my sleeping bag rather painful. But, we were fairly rested when we woke up at 1 am.

The Sacred Valley, Day 2

Holly and I woke up to the sound of people setting up the market for a busy day of tourists. We skipped breakfast so that we could hike up early before the weather could play any tricks on us. The trail was steep and consisted of stone stairwells that cut through the terraced mountainside. After less than an hour of lung-busting hiking (still not acclimatized), we reached some ruins. They were old buildings, not very big, that had been cut into the hillside. There were more above. We continuted to climb after a poptart (thanks Schmern) until we reached the main ruins. There were precisely cut stone blocks stacked perfectly to make walls.
Aqueducts carried springwater throughout the establishment. It was a gorgeous day, and the vistas up and down valley were amazing.
Running out of water and needing some fuel, we descended back into town, where Hipaulito greeted us and again talked our ears off. This time, he gave us the name of a hostel in Cuzco with, get this, the same name. Oh, and it was run by his son who goes by the name, yep, Hipaulito. We ate some breakfast and caught a taxi to a small town called Coya, about 4 km down the road. In Coya, we were looking for a clinic that we had heard about. Consulting a toothless fellow with a bucket, we found the clinic and were able to get a tour. It´s a fantastic facility that offers basic health services to the regions´ peoples. It runs on donations and volunteer medical teams from the States.

Next stop, Ollantaytamba, which is pretty much the end of the road for those on their way to Machu Picchu. That said, it was crawling with tourists. It is also the site of some fantastic Inca ruins, right in town. Hungry, Holls and I got some food. We then found a laid-back hostel up a side street and stashed our gear to go check out the ruins.
From the hostel we could see the main ruins in town, and it was a mess with people. So we decided to hike them tomorrow morning when the crowds would die down. Instead, we found a path that led up a steep mountainside on the other side of town. We hiked up to some amazing ruins, sat down, and took it all in. Beautiful.

That night, we strolled into a pizza joint hungry for some protein. As we were eating, a 4-piece Peruvian band entered and began to preform. We were the only people in the restaurant, and it was a little awkward knowing that afterward they would attempt to sell us a CD when we didn´t want to buy one. But we gave them a tip. As we were finishing dinner, the waiter, a young guy born in Ollantaytamba, started chatting us up. Soon, he was waxing philosophical: peace, brotherhood, Obama, war. Despite language difficulties, we left with a new friend.

The Sacred Valley, Day 1

Holly and I decided to head north to check out the Sacred Valley. This is the region north of Cuzco that was once the heart of the Inca Empire. To start our trip, Holls and I wandered down to the bus station in Cuzco, and hopped on a crowded bus that wove its way up the hillsides of Cuzco and onward to Pisac. It was crowded and tight, and of course Holly and I were the only whiteys on the bus. It started raining halfway through the 90 minute ride, so all the windows were shut and the heat and humidity increased quickly. One of the children on his way home from school wiped his boogers on the seat in front of me. We were excited to get off.

We got off in Pisac after descending into the valley of the Rio Vilcanota. It´s a small town with a large amount of Inca ruins high above in the mountains.
Holly and I found a Hostel and decided to try to hike up to some of these. As it was getting late in the day, we decided to wait for tomorrow to hike. Instead, we heard that a soccer game was about to start. We wandered around town, trying to find the field/stadium. We didn´t find it... only a family of large pigs parading down the street.


Back at the Hospedaje Bejo, we became friends with the owner, Hipaulito. He was a short round man who looked like he was a Peruvian mobster who moved to the mountains in the witness protection program. He talked our ears off, half of which we understood. Attached to the hostel was an art shop where Holly and I tried on sweaters. I put one on while Hipaulito and his friend laughed at how small the sweater was on me. It was almost a T-shirt! We think they wanted to make me one to fit, but as I´m still working on my Spanish, I couldn´t figure it out.

So we went to dinner and ate some great homemade pasta, pumpkin soup, and carrot cake until Holly could no longer move. Then she let me beat her repeatedly at Uno. We retired to the Hostel, planning on waking up early for a hike up to the ruins.

Cuzco

After an uncertain trek through the Atlanta and Lima airports, I made it to Cuzco. It was uncertain for a number of reasons. The night before I departed on my trip, I began to doubt the reasons for me going. I will be running low on cash; I was to fly standby to Lima (the price you pay for an inexpensive buddy-pass); and I hadn´t heard from Holly in a few days. (Big ups to Britton for the ride to the airport!) I pushed on, and after listening to the guy next to me inhale and exhale quick and forceful breaths the whole flight, I made it to Atlanta. Suffering from lack of exercise, I walked the length of the underground train a few times, which amounted to the longest indoor hike I knowingly have completed. I was able to board the flight to Lima, although not sitting next to cute girls as I had requested to the travel agent. The reality finally set in: I´m excited.

I arrived in Lima at midnight. I was surprised that I wasn´t bombarded with offers for cab rides. Because I flew standby, I waited to purchase a ticket to Cuzco to meet Holly until I was sure that I got to Lima. When I approached the ticket counter, they weren´t able to offer me a ticket unless I paid cash. It pretty much wiped out my cash supply, which may come back to bite me later. After paying the ticket agent, he pulled out his wallet, pulled out a dollar bill, and gave me my change. That´s right, from his pocket.

Cuzco is touristy. I didn´t find Holly right away. But the lady at the Hostel knew I was looking for her, and was so excited to reunite us that she woke me up by knocking on my door and telling me I had a phone call. It´s good to see her and the rest of the Adventure Trek crew. We have been walking around and eating a bit. El mercado proved to be a fascinating place as we saw lots of pig heads and a few testicles, too. I´m going back to get some sleep, and to figure out where we will go next. Adios!

I think it's hitting me now

I went to a family brunch today and found out that my cousin Will will be traveling around the entire continent of South America. Hearing him tell me that, and that we should meet up made the reality start to sink in that I'm actually going to Peru in a week. So far it has been difficult to pull away from everyday life to realize that life as you know it will soon be drastically changing. Going to a non-English speaking country seems like a large challenge. And although I know un poquito amount of Spanish, the locals speak it so damned fast!
I then went to some friend's house to hear stories of travel from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile while looking at photos. They gave me recommendations, backed by numerous photos of adventures. The excitement of having an entire continent within reach is setting in, along with an overwhelming sense that I don't have nearly enough time or nearly enough plans. Wow. I don't really have any plans-more like a few ideas. But there are resources available. And there will be others with similar agendas and experiences who can guide the way. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if I will end up spending time with too many gringos, and not learn sufficient Spanish.
In the meantime, I picked up supplies tonight: laxatives and anti-diarrheals, among others. Woo-hoo!

Bought my ticket!

I talked with Holly today as she was preparing to board the plane to Houston, then to Lima. I think she's finally excited, and the anxiety of the buildup of the trip is finally passed. I am super excited to meet up with her and be able to travel around together. Holls and I have never lived in the same city after I left for college. But over the years, we've become pretty close. I know this trip will be a great experience for both of us.

Yesterday I bought travel insurance. I went with insurance provided by World Nomads. It was inexpensive and seemed to have the same benefits of other insurers that charged a lot more. I hope I don't have to use it. It was a bit weird buying an insurance policy without having officially made travel arrangements, but with the prices of flights not changing, it didn't seem like a big deal.

And... I bought a ticket tonight! An old friend caught wind that I wanted to take a trip, and offered me a buddy pass! It was cheap-but I'm flying standby (albeit first-class!). I'll arrive in Lima late, and plan on sleeping in the airport, awaiting an early morning flight to Cuzco. See you there!