Colca Canyon

So, we made it out alive, although I am painfully sore! The 3 day tour of the canyon was amazing, and it is perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We started the tour at 5am on Tuesday morning, meeting up with Marcello and TinTin, a crazy french duo that would accompany us for the first two days (although not into the canyon) The four of us arrived in Yanque to meet our guide, Natalio, and we enjoyed an afternoon of site seeing and walking around the town. We even got to see some pre-Incan ruins that were up on the hillside–pretty crazy, they have ruins just laying around everywhere here! Unfortunately, Steve got a little sick again, so he and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and waiting for the nurses to make a personal hostel call, complete with medicine, all for 5 soles…the equivelant of $1.50 or something. Anyway, we ended the night early because we had to get up at 4:30 the following morning….OUCH!

Morning came quickly, as it always does, and the five of us set off to wait for the bus to la Cruz del Condor, a popular viewing site for condors on the edge of the canyon. Of course, none of us had realized that a bunch of festivals started this weekend, so we ended up standing at that same bus stop for two hours, waiting for a bus to come that finally had room. Again, painful, but a good cultural experience, right?! Long story short, we arrived at the view site, hung out for awhile, and bid a cheerful goodbye to our French friends as their tour ended here. After they left, Steve and I hopped back on the bus with Natalio and headed to the small town of Cabanaconde, where we would then begin our descent into the canyon.

Now, before I continue, let me tell you a bit about this canyon. El Canon de Colca, as it is called here, was where the name “Coca Colca” came from, and is also one of the deepest canyons in the world, at like 3100 meters or something. The indigenous people here heavily rely on coca leaves, but in an entirely different way than anyone in the States has ever heard of. Coca leaves are what eventually leads to cocaine, of course, but down here, they use coca leaves for food, for tea, for anesthesia, for alcoholic drinks, for everything. They believe that if you chew on the leaves–which Steve and I both did a number of times!–it will help with altitude sickness, and even supress hunger. We had a lot of mate de coca, or coca leaves in water as tea for the same reason, and it is surprisingly good. Our guide even showed us how you can mix the leaves with this other plant,and if you eat enough, you tongue can go numb (Steve tried it and it worked). Unfortunately, I suppose we would both test positive for cocaine now, but hmmm……..

So yeah, we set off into the canyon, hardpressed to take our eyes of the scenery. Natalio practiced the tradicional “giving thanks” by burying three perfect coca leaves in the ground, facing the sun, so as to thanks to Mother Earth for allowing us a safe voyage. Pretty cool stuff.

Anyway, we made it down to the river, crossed it, ate lunch, and headed back up 300 meters to a small town in the middle of the canyon. They were preparing for those same festivals, so there were a lot of people coming and going up and down the canyon, from Lima and other parts of Peru. Let me tell you, I have never been as impressed by the strength of people asI was then. I always brag how strong Steve is and all that when he climbs, but these people were unbelievable. We saw people carrying everything from food to shoes, from bass drums to kitchen tables up the walls of the canyon, all in preparation for this fiesta. Sure, I like to climb and all that, but the day I carry a kitchen table up at 1200 meter canyon wall is the day hell freezes over…simply not possible for me! It was amazing! Not only that, but you would see elderly woman–maybe 80s or even 90s–hiking up the canyon as well, carrying their own belongings in a woven blanket on their back. No one complains, no one worries, and they just do what they have to do. I was very impressed.

So we arrived at the “oasis” as it is called, the hostel where we would be spending our night before our climb out this morning. Not quite an oasis, but I guess you can’t expect much when ever single thing has to be carried into the canyon by mule or by hand (although Steve was pretty pissed that the toilets didn’t have toilet seats) After a quick dinner of spaghetti and soup, we passed out at like 8…..we are such party animals!

We woke up this morning at 4:15 and got the hike moving at 4:30. Of course, the sun hadn’t even thought about waking up yet, but it turned out the be a blessing for me. I was sweating like crazy, pouring buckets even, and if the sun had been up, I have no idea what I would have done. It was beautiful, however, and as the sun rose, we were able to see the clouds sitting in the middle of the canyon below us. Que bonita!

So, as you can tell, we made it out alive, and I didn’t even need to ride a donkey out–although the thought was tempting at times! We are headed to town called Puno tomorrow, located on the Peruvian side of Lake Titcaca. From there, we have plans to see a lot of the islands, including the floating islands, and catch up on some sleep!

Ciao!