Never Again...

15 min Taxi, to a 1 hr Plane, to a 20 min Taxi, to a 14 hr bus, to a 2 min Taxi, to a 8 hr bus, to another 8 hr bus, to a 6 hr bus, to a 5 min Ferry, to a 1 hr bus... Plus some waiting in between those... That was the 52 hours from Arequipa in southern Peru to Canoa on the Coast of Ecuador, never again.

Nothing exciting to report, only some minor mishap at the border this time, since we left Ecuador from a border that was too small to warrant the proper "system", we were required to have photocopies of our stamp and passport. Convieniently there are no photocopiers at the border itself, only in the town 5 minutes cab ride away. So we made a mad dash for the town with our cab driver going to the few stores with copiers, the first two were closed (pretty normal for a saturday afternoon, siesta time). Luckily we found one, got the copies, back to the border, stamp stamp and caught up with our bus back in town at the station. Seemed very strange to us that he wouldn't stamp our passport, but had no problem letting us go into the country. I guess he knows we won't be able to leave regardless. Dealing with borders and officials is way more frustrating when you've just sat on a bus for around 15 hours.

So we're in Canoa! Hoping the sun will come back out, just a little cloudy today, slight showers in the morning. 1 week :) ... :(

The definition of a Canyon

So off to the Colca Canyon we went, the same one that used to be the deepest canyon IN THE WORLD... until they decided one a bit further north was actually a few meters deeper. Oh well. We made it our mission to discover the definite of a "canyon" on this trip.

Starting our research in the Small town of Chivay, which has turned into the first stop on the tourist circuit of the area. A small artisan alley has sprung up along with a number of pizzarias (it's what gringos eat). After hiring bikes for the day, we set off packed with snacks for a number of little towns. Our luck held out and we managed to roll into the first town just ahead of the San Isi...something festivity parade. The townsfolk gather together with candles, drums and brass instruments and parade around the main plaza with a "float" of sorts on their shoulders. They dressed up some cows and dragged them along in front, and like kids at an opera, they complained the whole way around. After a few more towns, we ate a scrumptious lunch at a small local resturaunt, and sought out some hot pools. The water was not scalding, but did a very nice job of soaking our sore bike bums. The last stretch of the ride was, of course, uphill, and we pulled into Chivay wishing there was another hotspring awaiting us.

Our next research excursion was farther down the canyon, at the town of Cabanaconde, where we set out just after seven in the morning on a mammoth hike. Short on time, we tried to pack into one day, what would have been a very pleasant three day stroll. 1000m down into the canyon we came across the coolest thing ever! Geysers! Smoking! Bubbling! It was very smelly, but a great place to sit and eat an apple, beside a chilly river, and scalding hot pools of sulphurous springs. Up the other side we climbed passing a couple from Montreal who commented that we hiked "really fast". We were on a mission... Up and up we went, 600m in fact, and ate the most delicious lunch at the top; avacado, tomato, cucumber, mayonaise, onion and.... BREAD! Dirt would probably have tasted great after climbing up for 2 hours in the sun. The views along the other side of the canyon were nothing short of spectacular, snow frosted peaks towering above small villages clinging to the sides of hills that plummetted 1000m down to a slightly raging river, perfect. Our goal in sight, we raced against the sun down to a spot dubbed "The Oasis", where some prespective locals have diverted some underground rivers into pools for the tourist throngs. Getting there just ahead of a lot of tourists we enjoyed the pool all to ourselves, soaking away the day's dust. Then I decided to put Sarah's nalgene into the outtake tube... heh... oops. So we spent the good part of an hour extracting it so the pool wouldnt overflow. The sun soon dissapeared behind the top of the canyon, so we shivered our way into our clothes, and headed back up to Cabanaconde, despite the insistance from the oasis owner it was 5 hours back up and that we should stay at his hostal for the night instead. Up and up we marched, catching up to the sun, watching it rise, then set again on the mountain tops above. We made it most of the way up before the stars came out to guide us the rest of the way. With hardly a light from the surrounding towns, the sky looked amazing, definitely the best sky we've had yet down here. We crawled back into town just after seven that night, devouring a bowl of soup and some manzanilla (camomile) tea before dropping into bed and falling into a deep deep sleep.

Back in Arequipa we compiled our research notes and came to the conclusion that a canyon means: Very tiring biking and hiking. 1000m down, means another 1000m back up. Amazing vistas. Bring lots of chocolate. Water is expensive on the other side. Cactuses are sharp!

Now we have the `long haul` ahead of us. A plane to Lima, then a series of busses back up to the coastal town of Canoa in Ecuador for some ocean surf, hammock naps and happy hour!


See you soon!

After a day on 2 busses and passing through no less than 5 police check points, we sped down the winding canyon roads to Arequipa. It is a large colonial city that spreads across a huge valley, framed on all sides by huge mountain ranges and volcanoes.

We were exhausted after all the traveling, so we planned to sleep in our first day, but were rudely awakened at 6:34am by the sound of off-key bells clanging. Slightly annoyed we rolled over only to be awoken 7 minutes later by the same bells. It might have been ok if the bells were pretty sounding, or if it had been a Sunday morning, but no luck.

We visited El Monestario del Santa Catalina and wandered around the streets and rooms that the nuns lived in for hundreds of years. A small section in the North end is now locked and thirty or so nuns still live. The monestary was very large and it would have been very easy to get lost and wander around for hours. Small rooms lead to other small rooms and small kitchens and other streets. Unfortunately some doors were locked and the stairs were all blocked off, so we didn't get to explore too much. The walls have more recently been painted in vibrant blues, reds and oranges, making for some fun photos.

Two days ago we left our hostal bright and early to climb the nearby volcano, El Misti. We were picked up by our guide, Angel, and after being dropped off at the base of the mountain, we hiked for about 6 hours before reaching our camp for the night. From that height we could see the sun set over the mountains and watch as the city lights below turned on. As the sun disapeared we layered up in everything we owned (and more gear provided by the guiding company) and ate the hot soup Angel had made. We were in our tent by 7, and after a few restless hours of 'sleep' we were woken up at 12am for breakfast. We began our accent of El Misti by 12:30. At that altitude we walked with the light of our flashlights slowly behind our guide, being careful to safely place our feet on stable rocks. The higher we zig-zagged up the side, the more frequent our breaks became and the colder the wind. We each napped a few times on those breaks, I wished I was back in bed. Around 5am we could start to see the sky light up and as the sun rose higher we could see the volcano's huge shadow left over the city.

We reached the rim of the crater around 7am. I bet if I could have squinted my eyes a little more I could have seen the ocean through all the smog. Exhausted, I decided that that was the highest I was climbing that morning, and so as I napped in the sun on rocks, Colin and Angel finished the climb, about one hour more to the top, 5825 meters. A large cross was put at the top of El Misti back in the early 1900's and it still stands there now, decorated with colourful scarfs and other garbage people didn't want to carry down. Colin could see smoke from the crater and the smell of sulpher was detectable. The volcano isn't currently active (we're not that crazy), but is classified as semi-active.

The decent to our campsite took 45 minutes. We slid and jumped down the sand and scree, filling our boots with volcanic dust. After a necessary nap, we packed up all our gear and hiked/slid down the rest of the mountain to our car waiting below. Knees shaking we arrived at the car and were back in our hostal an hour later. It was an exhausting experience, but the views were amazing, and it was a great excuse to eat cookies and chocolate for breakfast. We slept really well last night, only to be woken up again by the annoying-stupid bells.We are off to visit the canyons and surrounding villages for the next few days. Perhaps we'll even see a condor!


This is the view from the top of El Misti.


Us coming down from the top.

Dead in their tracks...

Well this past week has been pretty ordinary, nothing too special. We only walked in petrified dinosaur tracks, crawled 2 hours in the dark through a cave, bathed in the cool canyon river waters, and ate tuna that had more in common with catfood than real tuna. Pretty normal huh?

We caught a flight from Rurrenabaque, rather than brave (or suffer) the two day bus trip to where we wanted to go. Rurrenabaque has a grass landing strip, so we caught the first plane we could rather than risk getting stuck if it rained. The flight was only 35 minutes, but climbed from 200m up reaaallly high in the mountains. We then caught a night bus from La Paz to Cochabamba, and then another bus to Torotoro, also known as The Land Before Time... well not really.

Torotoro, from what we managed to translate from our guide, means Mud Mud, and for good reason. The area is incredibly rich with geological history and coolness. Long ago there was either a mud flat, or swamp or something similar that lots of dinosaurs ran around in. Shortly after "leaving only their footsteps", the mud was covered in lava, or other sediments and solidified, preserving their steps forever!

We joined up with another Aussie couple for the three days of fun. It was really amazing actually seeing tracks through solid rock. Almost as if they walked by yesterday. There were two Israeli girls that were not convinced at all, thinking it natural or some sort of hoax or something. To me the evidence was pretty conclusive, or concrete... set in stone even.

Near the town of Torotoro is a cave that has been carved out over time by a river, so we spent the day spelunking. Emilio, our 17 year old guide expertly showed us the way through. The cave was HUUUGE in parts, with some amazing stalactites, and stalagmites and completed columns. Unfortunately before the park was in place to regulate visitors, many people came to the cave and broke off most of the stalactites as souvenirs, leaving any within reach as stumps. Some have already started growing back, but given that it's only a millimetre per drop of water, and they could have one drop per day, or per year... it will take some time before it's even close to normal again. We forgot our camera that day, so you can just close your eyes, and that's basically what the cave looked like. Dark... Parts were pretty tight, requiring basic knowledge of yoga and a willingness to get dirty.

The area is mostly defined geologically by sedimentary rocks, with a bit of volcanic activity, so the rivers that flow have carved out a gigantic canyon. We hiked down a dry river towards it, walking along natural bridges of rocks, and seeing some more dino tracks, before descending the 1500 or so steps to the bottom. Beautifully carved river bed was there to greet us as well as a pristine waterfall where we took some time during the heat of the day to swim.

After more hiking, swimming, ancient Inca pictographs, we sadly caught the 6 am bus this morning back to Cochabamba. Torotoro was devoid of running water for some reason, so we can't wait for tomorrow when we get to La Paz for a nice shower.

Some of you may have noticed we changed the title awhile back, adding the "near". We almost made it to the town of Santa Cruz, and actually did float down the border to the province of Santa Cruz, so that's gonna have to be good enough. As for us, we're on our way back north officially, a few days left in Bolivia, and in the south of Peru before getting back to Ecuador. 3 weeks tomorrow...

See all of you soon!