The Santa Cruz Trek - a muddy ramble

We are now exploring the northern area of Peru, based out of Huaraz. Our first adventure here was the four day Santa Cruz treak, a popular, relatively easy hike through the Huascaran National Park. The most difficult part about the trek was obtaining our Park pass, for about $20 per person. At the Park office they told us we had to have a guide to do any trekking or climbing within park boundaries. Apparently there has been a recent policy change, as of that morning, and a man in a suite and tie seemed quite adamant. After a second opinion, we returned to the Park office in the afternoon. Kevin got a bit argumentative, and through a good bit of persuasion, we convinced one of the officials to give us the passes. He warned us not to tell our friends though. Once in the park, it was absolutely gorgious. Towering peaks, hanging glaciers, deep river gorges. There is a tree that grows here called the queñoa, which has bright red bark that peels off, somewhat like a madrone, and fanned out like an oak. After the first few days we began to understand the weather patterns in the rainy season. Beatiful mornings until about 3 or 4 pm when the clouds roll in and there is a good solid down pour. The weather changed though on our third day and those beautiful mornings dissapeared, it just rained. Now the continuous rain added to all the glacial runoff on the trail, making it a muddy mess. Unlike the States, livestock in Peru roam free, but they roam free in these isolated, contained valleys, so adding to the mud is all of their excrement. This was also the most crowded hike we´ve been on. Seeing two or three groups of foreingers a day, somtimes with donkeys and porters, was a bit of a change. The local attitude was different also. Upon exit of the trek all of the children we encountered blocked the path and told us ¨Basta! Dame carmelo" or "Stop! Give me candy". Also after some elderly women gave us some unecessary directions they required a propina or tip. We´ve tried to refrain from giving charity in the form of refined sugar though.

We are trying to decide what to do with ourselves for the last week. Climbing seems to be an option if the weather holds. There may be an affordable ice climbing clinic just outside Huaraz.

Out of the Colca... A bit skinnier

Five days in the Cañon del Colca and we are both feeling a bit weary. After conquering El Misti and Chachani, I think we felt a bit invincible, but trekking amidst cacti, cliff sides, and swinging rope bridges, we have both been humbled. The five days took us from a low point of around 2000 meters to a high of 5100, with many dips, rises, and dives between. It took a full day to descend into the second deepest canyon in the world. Just like the Grand which we know in the states, the Colca is also hot, and arid. To our surprise and horror, it also harbors desert creatures. Day two, around 7 am Kevin let out a high pitched squeal amidst a spew of cursing. There was a scorpion in our tent, wriggling between the sleeping pads all night with us. The previous evening in camp we heard voices approaching. One word which stuck out was ¨gringos.¨ Kevin hollered back, ¨si, gringos!¨The two fellows, hiking in the moonlight, gave us a few apples, and we gave them a drink of rum.

The apples were appreciated due to our tight supply of food. We debated using an ATM before we took off. Chosing not to, we started the trek with about 80 soles (around $25), figuring around 40 soles for a bus ride back, and a bit for a burro to haul our packs over the high point of Paso Cerrani. In the end, los burros y arrieros (guides) seemed too busy with an alfalfa harvest to help, so we saved a few soles and hiked the pass with our packs in two days rather than one. After hiking the 5100 m pass (approx. 17,500 ft), we learned the villagers probably didn´t want to help us because the pass is brutally steep. Although we saved soles without the burro, we spent them later on buses and taxis leaving us with literally one sole on our return to Arequipa.

Fortunately we carried plenty of dried food for the trip, and Maggie got to eat mashed potatoes for her birthday (mixed down with oriental soup for flavor).

Day 3 of the 5 day trek, we awoke in the town of Miña (where we failed to hire a burro). It is set at the top of a steep river gorge and was misty and cold. As we wandered the mud hut alleys looking for someone named Alejandro Nina´s hijo we ran into a couple of jolly characters. Jolly as in drunk, at about 7 am. They were father and son and we had to turn our heads not to get sick from their pungent breath. Everyone in the town was busy with harvest, except for these two, and they surely weren´t going to get us up the pass. After detaching ourselves from their conversation of slurred spanish (try understanding that!), we started our day late. This is the point in the trek we both started feeling a bit queezy, be it fatigue or failing to boil our water long enough. The priorities of the next few days were conserving our dwindling supply of tp and trying not to think of the real food. Our conversations turned to pizza, syrup soaked pancakes, and even a comparison of the Big Mac to a Whopper.

Arriving in Chachas on day 5 (one day later than planned) we were greeted by very generous welcomers who would have put us up and fed us dinner due to our limited supply of funds. We met the town Father who immediately asked if we were Catolicos. Kevin told him he was Presbytarian, good answer. Next question of course was if we were married, ha ha. From Chacas there as a bus leaving for Andagua, our final destination. Due to our weary and somewhat sick condition, we chose to take it. It was a winding drive through the lava flows of the Valle de los Volcanes. It was one of two hair-raising bus rides that day, the other being the ten hour ride back to Arequipa through mountain passes on rocky, steep roads. Our mothers do not want to hear about it. We are recuperating in Arequipa, somewhat of a home base now, for the next couple days. Then it is off to more night buses back North toward Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca.

Chachani

Today is my birthday and during the last year I´ve reached new heights, 20,000 ft. Otherwise the reports that Chachani would be easier than el Misti were slightly exagerated. The base camp was at 17,500 ft. which in theory made the climb much easier, but even having spent a couple of nights at 16,000 ft., camping that high was a challenge. I developed a nasty altitude head ache almost immediately which made it nearly impossible to sleep. Maggie on the other hand was out like a rock, until we were forced out of bed at midnight. Although not technically difficult or extremely steep the route up the mountain consisted of a three pass system that required long traverses across steep seasonal glaciers. Waking up in the middle of the night allowed us to cross most of the snow while it was still cold and firm using crampons and ice axes. Our guide, Mikey from Zarate Expeditions chose not to give Maggie an ice axe. Instead he roped up to her waist with a loop around his down hill hand, giving her the feeling of being a child lead by a leash. No sooner had they roped up, just after 3 am, Maggie tripped over he crampons and went sliding down the steep pitch. Mikey braced automatically first on his bamboo pole and sunk his axe, catching her like a pro. She says it was just to test the rope system. The only other group climbing with us were three Austrians and a Swiss. During the previous afternoon the guides went over the predictable weather patterns on the mountain and the predictable habits of the climbers as well. Just like clockwork the other group made it through the first pass before altidude sickness took it´s toll on two of them high on the second pass. One of the guides decended with them and we continued on to the summit with the remnants of their group. The weather also held true to the guides predictions. Just before dawn the wind started making conditions miserable. Frost started creeping out of every crease on our jackets and collected on our hair. The rest of the climb was quite brutal. even with two pair of gloves and socks my fingers and toes went numb. The only reward came during the descent, when the sun came out and we could see our surroundings. Typically the mountains are only visible in Arequipa for a couple of hours in the morning. Chachani was very aesthetically pleasing in comparison to El Misti, with more shimmering snow fields and outcroppings of vibrant volcanic rock poking through.

We´re off to the Colca Canyon now for five days of backpacking.

Monasterio Santa Catalina

The past few days, awaiting an ascent of Chachani on Saturday, Kevin and Maggie have become tourists. Today we toured the 16th c. convent where over 500 nuns lived in complete seclusion. We even saw the little windows where they passed "diverse goods" (probably drugs) back and forth from the outside world. The convent was opened to the public in 1970, and although nuns still live there, they are no longer so secluded. The convent was built of sillar, the light colored volcanic stone primarily from the eruptions of Chachani. Because the old center of Arequipa is built mainly of sillar, it has been given the name of the White City. On a clear day (this time of year in the early morning before the afternoon thunderstorms) one can see the peaks of Chachani and El Misti set in the background.

In addition to visiting the convent there has been a lot of recuperation. Last night we went to return some empty bottles that had been collecting in our hostal for the deposit. The combination of our hobble, due to aching legs and the clunky rental boots Maggie is breaking in for climbing Chachani coupled with the empty bottles made us appear like English drunkards. The first day wasn´t so bad, but a searing pain has set into our calves. We deciced to take a break from Peru because of this and call an America Day. America Days were developed while I studied in Mexico by a friend of mine. Essentially we found directions to a shopping mall- movie theatre and looked at consumer goods and watched an english language film. Unfortunately breaking with true America Day tradition there was no McDonalds, only a Burger King. (I should mention that Maggie declined the fast food, she did however partake in the coca-cola and popcorn for only $2 at the theatre.)

Tomorrow we will try for Chachani with a loquacious Peruvian guide Mikey. After reading another travel blog by an Irish youth about his horror story of altitude sickness and not making it, we both have our doubts. Check back next week to see how we do.

El Misti - volcano lives up to its name

We looked at eachother, curled up and exhausted in our tent and said "wow, we just climbed a 19,000 ft volcano in Peru." That about sums it up. The three day adventure began with a bumpy (understatement) ride in a jeep through dessert grass lands, passing grazing vicuñas (relative of the llama). At the Aguada blanca damn we presented gifts of cigarettes, bread, and a newspaper (it is called a bribe) in order to pass through. After the jeep dropped us in the middle of absolutely nothing but ichu grass, we hiked about four hours to camp in the middle of dense fog, hoping we were approximately at the base. El Misti began day two at 4 am, ascending the steep scree slopes to an incredible sunrise. The weather worsened, and after a grueling 5 hour hike, it began snowing with distant rumbles of thunder at the peak. Better visibility would have been great, but we were still able to glimpse the vastness of the giant crater on top. Day three was a gorgious hike out through terraced farming communities, beautiful blooming flowers and deep canyons to navigate. We are both fascinated by how few people we saw - none, and also by how much trash and graffiti was at the Monte Blanco camp site. There are many resource management issues here. More adventures ahead - hopefully an ascent of Chachani at about 20,000 ft. in the next few days.

Lake Titicaca

It´s been a few days since we left Cusco. After taking the bus to the city of Puno we decided to take a tour of some of the Islands on the Peruvian side of the lake. We went to the floating islands first. Made out of layers of reeds by the Uro Indians the, floating islands typically house two or three families. Being so small Maggie mentioned that it seemed like an intrusion of privacy. The islands have capitalized on the tourism also, making as much money as they can off of boat rides and art made from the reeds. Although in the words from our copy of Lonely Planet "there really isn´t anything quite like it."

The island of Amantani was where we spent the night. With virtually no electricity and no hotels we ended up with a local family. This was one of the best experiences of the trip so far. It was a good look at the agricultural way of life that still dominates much of Peru. At sunset we climbed up to the two highest points on the island, pachatata y pachamama (father sun, mother earth, pretty much). The locals have descended from the Aymara who, through the centuries, lived very close to the Inca and it seems today many elements have blended. Quechuan language, their spiritual ideologies,etc. We learned a few phrases - alli-llanco = hello. yus-parda-sunki = thank you. It was fun. After a wild night dressed in the local clothing, we headed on to Taquile. Similar traditions, great trout for lunch. Now we are off to the arid climate of Arequipa.

Hasta luego!

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu was an amazing stop, even more spectacular than the last time. Arriving in Aguas Calientes we spent two nights in order to get a full day up at the ruins. In comparison to the dry season the rainy season is living up to it's name here. There has been sporadic rain since we left Cusco and all of the rivers are pushing their banks. I don't remember the Urubamba, which flows along the train tracks into Aguas Calientes, being gentle, but it is a fast, massive muddy Class V+ all the way. Our hotel is 3/4 of a mile from one of the rapids and you can still hear the roar. This is a change from the ruins which are a tranquil labyrinth. Unfortunately Maggie hasn't been feeling well. We've eaten exactly the same things, yet she has picked up a nasty bug somwhere and I'm still fine. She is gradually getting better and hopefully tomorrow wil se a full recovery.