Day 7: The Cañon del Colca

We both slpet horribly last night. It was pretty freezing in the room and we really had not done anything. We were rudely awakened by our alarm at 4:15am. That's kinda near midnight for those of you who don't recognize the time. We rushed to et and to bus station, hopped on of hte last 3 seats and left Chivay.

Around 6:30 we arrived at the Cruz del Condor. We were among 4 people at our look out. At this point, the canyon is about the size of the grand canyon I tihnk. It is famous for the humongous and beautiful condors that fly there in the morning. We watched them int he bitter cold, which turned out to be worth it. There were 5 in total, and 2 were bigger and had white backs. I'm guessing either adults or males. After about 2 hours, man tourist groups started coming, but the birds had for the most part stopped flying. suckas. After pulling a foot and using a nice rock formation as a toilet, I managed to spot a public bus. All had been private and expensive tour buses. We hopped on, and went the 20 minutes to Cabanaconde.

We left our bags in a hostel and climbed down the canyon. It took about 2 to 3 hours, and that was at our I-can't-lt-the-other-be-faster pace. We stopped once for a brief drink and that's all. We arrived around 1pm and had planned to turn around at about 2 and go back up. Berry was feeling sick and I was feeling intimidated by the canyon, so we planned to take the mules back up. Unfortunately, there were no mules, and had there been, we could not have taken them since it was too sunny. Instead, we strolled down to the river, and swam. It was unbelievably cold, seeing as it was a fast moving mountain stream, but, stubborn as the mules, we both did it. Then we slept in the sun on the rock until the mountain blocked the sun. We got dressed again, and hung out in the little town for a while. Berry made quite a bit of small talk with the locals, who were very nice. They told us we could leave in 20 minutes, at 4, when the mules were rested.

At 4, we went to wait. At 4:30, the guy came an said soon enough. At 4:45 a different guy said our mules were coming downt he other mountain. I laughed cause I thought he was joking, but apparently he wasn't. We got under way arund 5:15.

Now I don't know if you are having troubl picturing me on a mule, but you should be. I felt more ridiculous then I looked, but Berry was nice enought to take pictures, so we'll see. We were guided by two siblings who basically sprinted after the mule, and made us look ridiculous. THey went up the mountain faster than we could go down. Damn. About half way up we met there 5 year old brother, who, had I not seen him, suld easily have been 15. Luckily, the South American time turned out ot be advantageous. We saw the sun setting over the mountains, retty unmissable. Of course, and I don't know how technological you are, but of course once the sun had set, it was dark. Not like oh the street lights will guide us, no like let's hope the mules can see farther than I can. As it turns out, mine started down a non-path, and I was fairly sure I was goign to die, but then the 15 eyar old boy ran down the moutnain had herded him the right way. Close call. AS we got farther up, I really had gotten the hang of it. Then, there were parts where we had to go down. I did not have the hang of anythign, it turned out. I was about 1 sec or 1 more sweat droplet on my hands from falling face first under the mule. Luckily, it all worked out. Finally we were back. I tried to call home to congrtulte my sis, but I think they've forgotten me already. We got a beer, and waited til 8:45, when we got on the night bus back to Arequipa. As you might expect, I was pretty scared (see beer, above) about the night bus.