02nd August..

I'm back in Cusco Coffee drinking a caramel frap!

Colca Canyon... a couple of weeks back a group of us went to Colca Canyon..Sarah, Me, Lucy & Mary.. our journey started at the Casa where we were picked up at 3.30am Friday.. the 4 of us got into our mini bus wrapped in warm clothes, wooly hats, gloves and scarfs.. We had been told by friends the journey to Colca was a cold one as it takes you up to 4800mtrs and in the early hours morning it gets freezing.. our pals were right, I was sitting by the window and before long the right side of my body was very cold.. when the sun came out though the bus started to warm up so it wasn't all that bad..

We drove through some beautiful mountain sections, one of which I was lucky enough to see a stag. He was magnificent, he powered himself up and over the brow of a hill and was gone within 5 seconds of me spotting him. Apparently I was lucky to see him as there aren't many living in mountains and they are very rarely seen.

We had a couple of stops on the way to Colca, one to get some tickets that we needed and one for breakfast. Breakfast was much needed by the time we stopped as we were all very hungry.. After breakfast we got back in the bus and carried on our journey. The next stop was a viewing point where you can see condors flying below you, f you're lucky one or more might get closer and fly over your head.. we stopped and spotted about 10 condors, they were pretty far away but all the same it was amazing to see as you're looking down into a deep canyon with these huge birds soaring below you. I found out on that stop that my camera was very low on battery (school boy error not charging it up before I left)

Back in the bus we headed to a small village where we were to have lunch and met our tour guide.. lunch was good, soup, then rice, veg and meat.. we left the village around 2pm with our guide, walked out of the village and towards the edge of the canyon. It was beautiful, peaceful and the sun shone down of us as it always does here in Peru. When we reached the edge of the canyon, Eddie (our Peruvian guide) stopped to give us the lowdown on what we were to expect over the next couple of days. The first day we were to walk down into the canyon for about 3 1/2hrs (approximately 1.5km down) before reaching our hostel where we were to have dinner and sleep for the night. He also told us that the condors we had just seen were some of only 45 / 50 living in the canyon.. It's forbidden to fly over colca canyon or do any activities there other than walking the paths so they don't get disturbed which is one of the reason they stay there. With that said, 45/50 is a very low number and because of this they're in fear of extinction in these parts. Condors only eat dead animals as they're not hungers. Unfortunately food is scarce for them. They can go without food for around 5 days but as dead animals are hard to come by in the canyon it's not a great time for them. A condor preservation society do drop meat into the canyon one of twice a month to ensure they do feed but this only happens once of maybe twice a month as it's important the birds stayed wild and do not become domesticated.

After our short break we set off again and headed in to the canyon. Unless you experience this for yourself it's a little difficult to imagine I guess but picture narrow steep pathways that hug the mountain, all kinds of wild plants and cactuses around you, rocks the size of houses and views that span for miles, both across and down (incidentally CC is the second largest canyon in the world) as with many of the places I visited whilst in Peru, it was breath taking. I kept my eye out for more animals, Eddie had said that there were wild cats living in the canyon but they were extremely hard to spot and he had only ever seen one (about 5 mtrs from him) in the 4 years he had been touring the canyon. Due to my keen saucer like mince pies and the fact I had seen a stag earlier that morning, I felt a touch doctor dolittle that day so decided to keep my kisser shut and eyes open in the hope of seeing more wild animals, no such luck however the views were tremendous so I certainly wasn't disappointed.

In places the path was very steep, loose with rocks and dust so with a heavy backpack on my pack I had to keep concentration and navigate my way down the path with care. My merrell walking trainers that I bought just before I came away have be absolutely amazing and they didn't let me down on this trip either. I walked the paths with my trainers gripping even the loosest terrain.. Sorry to get excited about my trainers but letmetellya these bads boys are the shiznit.. all three of the girls slipped and fell on there arses that afternoon, no real damage done, just a few bruised bums, I did offer to apply witch hazzel when we reached our hostel in the canyon but for some reason all three declined my kind offer ;0)

After a few hours walking we reached a bridge that crossed the canyons river, we had to climb 300mtrs back up the other side to our hostel, it was basic but bloody lovely.. mud huts with straw roofs, perfectly cut lawns, a bar! an area to eat and drink and a kitchen where the staff prepared our food in a clay oven heated by logs.. I loved it there and was in high spirits looking forward to a couple of beers and food that evening. We ate and drank for a couple of hours and headed to bed around 9ish, we were all pretty whacked because of the walking and the early start we had had that morning.. the four of us shared what I think use to be a cow shed turned in to a bedroom and slept soundly until we got up at 7am the next morning.

That morning it was a breakfast of pancake and jam and coffee and tea. A great way to start the day. Eddie told us it was an easy day ahead starting with a 300 mtr climb, a few kms flat, where we would walk through a small village, see a church, visit a tiny museum ran by an old Peruvian lady, then a 400 mtr downhill section leading us to an Oasis where we were to stay that night. The overnight stay was a place called Paradise, due to my love of being extremely self indulgent, pampering myself and lazying in hammocks at any given opportunity, I was looking forward to getting there very much!

On our walk Eddie told us about the various wild plants and cactuses that we were encountering which was interesting. There were hallucinogenic cactuses that could give you the trip of your life and poisionous plants that could kill you in 24hrs. Unfortunately the hallucinogenic cactuses needed to have there juices extracted, boiled and treated before they could be sampled otherwise that night could have been very interesting indeed.. he also told us about the village we were passing through and the fact that not many people lived there anymore due to there not being work for them.

The small museum we dropped into (one room the size of a double bedroom) exhibited the tools the local farmers used to tend the land and the crops they grow. It also had a number of dead stuffed animals that could be found in and around the canyon, nice eh.. We carried on walking and before long we spotted the Oasis about 1/2 km away from us.. green lawns, palm trees, swimming pools, all of which were incased in the high mountains around them. It certainly was a sight for sore eyes.

We walked the path, getting closer to Paradise with every step. A natural spring waterfall flowed out of a huge crack in a rock, around it grew lush green grass, plant and trees. We stopped here for a few minutes to take in it's beauty. Another 30minutes or so we crossed a bridge and entered the Oasis, the signs were made of old drift wood that had the names of the hostels burnt into them.. As you might expect it was all very natural and easy on the eye.. when we reached paradise it didn't disappoint, it had a swimming pool, hammocks, mud huts, a huge fire pit that had stools and chairs surrounding it carved out of tree trunks.. it was great and the perfect place to rest for the night.

I swam, had a game of football with the guides and other trekkers that had arrived that day, lazed in the hammocks with a beer in hand, read a bit of my book and ate some great food later that evening. Within the grounds there was a giant rock that could be climbed, the four of us climbed it after dinner and sat on the top chatting and watching the moon show its face as it came up behind the mountains. It was a full moon that night so lucky for us it lit up paradise and the mountains around us. After a while the girls went to bed but I stayed up a little later putting the world to rights in my head. I thought about many things, my Mum and Dad, my great friends and wonderful sister that were all at the secret garden party festival that weekend, my best pal Jonny and how I missed not being able to just pop by and say hello to him and what an amazing weekend I had had a year ago to that day when I met my ex girlfriend Karen. All these people are in my thoughts on a daily basis but I guess when you're sitting on a giant rock in the middle of paradise with a full moon and thousands of stars looking down on you, you start think about them even more..

Anyway, that night I had decided to take a mule back up the mountain the next day! it was a 1200mtr climb and although I knew I could have done it, 1) I'm a lazy bastard, 2) one of the other girls Mary was taking a mule as she had unfortunately become ill late Saturday afternoon and 3) a couple of days after Colca I was heading to Machu Picchu and wanted to be 100% fit for that as there was going to be much walking and climbing then... So, excuses over for now anyway... I lazed in the hammock under the stars a bit longer, finished my beer and went to bed.

Mary bless her had a rough night and was in and out of bed due to being sick and feeling very poorly but luckily all of us managed a good few hours sleep before getting up at 4.30am the following morning.. we ate breakfast, Sarah and Lucy headed off up the mountain and Mary and I waited for our Mules to arrive.. haha.. still makes me laugh now that I took a mule whilst all the other poor folks painfully climbed the 1200mtrs that day.. As I passed 10's of hikers early that morning sweating there bits off, I was on the back of a mule doing all the hard work... I decided the best thing to do was pass the hikers with a smile on my face and a "Morning!" "Good Morning!" " "Morninnnn!" whilst I hide behind my sunglasses... I passed Sarah, Lucy & Eddie after about an hour, they were doing amazing.. both Sarah and Lucy are fit young things and even Eddie said that they were killing him as I passed him.. I reached the top, dismounted gave the guy with the mules 50soles (about 15quid) and sun bathed for a while before the girls and Eddie arrived at the top. Even on my Mule it was still a great experience, I watched the sun rise and burn away the clouds that were beside me, looked down in the canyon and said go bye to Paradise, it was a great morning for all of us.

After the hike/mule ride we had an hour to chill before getting back on the bus and heading back to Arequipa. On the way back we stopped again at the condor stop and this time we were very lucky indeed, the condors were flying that close to us you could see there claws.. one landed about 10mtrs away from me, I would say it was a metre tall, it's feathers brown and white with a long sharp hooked beak, he chilled for maybe a minute before flying off again, it was a great site to see.

Back on the bus we stopped an hour or so later at some hot springs, a quick change and a dip for an hour.. it was heaven, there were 5 hot spring, the 5th of which was the hottest, me and the girls went to the first pool which was pretty hot anyway, soaked it up for about 10minutes before going straight to number 5.. I've no idea what the temp was but it was like a hot bath, a bit to hot to swim in although I did manage a few breast strokes before retiring to the side again! the hot springs were a lovely way to relax and top our short stay at Colca... back on the bus we stopped for a fantastic buffet style all you can eat lunch. I managed about 3 full plates and a bottle of beer before getting back on the bus for a journey home...

We got back around 6pm Sunday evening, just enough time to relax for a bit before heading to bed for a good night sleep..

So, I better get out of here otherwise Cusco Coffee are going to want me to buy another frap no doubt! I've been here about 3 hours I reckon...

Thanks again for dropping by, take it easy

Dx

August 01st 2010

OMG.. this is terrible, it's been 2 months since my last blog update. The grey matter at the back of my bird size brain is going to have to work overtime to remember what I've been up too.. however, I will try folks...

I think one of the first trips I went on was mountain biking down Chachani ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chachani ) one of the mountains we have here in Arequipa. it was an early start for a Sunday, about 7am.. 6 of us piled into a bus that picked us up at the casa where we hang out from time to time.. the bus took 3 hours to reach the top of the mountain, we jumped out, donned our protective clothing, helmet, gloves, knee and elbow pads and mounted our bikes to start our decent.. it was beautiful at the top of the mountain, apart from the cold wind that blew around us that was the only sound you could hear.

One of the guys I was biking with was Chris, a giant of a lad at 6'6'... he is one of the interns with GVI and is now going to be staying in Arequipa until next April. Chris use to run a bike shop back in the day so is an experienced mountain biker and not one to go slow even on the toughest of terrains.

Chris headed off with me right behind him, the ground was a mixture of holes, bumps, sand, dust and rocks. It wasn't long before I was picking up some pretty serious speed so going into corners were a lot of fun, however the drop of hundreds of metres over the edge wasn't quite as much fun so I did my best to keep a metre of two from the edge where possible. It was very cold coming down the mountain as we were so high, around 4500 mtrs. Before long my fingers hand locked up as I was gripping the handle bars so tight, there were constant rows of bumps which I can only describe as speed bumps, one linking to another which made my whole body shake and thus left my hands were in tatters! it was great fun though, after a while we came to the first of a number of shortcuts our instructed had told us about.. It was a much steeper downhill and the ground was sandier than before, Chris bombed down first with me behind him. Riding on sand is a nightmare, you pick up speed then hit a soft loose bit which slows your bike right down very nearly sending you over your handle bars. I reached the bottom of the short cut without too much bother though but it certainly took more concentration than the safer route.

We carried on tearing down the mountain stopping every now and then to let the others catch us up (our instructor had told us we needed to stick together within reason and not go too far ahead) one of the girls had came off her bike pretty bad near the beginning of the ride and was back in the van taking a breather until she felt confident to get back on her bike again.

The next shortcut was a very steep rocky terrain with huge holes from top to bottom, I was really getting into the biking by then so took it with ease and only had one of two tricky moments. After the second shortcut there was flat section of sandy ground for about 4 km, I hated that section, every time I got on my bike and tried to peddle I went no where.. the sand was so deep and soft I wasn't going anywhere so I decided to get off and push my bike rather than attempting to ride. I've been OK with the altitude overall but when I'm really high in the mountains I do get short of breath so though it best to take this section a bit steadier.

Once I was through the flat sandy section (where I incidentally cursed like a child with turrets for a good hour) I was back on my bike and tear assing down the hill again.. the last shortcut was amazing, sand, rocks, holes and very steep all together. I took it quickly right from the top swerving from side to side to dodge holes and rocks as they appeared, I was going pretty quick when I hit a soft sandy section which this time, did send me over the handle bars and onto the ground in front of me, it happened so fast I didn't really no about it so lucky for me when I got up I wasn't in any pain. A few minutes before I had seen a cloud of dust come up from the ground so when I got to the bottom I asked Chris how he got on down the SC.. he had pretty much done the same as me, hit a soft section which sent him over his handle bars, now as Chris is as tall as a door frame he somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet! I think I landed pretty flat on my back.. Chris has seen my tumble and told me it was pretty spectacular so that was good, if you're going to do something may as well do it properly eh.. After that it was more down hill sections, a really beautiful mountain road section for 7 kms before we got to our meeting point at the foot of the mountain. We got back to the Casa around 3pm, full of adrenaline and chat about our encounters down the mountain. That's what I remember of that day a couple of months back, a few weeks ago I went and did it again. That time I again raced down as if I was delivering a much needed kidney to family member but due to my now experienced mountain biking skills I managed to stay on my bike without too many close shaves..

My next trip was white water rafting, that was so much fun. Me, Becca and Steph (some pals I've met here) went rafting for the morning. The 3 of us were in a boat with an instructed on the back. We had a few basic commands to adhere to.. start paddling, stop padding and get the fuk in the boat your going to fall out you twit! after a brief induction, paddles in hand.. we got in the boat and headed down the river.. it was so much fun. The 3 of us get on really well and I can honestly say we laughed our heads off all the way down the river which was a 7km stretch. I was paddling like mad but the girls barely got there paddles wet.. they were too bothered about laughing and making sure there hair didn't get wet.. hahahah.. just kidding girls... we crashed into rocks, I very nearly went over the side on a number of occasions and at one stage we were going so slow we got stuck on the edge of a drop and had to have our instructor climb over us to stamp on the front section to get us moving again! right at the end of the rafting Steph lost concentration (after looking at Bec's hair.. what did I say, hmmm..) and fell in, the instructor had to pull her out much to the amusement to Bec and I) the sun shone as it always does here and we had a great day..

Santa Catalina Monastery ( http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/arequipa/a/SantaCatalina.htm. ) Me, Bec, Kathleen and Lucy decided to take at look at the Monastery here in Arequipa, apologies as i don't know all the ins and outs about the history of the place apart from the fact it was built in the early 16th century, house about 80 nuns who lived there worshipping the good lord, wore chastity belts and did lots of cleaning. The 4 of us had had a drink and bite to eat before we arrived there so when we did arrive we were in high spirits and looking forward to walking round the candle lit rooms in an attempt to scare ourselves stupid.. that we did, Lucy at one stage peered through a barred window, shouted boo which very nearly had me changing the colour of my shorts within seconds.. Lucky for me I got her back a touch later which made her screen louder than a female opera singer could hope for.... It certainly made me laugh, another fun evening and one to remember.

Right I've just been told Cusco Coffee where I'm writing this is closing and I've got to get the flock out of here so I'll be back in a day or two.. thanks for dropping by.. x