Misti Mountain - Arequipa Peru

Day 1
We scheduled our "4-wheel drive" taxi service for 8am to give us an early start on Mt. Misti. The road which supposedly requires 4 wheel drive vehicle was washboarded and could have been driven in almost any vehicle. Upon arriving at the end of the road the weather was perfect and you could see the whole mountain, currently at 12,000 feet only 7,000 to go to the summit. The guy in charge of the mountain taxi service tried to give us instructions on where the trail went but as we speak different languages it was basicially a bunch of pointing at the mountain with reference to a ledge and a yellow spots of grass. Greta understood but I took it on faith.


As we started off we were carrying all of our water for the two day trek and knowing that we needed to conserve water our pace was VERY slow to keep our bodies from overheating and losing water via sweating. The great thing about going at such a slow pace is that your heart rate stays low and you don't need to stop for breaks to rest. So at our very consistent and slow pace we climbed 4,000 feet to 15,900 feet in four hours where we set up camp for the night. We were both very happy with this progress and thought this put us in perfect shape for an easy summit the following morning.

Now neither Greta or I have any high altitude experience to speak of, we really just thought it would be fun to hike to the top of a really high non-technical mountain. We've read that you are supposed to acclimate to higher altitudes at a rate of 2,000 feet per day, but we also were told that everyone does this mountain in two days. The hiking to where we set up camp went great and we went 1000 feet higher than the first base camp because it was early in the day and we were feeling good. But as soon as we stopped hiking and started setting up camp and cooking dinner the action of bending over caused both of us to get headaches immediately. Being the first time either of us had really felt the side effects of high altitude sickness and the feeling of not knowing what could happen was scary. What if we had camped lower at the first base camp, would we be fine? But that would have left over 4,000 feet for tomorrow. And of course the obvious question, if we were feeling as we did at a measly 15,900 feet, how in the world were we going to make it to 19,100 feet the following day. These were some of the wonderfull thoughts running through our splitting heads as we waited for the following days hike.

On the bright side, we were blessed with excellent weather. We were camped between cloud layers which made for a spectacular sunset that lasted much longer than the sunsets we are accustomed to. And in the middle of the night the clouds dissappeared entirely leaving a glowing maze of the Arequipa city lights 8,000 feet below us.

Day 2
In the morning we packed light packs, leaving the tent, sleeping bags, pads, cooking equipment, and misc. other gear at camp and started up the trail, both of us feeling marginally better but still anxious about how the rest of the climb would go. The first thousand feet went as the first 4,000ft did and we were at 17,000 within an hour. 18,000 feet per the map should put us on the rim of the crater at which point we were told the trail would split and we could go right and see lava in the bottom of the crater and then go left to climb the last 750 feet to the summit.

Climbing the last thousand feet to the crater rim was a much harder task than we could have imagined and even at our snails pace I could feel my heart racing, I'm assuming because in the oxygen deprived air it needed to pump higher rates of blood to get the needed oxygen to my muscles. Putting one foot in front of the other, we gained the crater rim. From here we could clearly see the big metal cross marking the top of the mountain and the other trail going off to the right towards the crater. At this point I think the only thing on earth that could have gotten me to walk the extra distance into the crater would be the chance to see lava. As we hiked into the crater and the bottom came into view it was disapointing to see not lava but a giant sulfur vent. It is the largest sulfur vent I've seen, but it was no lava. After the detour to the crater, we were now standing under the last 700 feet climb to the summit, but we were so exhausted that it looked like forever away. No option other than to take one step and focus on the next rather than look at how far it was to the top.

Making the summit and knowing that we didn't have to climb anymore was about the best feeling ever. We had clear views of the mountains on either sides of us and sitting on the top eating and drinking while looking down at the world was quite peaceful.

It had taken us eight hours of climbing to reach the summit and after a 20 minute break on top we were both looking forward to getting down to a lower elevation. The top portion of the trail down to the crater rim had to be walked but once at the crater rim we were able to walk/ski down a scree field to our camp in only about half an hour. Being back at camp was also a big relief and we took a proper lunch as we packed up. It was on our way down the scree field that we saw the first signs of other people on the mountain, until that point we had had it all to ourselves. After lunch and packing we made a quick decent down the trails and another long scree field making it back to the parking lot in three hours and fourty five minutes from the top including the time to pack camp and eat.

We were at the pickup spot before 2pm and the ride wasn't scheduled till 5 so after a snack break we figured the obvious thing to do was start hiking towards town. We had almost made it to the main road when we saw the Nissan Pathfinder pull in about an hour early. I think the driver was happy we'd walked out and saved him an hours worth of driving and we were happy he was an hour early. All worked out very well.

as a side note we were very happy with the service and info we got at the camping store we booked our driver through so we'll throw a plug in for them. The store is called Peru Camping Shop and their email is perucampingshop@gmail.com and they are located at Jerusalen 410 - Cercado, Arequipa Peru. We worked with Wilmar Diaz and his english was perfect.

Getting back to town early the shower was refreshing and after a quick dinner of some leftovers we were off to an early nights sleep.

Arequip

To get from Puno to Arequipa, we were told it was going to be another six hour bus ride. When I did my research on traveling times before the trip, most people said it was only four hour trip by bus. Oh well, another two hours wasn't bad. Little did we know it was going to turn into an eight hour bus trip. Anywho, so we get on in the morning (we decided to take the bus ride during the daylight this time to see the scenary) and immediately wrinkle our noses and stare at eachother. Anyone who knows us knows that we have pretty low standards as far as cleanliness and comfortability goes, but this bus was disgusting. It had just rained and the front window where we had taken our seats on the upper deck was leaking and dripping on my arm and Graham's toes. Since the bus had several leaks, there was mildew and mold growing on the carpeting areas beneath the windows and puddles of water at our feet. The seats themselves looked like they hadn't been cleaned in weeks - there were chip crumbs, nasty looking stains and leftover food everywhere. I put on my rainjacket and sat like I was in a straight jacket, not wanting to move should I accidentally come in contact with the seat and mold. Graham immediately comments, "We need to find some Vitamin C in the next town." I don't think Vitamin C would ward off what we were going to come in contact with on the bus. It was beyond any pill or injection you could get to fight a disease or illness. We should have known better when we saw that there weren't any tourists on the bus when we left the bus terminal. In fact, there were hardly any people on the bus at all. Maybe ten total. This is why it would become an eight hour bus ride, for the next eight hours we stopped at every street corner for all least 15 minutes trying to fill the bus. At one stop we were there for an hour picking up people. I couldn't take it any longer - I had to go to the bathroom. Based on the experience I had last time, I was a little nervous. The door was hard to open like the last, but I felt like I could open it with little effort so I closed the door, and hovered above the toilet. Then I noticed the window - there was no secrecy to going to the bathroom on this bus - everyone on the street, including the woman making lunch on the corner, could watch me go to the bathroom. Wonderful. I didn't really care.

About four hours into the bus ride, the driver pulls over for a rest stop. Everyone gets out and all the men, including Graham, which had to be about 20 people or so, line up on the dirt pullout behind the small store, unzip their flies and go. I really wanted to take a picture but I didn't. I found a small outhouse and squated over a hole in the ground. I love how simplistic things are out here. After seeing the condition of the outhouse (watch your step so you don't step on a turd!) I understood why the men went outside.

After about another hour we stopped again, this time at an inspection station. A few men with weapons start rummaging through people's packs, thankfully not ours, and ended up taking a woman's box. "Mi comeda, mi comeda!" "My food, my food!" she kept yelling. It was definitely a little worrisome.

The most annoying part about the entire trip though was that the driver allowed a man with a loud speaker who ranted on and on about poor sick children for over an hour. Graham and I tried to pretend like we were sleeping but he'd get right in your face with his speaker and say in Spanish, "Do you care about the sick kids. For only $$ you can save a child's life." At one point he was talking about us because I heard him say "touristas". Annoying. To drown out the man with the loud speaker, the driver cranked up the music which was almost as loud as the man with the loud speaker.

After finally arriving in Arequipa we gathered some beta about climbing a 19,000ft peak in the area, El Misti, and strolled through the markets.

Puno Cont.

After the long uncomfortable bus ride, we arrived in Puno, home of Lake Titicaca. I have to say that I was a little disappointed. Sure, the lake is huge, but for some reason I was expecting something a little more scenic. It didn't really matter to us - we were just happy to be off of the bus and into a new place to explore. After walking around for about an hour, we checked into a hostel, dropped off our bags and walked towards the water to check out options for exploring the island on the lake. They had some artificial islands close in which would be a half day tour and natural islands farther out that would take the entire day. We weren't thrilled about visiting artificial islands or spending the entire day on a boat, so we grabbed breakfast and walked around the city instead. In doing so, we found one of the most impressive markets we have seen thus far. We're pretty sure it happens every day because the following morning we woke up and saw the same thing. There were blocks upon blocks of people selling fresh fruit, vegetables, raw meat and fish and live animals for consumption. Walking past some guinnea pigs, I was drawn to their squeaking. Oh! It must be a pet shop! But then I remembered the guinnea pig (aka coy) listed on the dinner menu the other night. And then I saw the crated chickens. They were all staring into my eyes, haunting me. Save me! Save me! I asked Graham if he could create a diversion while I set them free. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along. I told him that I didn't think I could stomach him eating a guinnea pig and he agreed. It just didn't seem right.

In the afternoon we found a boat/museum to explore. The boat had been shipped over from England in 2000+ pieces a couple decades ago. It use to run off of alpaca dung but has since been converted to diesel. Pretty cool!! They are still in the process of restoring it but in the meantime you can sleep on the boat for 50 bucks a night. That evening we found a pizzeria to drink beer and play cards in. Had some of the best woodfired pizza we've probably ever had. For some reason pizza is a big deal in Peru - everywhere you look there are pizzarias with wood-fired ovens.

Puno

After visiting Maccu Pichu we took a train to Ollampampa (or something like that) where we left immediately in a minibus taxi back to Cusco. After arriving in Cusco we walked around the city and updated the blog while we waited for a 10pm bus that would take us to Puno which is home to Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America.

The bus ride from Cusco to Puno was everything less than pleasant. The bus was clean which was a good thing but for an overnight 6 hour ride, the seats were very uncomfortable. The back of the seats reclined quite a bit but there was no where to put my feet. Most people had a bar to rest their feet on but the area where my bar should have been was occupied by a heater box. Initially I thought this would be a good thing because I'm always freezing and it was cold but they didn't turn it on for hours. When they did turn it on it felt like an inferno - I melted the tip of one of my sandals trying to find placement for my feet.

Then there was the bathroom. Because we were traveling at night, the entire bus was dark. None of the walkways were illuminated so I had to walk by brail to the bottom floor where the bathroom was. Pulling on the door to open it, it wouldn't budge so I assumed someone was using it. I went back to my seat and watched someone else go downstairs to the bathroom with success. Weird. A local waved me to follow me down to the bathroom with him so I followed. It's not what you think - he was trying to help me get in the bathroom. He pulled on the door and it wouldn't budge. Then he leaned his huge body into it and finally got it to open. Yes! But there was no light. He turned on his cell phone to illuminate the toilet bowl. I caught a glimpse of the bowl and entered at my own risk. I couldn't tell if the seat was up or down or if there even was a seat. I had no idea what I was hovering over, so I squated and went...I half expected to feel a warm sensation run down my leg because I didn't know if I was peeing into something or onto something. Since I couldn't open the door myself, I had a fear of closing in and not being able to get out so I held the door open while I peed. Finally feeling some relief I went back to my seat and tried to get some sleep. Overall I probably slept one hour that night. Graham later pointed out to me that the toilet I peed into was really just a hole in the floor that went directly onto the street.

Circumstances like this is what makes traveling so much fun - you never know what to expect and half the fun is not knowing what's going to happen next.

We're alive!

Just got back from a three day trek late last night, woke up at 4am to visit Maccu Pichu this morning. The cell service isn't very good here so we're not able to post much. We will update the blog as soon as we can! Peru is awesome!

Maccu Pichu

All I can say about the ruins right now is wow. Holy crap. Words cannot describe how impressive the ruins are so we will just post pictures later and you can sit there in awe like we did. We met up with a couple our age from San Francisco and spent most of the day running into them, exchanging stories and beta of things to do and see. We´re pressed for time so this entry is short. We´re off to Puno (Lake Titicaca), the largest lake in South America!

Salkantay Trek - Day 3

At 4am or so we awoke to the sound of roosters but rolled over and tried to sleep another hour because it was still dark outside and had just started to rain. Around 5:30am we awoke to mist/rain but decided to hike anyway. The going was pretty straight forward - we followed a road down river, removing boulders along the way for passing vehicles. There was a huge drop off - we were amazed that vehicles even attempted to drive the road.

The weather improved significantly and by 9am we were both in shorts and t-shirts, drying out our tent and other gear on the outside of our packs. The scenary changed very quickly from mountain tundra to jungle-like vegetation. We spotted an avocado tree and beat the branches with my trekking poles until one fell and snagged a couple oranges as well. Walking past some of the locals in La Playa, we spotted a fruit that we thought was an orange but it turned out to be a very sweet fruit with a hard exterior (kind of like an egg shell), and an interior that looked like seeds housed in larve. It looked so weird that we went back to the person that sold it to us to make sure it was edible. Yep, it sure was and boy was it sweet! Really tasty but definitely wouldn´t be appealing to people in the States.

About three miles from the end of the hike we popped out at some ruins and got our first glimpse of Maccu Picchu. We snapped some photos, and made our long (3,000ft) descent in three miles (with a dog following us the entire way) to the train station at the end of our hike, only to find that the next tourist bus wouldn´t leave until the morning. Boo. So after hiking over 14 miles, we had to hike another 6-7 miles in the dark along the railroad tracks to get into town. We were both extremely sore, tired and hungry. The plus side of walking the tracks vs. taking the train was that we got to see some wild parrots and fireflies! After arriving in Agua Calientes, we found our hostel (thank God they had a room as we arrived a day early) took a cold shower (the hot water ran out after 2min) and spoiled ourselves to a three course meal that was delicious. We walked around town and crashed hard at 11pm. Oh, by the way, the ice cream (gelato) is to die for!