Cañon del Colca

My brain has been warped by the so-called "helpful" additions to the internet and microsoft word, both on my laptop at home and any computer that I use in the States.

This has nothing to do with Peru, but allow me to elaborate.

I started using computers regularly after 7th grade when we learned how to type. I'm sure I'd used a computer before that, but my memories of Instant Messaging my friends and middle school crushes are mostly post-typing class. I cannot remember exactly what year Microsoft put in the red and green squiggly line feature (the ones that tell you if your grammer or spelling is incorrect), but I am beginning to resent this luxury. On my laptop at home, everywhere I type is automatically spell-checked with or without a red squiggly line. Here, on these Peruvian computers, red squiggly lines do not exist. Whether this is something I could add by perusing the menu bar at the top of my page (which is, of course, in spanish) or if it would involve a computer update, I WOULD NOT DO IT. I must re-teach myself how to spell. In my last blog entry, I spelled "hysterical" h-I-sterical. I cannot express the shock and anger I felt upon reading this obvious flaw. Now, I have fixed this spelling error already, but I feel worried about every word I've written thus far. So friends, please inform me if you see any other errors in spelling, grammer, etc.

I'm inclined to blame society for my mush-brain. How could they do this to us? Short cuts are not necessarily better.

I could definitely spend pages addressing this subject, but I will spare you all and get back to my travels in Peru.

We arrived in Cuzco on Tuesday, March 29th. We got off of the nine hour bus ride feeling a little light headed and sick from the high altitude (11,600ft I think. Google has many answers), not to mention groggy, exhausted, and sore from our three day hike into Colca Canyon.

How was Colca Canyon, you ask? Well, to the general public, hiking into the second deepest canyon in the world would entail climbing down and then up large mountains. Unfortunately, I was somehow blinded by the excitement of doing an outdoor activity in Peru and did not realize that hiking Colca Canyon meant climbing mountains in the Andes for three days.

Let me start with the good news: I was not lain to rest at the bottom of the Colca River. I survived. But just barely.

The first day, we took a bus at 1:30am from Arequipa to Cabanaconde (about 6 hours) and then proceeded to eat a simple breakfast before starting our trek into the canyon. We hiked down for about five hours and then up for one hour. This was without a doubt the most difficult thing I´ve ever done in my entire life, including sprinting uphill during soccer daily doubles (which I can hardly say I accomplished). Hiking downhill sounds so easy, but in my current level of conditioning, after a few hours I could hardly move one leg infront of the other. I am not a mountain climber.

There were many things that contributed to the difficulty of the trek. I will list a few for you.

1. We virtually got 1 hour of sleep before we went to the bus station, which isn't exactly ideal for long crazy canyon treks.
2. I am capable of walking around the hill in Philomath, but have not done much rigorous activity in a while. My legs are not made of steel.
3. I generally don't go six hours without eating
4. The trail was made of mostly loose rocks and made a switchback trail down the mountain.

Our guide, Hugo, was very fast, but we hired him specifically so we could travel at our own pace. He would sit under a tree for 30 minutes at a time while the three of us (Colby, Sarah, and I) took slow, cautious steps and trying to keep from slipping our way down the mountain. Then out of nowhere, when we were wondering where in the world Hugo could be, he would be seen momentarily walking directly down the mountain. Hugo had no need for silly trails.

When we arrived at our first destination, it was about two o'clock in the afternoon and we were somewhere between sick and starving. We stayed the night at Llahuar Lodge. It was a very quiet, family owned facility in the middle of nowhere. They had a natural hot spring down by the river that we were able to soak in and attempt to coax our muscles out of spasm. This was only after willing our legs to function when they would have prefered to never move again.

And this was only the first day. Yikes.

The second day was daunting. First thing, we had to hike 3 hours straight up. We had the motivation that when we reached the top, we would then be able to travel down. Small comfort. Clearly the previous day proved that down can be just as challanging as up. The problem with traveling uphill is the respiratory system.

5. The change in altitude. It is hard to breathe when you walk uphill with a familiar altitude. The fact that we were so much higher than our bodies were use to presented a great challange.

We stopped to rest frequently under the shade of many different trees. The trail was much more appealing the second day because we got to learn about different plants and the fourth hour of our trek was up, then down, with some flatish spots every now and then. We ate the fruit of a Prickly Pear Cactus. So Yummy.

Colby found inspiration on the second half of the trek. He ran and moved quickly down the mountain towards the Oasis and pool that was our second destination. Sarah and I did a little jogging as well. It felt nice to use different muscles and to move forward with momentum. Colby was moving fast. He reached the bottom much quicker and would wait for us to catch up, but the rapid change in altitude started to affect his body. He became dizzy and had to sit down for awhile. This is a common problem that many people face when they hike into the canyon. At this point, we were only 20 minutes away from our destination. When we arrived, we jumped in the pool to cool off and rest. Hugo prepared a typical Arequipeñan meal for us to eat. It was quite delicious. Colby and I slept and rested for duration of the night, while Sarah played goalie for a soccer game with other hikers that were staying at the Oasis.

The third day was completely uphill. Hugo explained to us that it was important to leave at around 3am in order to beat the sun and we would use headlamps to see. In Colby's current state of health, we determined that it would be best for him to ride a mule out of the canyon. I was a little jealous because Colby got to leave at 6am instead of 3, but I reminded myself that walking in the sun is crippling and I would be much happier if I left before the sun got up.

So I woke at 2:15am the third day of our adventure. We didn't actually leave until 3:40am and I tried not to focus on the hour of sleep I had lost by assuming that we were going to leave on time. The first hour and a half was horrible. I was like a zombie, blundering around and tripping on rocks because I couldn't pick up my feet.

6. Carrying a backpack. No matter how light you pack, that bag just becomes heavier and heavier. Since Colby was riding a mule, we left one pack with him and brought my pack that Sarah and I would take turns wearing up the hill. Sarah was a champion. She wore that pack forever and I only ended up wearing it about 1/4 of the third day because she said "no, I'm alright" everytime I offered to take it.

Once we had the first hour and a half under our belt, we stopped for a lengthy rest and half of a banana. The banana gave me strength and helped my terrible stomach ache. Hugo fell asleep and when we woke him, he told us to go on. So we chose a steady pace and began to climb, looking down every now and then to see Hugo still snoozing on the rock below. The view was incredible and I could hardly believe that mere hours earlier we were at the bottom of the mountain. Sarah and I made it to the top in three hours and 40 minutes - A real accomplishment, considering Hugo told us it would take six.

Colby arrived about 40 minutes later and we walked back to Cabanaconde for breakfast and then took a bus back to Arequipa. We slept there and stayed an extra day, for an overnight bus to Cuzco did not sound inviting.

But, alas, we finally made it to Cuzco. It´s a beautiful city, full of history, cobbled roads, and tons of tourists. Every main street is littered with Peruvian woman offering "Masaje, Massage, Manicure, Pedicure" and people holding big binders full of paintings, "Would you like to look at my work? Ma'am, looking is free." They carry bracelets, hats, scarves, belts, necklaces, earrings, and many other things to sell. They have their kids come up to you holding finger puppets and make sad puppy faces when you say no. One little girl was punching and kicking Colby for a few minutes to try to coax him into buying some finger puppets. It was pretty funny, but you have to watch your pockets when they get that close. Those kids can be pretty sneaky. Fortunately, she didn't attempt to steal any of our cash.

Every two or three yards we all say, "No, Grasias." I've gotten a little bored of this, so now I usually just shake my head with a small smile or don't respond at all.

I have finally been able to fashion a map to show you all where exactly we are. I got this map off of google and then drew on it in Paint, so forgive the somewhat rough appearance. If you follow the numbers, you'll know exactly where we've been.



Either tomorrow or the next day, we will be heading into the jungle. If you want to know here exactly we're going, here is the website: www.sircadia-en.blogspot.com

I'm not sure if they have electricity or internet, so I will write down my experiences and update you all when I get the chance. But there is the possibility we could be away from computers for three or four months.

Love to all
Send your positive thoughts our way :)

Friends and Robbers

Sarah, Colby, and I are in Arequipa, Peru.

We left Cerro Azul with Justin, but when we arrived in the nearby down of Cañete, he became irritated because Sarah asked someone where the bus station was. He felt like we didn´t believe that he knew where he was going (because he had been there earlier that day). In reality, it was a simple question. It´s important to talk to as many people as you can in order to practice and improve your spanish. So, Justin walked ahead and we followed, but then Colby saw the bus station across the street that Justin passed. We shouted to him and he lifted his hand as if to say, "I don´t give a shit", and so we turned and he kept walking. We went to the bus station to arrange the ride to Pisco and some Peruvian women starting talking to us about a "alto(tall) gringo" who was apparently looking for us. We are not horrible people and we never intended to ditch him, so Colby went to look, but we never found him. This was quite uncomfortable. As difficult as it was to travel with him, I would never want to part ways in that fashion. He didn´t have a phone and we really had no way to find him, so we moved on.

We arrived in Pisco and arranged to take a tour of a National Reserve in the nearby town of Paracas. The tour had potential to be interesting; we saw some beautiful beaches, dolphins, and pelicans like 20 yards away from us. Unfortunately when we stopped for lunch in a fishing town, we had nothing to eat but expensive food that tasted awful. The food kind of ruined the whole tour for me. But, we ended up meeting some friendly guys from Quebec who we met up with later for drinks. This was the beginning of disaster.

Sarah, Colby, and I met a Belgium guy named Denis at our hostal and he came out to the Plaza de Armas (which is in every city and is essentially the center of the town) with us to meet Sam and Sabastian (fellows from Quebec). From there we found a bar so we could enjoy some Pisco Sours.

Random Fact: Pisco is a brandy that is made with grapes. So, it´s a liquer, but it´s like wine because they make it with grapes - I think. A Pisco Sour tastes very much like a Margarita. But better.

The six of us sat at a table and talked animatedly. I love listening to french accents and our new friends were very comical, especially with Colby there. We had a lot of fun, but Sam and Sabastian had to leave early in the morning so we exchanged information and said good night. Then, we went to this weird backyard-style bar where Denis ordered us this Pisco-Wine mixture. Soon after this, it was time for me to go to bed. Sarah and Denis went to another bar and Colby and I took a moto taxi (which is a motorcycle with this covered two-wheel attachment thing which makes it look like a tiny three-wheeled car) back to our hostal.

In the morning, the front desk of our hostal had Sarah´s bag because she had left it in the lobby at some point. She was missing her camera and about 30 Soles. We spent the better part of the day trying to figure out if we would be able to get her camera back somehow by retracing our steps and such. Around 4 o´clock in the afternoon, Sarah and Denis left to go to the last bar they attended. Sarah came back less than two minutes later and said, "I just got mugged, at gun point."

It´s one thing to be mugged in an abandoned alley after dark, but to be mugged at gun point in broad daylight with kids and people all over the street? This is ridiculous. Unbelievable. And of course, they got away with it, which will only reinforce this type of behavior. The Pisco police force were only present in the Plaza de Armas (which is BS). Most other places, there are generally police on every block. A nearby Hostal owner saw the robbery and tried to run the two guys down because if tourists are always hearing about muggings on that specific corner, no one will come to his hostal! He said that this has happened before and he caught up to the guys and told them to give him the purse. The muggers said, "I will kill you." But the hostal owner just said, "Well you better kill me because if you don´t, I´m going to kill you." And he was able to return the purse to it´s owner.

Yikes. This was quite traumatic. After dealing with the police and everything, we had to stay another night in stupid Pisco. Even though I know that could potentially happen in any city, I never want to go back to Pisco again.

Next, we took a bus to Nazca, which is famous for the Nazca Lines (if you want to know what they are, use wikipedia). Our hostal owner tried very hard to sell us a tour, but we were mainly focused on getting to Arequipa. So we spent the night and next day in Nazca before getting on a nine hour overnight bus to Arequipa. The over night bus was miserable, but we made it to Arequipa eventually after a bumpy, twisty, car-sickly sort of excursion.

Arequipa is a beautiful city. It´s the second largest in Peru has many cathedrals and massive old buildings. It is very well maintained and we have enjoyed exploring a bit. There are two Canyons nearby: Colca Canyon and Cotahousi Canyon. They actually aren´t that close, but they only way you can get to them is from Arequipa. Cotahousi is the deepest known Canyon in the world - more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. I really would like to go to Cotahousi, but it´s a twelve hour bus ride to get there and I don´t know if I´m that determined to go there on this particular trip. If I ever come back to Peru, I will definitely go to Cotahousi Canyon. Tomorrow we are going to attempt to schedule a 3 day tour of Colca Canyon, which is only five hours from here. It´s expensive, but I think it will be worth it. We get to hike into the Canyon and stay at different little towns.

After this, I believe we´ll be headed to Cuzco (another lengthy overnight bus ride) which is close to the farm we will be settling at for a while. I´m excited to be in one place for a while. Constantly moving all the time is quite exhausting.

Things I Miss From The US:

-Bathrooms with toilet paper, soap, toilet seats, and some way to dry your hands. I also miss flushing my toilet paper down the toilet, because in Peru, this is a big no no. Only human waste is permitted to go down the toilet and you are provided with a waste basket. In general, some restrooms have toilet seats, but they almost never have toilet paper or soap. And you must pay 50 centimos to use the toilets in bus stations and other public places. If you pay, they give you like the smallest amount of paper and this little reciept. I find this hystarical.

-My pillow

-My birkenstocks

-Seat belts - Most taxis do not have seat belts in the back seat

-Enforced driving laws - The driving is actually quite interesting to me. I´m curious about the accident statistics in Peru compared to the United States. Or statistics about road rage. Peruvians use their horns to warn people when they approach an intersection, to make themselves known when passing close to another car, and also in annoyance if other cars aren´t moving. But I haven´t seen many people yelling angrily. When we get cut off in the states, this is an uproar. When you get cut off in Peru, someone has simply out maneuvered you.

-Free water at restaurants - You have to pay for water, so we always bring our own

-Freshly ground coffee - Although coffee is grown all over the country, almost every place serves instant coffee. There are two options when ordering coffee 1. Café 2. Café con Leche. Coffee or coffee with milk. Well, if you were thinking that café con leche is instant coffee in water with milk on the side, you would be mistaken. They bring you hot milk to mix with your instant coffee. Some people might like it, I definitely do not. Today, Sarah and I found some nice coffee shops with espresso and peruvain coffee. It was nice.

QUICK STORY:
Today at breakfast, I was sitting in my chair and the waiter came over to deliver our coffees. All of a sudden, I fell completely through my chair. All of the wooden pieces fell through the frame of the chair and it was as if I had gotten stuck in a bucket. I wasn´t hurt, it was just so so funny. The breakfast cafe did not seem to think so. They brought over the manager who spoke english to apologize. They gave me a free breakfast. It was excellent.

The Mafia

Colby and I decided to leave Lima and travel South to the town of Cerro Azul (blue mountain) with Sarah and Justin; we met them at Hitchhikers and they have similar immediate travel plans. Obviously, we have only known them for two or three days, which can make traveling difficult. I thought we were going to be traveling as a threesome- Colby, Sarah, and I. Somehow, Justin jumped on the bandwagon. This would usually be okay, but the more people there are, the more difficult it is to make decisions and get along. Even though our relationship is in the stage of infancy, it is still hard to say, "Hey, I don´t want to travel with you anymore because you`re annoying and you create conflict in most situations."

But, of course, this is not an impossible task. My loyalties are to Colby and this trip is for our experience and not to insure the comfort and happiness of some random guy we met in a hostal.

However, Justin is quite interesting. His beliefs are new to me and I enjoy listening to them, but he is very intense. He conveys his beliefs as fact and doesn`t care or accept any other way of thinking.

Ahh frustration, what a powerful emotion. When someone refuses to validate your bliefs or simply refuses to understand, it creates anger and resentment that is hard to let go of. And why should you when you have no attachment to the source of frustration.

Aside from differences in belief systems, frustration manifests itself in many other forms. The language barrier, for example, can be a little frustrating.

Honestly, I am so excited to be learning more and more spanish everyday that I don´t easily get frustrated. It`s very helpful to ask about a word I don´t understand and sometimes it´s easy for them to pantomime or use a different word to explain the meaning. Body language is so important! And communicating with the locals has been really fun.

I have one particular experience that was quite memorable.

Colby, Sarah, Justin, and I went down to the beach so Colby could find a place to rent a surfboard and the rest of us could look around and enjoy the sunshine. We started asking some of the vendors if they knew the best way to rent a surfboard. We came across a table selling jewelry and some Peruvian guys drinking beer. So we inquired about the board and looked at some rings and bracelets. I decided to buy a bracelet for 2 soles (less than one american dollar). So we hung out there a bit and then went to have some Ceviche (fish cooked with only lemon and citrus, so technically it´s kind of raw. But so yummy. Colby lost his appetite at the mere thought of Ceviche. Ha, whoops). As we´re eating, Justin tells me that these guys we´ve been talking to are a part of the Mafia. Colby said they told him the same thing, which is sort of funny and a little astonishing, but not really scary since it´s daylight, we´ve been having polite conversation and joking with them a bit. So we finish our food and sit near the water to watch Colby do some surfing. After he got out, we walked back past the table and Colby started talking to our new mafia friends. Most of them speak some English and one of them is apparently the resident "drunk shaman". Interesting. He asks us about our travels and other random things and then we start talking about speaking spanish. He told me that he understands me and if I speak spanish and not english I will learn a lot.

Colby got into the ocean with his shirt on so he was really wet while we were talking to our friends. The shaman kept making fun of him and finally told him to take it off. He would pick up the shirt and say, "mojado" (wet) and pull a face about how disgusting it was and then drop it back down. He kept giving Colby such a hard time that Colby said "¿Tengo su polo?", roughly meaning "Can I have your shirt then?" And what do you know, the man takes off his shirt and gives it to Colby. So funny. Then the guy tries to get Colby to give him his board shorts, and it was just so great. He didn´t, obviously, but it was so funny.

The Shaman guy was talking to me and he says "Listen to me" and "Look at me" frequently. At one point, I got down to his eye level (he was sitting and I was standing) and I let him look into my eyes closely. He looked up to Colby and said "Limpia" and then put his fist to his heart. Everyone around him started saying, "Limpia corazón", meaning that I have a clean heart. It was very sweet. Then he told Colby we needed to have "hijos, hijos, hijos". Lots of kids. It was so funny.

Anyway, now we joke about how Colby has an in with the Mafia because he has the guys shirt.

Today we`re leaving Cerro Azul and heading to Pisco, which is just a little down the coast.

Peru

I have neglected to update my blog for many months. I have been on a mild technology strike which caused me to stop using my phone (for the most part) and facebook. I put a temporary hold on my communication with the outside world. For those that don't know, I moved to Newport for four months and I worked at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, as a ranger, with Colby. After that we moved back into my parents house for about two months while we planned our trip to South America.

We are in Peru.

We arrived in Lima on Saturday, March 12, 2011 - about two days ago. Traveling is tiring, but anticipation and excitement will often master exhaustion. As our plane touched down, I ran over the plan in my head.

Find a phone
Call hostal
Find a safe taxi
Get to hostal
Eat
Sleep.

I didn't realize that we would be arriving after dark and therefore did not arrange a hostal stay ahead of time. This wasn't my best idea. We got off the plane and found a few places to change our money into Peruvian currency - Nuevo Sol (which means New Sun) or Soles. The exchange rate is roughly 1 American dollar to about 3 Soles which is quite favorable (obviously).

After we recieved our money, we walked into the main airport area (whatever it's called) and immediately people started asking us questions, in Spanish of course, so all I could say was, "no gracias". We found a phone easily enough, but using it was quite another story. Pay phones are easy enough, right? Pick up the phone, put in the money, dial the number. Well, after wasting 3 soles, Colby tried to ask a woman nearby if she could help us. She was so nice! We couldn't understand her, but she was trying so hard to assist us. In the end, we gave her our money and she dialed the number for us. Success. We spoke to the hostal owner (who thankfully spoke six languages, including english) and he told us his address and what Taxi is safe to take. Green Taxi.

Well, Mr. Green Taxi was standing a few paces away and had a tag hanging around his neck telling us who he was and his company. He agreed to take us to Miraflores, about 30 minutes away for 20 American Dollars (many people accept American currency). The Taxi ride was very interesting. The driver spoke english, but with a thick accent and it was difficult to understand him. He would also throw in the spanish words when he didn't know them in english. He asked us how long we would be traveling in Peru and we tried to tell him we weren't sure, but he didn't understand so we told him we were staying for a month. Well, as it turns out, this taxi driver is also somewhat of a travel agent. He started speaking very quickly because he only had 30 minutes to tell us all the things we should do in Peru. This is the best way I can convey my experience to you (keep the heavy accent in mind):

Driver: jfdk añjfdka Peru in one month jkfdl ñajfdkñajkd ajña down the coast jkdañ jfdka fjdklajfdjd ajdkñajfkdañ jfdka Pisco for 3 days fjdkañ ljfdkajfñj fkdjfjka kjdlajkjj dajk da Pisco for 3 days jfdka jfkjkfdj kakfjdk slañjkdñajk dajfkdaj ñdajdakñ
Emily: Uh huh yeah
Colby: (looking out the window and paying no attention)
Driver: jfk dsjkña jfkdñajfdlkñ ajfdajñ lkdsajlkd go to Nazca to see the lines jfkdsañ jfdkañ jdk ñajfdkajdklña for 70 Dollars jdkalñjfd kajfd kañjjkd añjfda 2 days jkfdl ñajkfdñajfkda jkfñdjakjf dkajfjkk lñdjkkjd lajfkd

He continued down the Peruvian coast, up through Cuzco and then up the North coast. I started to focus on picking up how much something cost and the town names, which I usually recognized because I studied the country a bit. While I am paid attention to what the driver was saying, I was able to look out the window at the scenery, the different cars, the road, etc. As far as I could tell, there don't appear to be rules for the drivers to follow. Stop is more like slow down, dividing lines are simply a suggestion, and the right of way is given to whoever gets there first (and everyone is pretty aggressive). When a light turns to red, there appears to be a few seconds of leeway, or maybe if you decide you want to go, you just do. Also, I haven't really seen many stop signs and cars will just drive into traffic and hope the oncoming flow will come to a halt. It is very strange.

Today is Monday and were staying in a hostal called Hitchikers, I think. We have met a number of different travellers and I believe we are going to leave Lima in the next few days in order to travel down the South coast and then over to Cuzco where there is a farm we are interested in working at. Our new friend, Sarah, might be coming with us.

We are doing very well. It's nice to see our plans and our nerves beginning to settle. Everyone here is very helpful.

I will try to update my blog frequently with my experiences and our travels.