Deepest Canyon To The Highest Lake!

Picked up Sarah in Lima without any problems and then headed to Arequipa the next night. Arequipa is Peru´s second largest city located in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes, two of them active. Not the best place to build a city! After a day in Arequipa we headed to the Canyon Del Colca about 6 hours outside the city. On the way to the canyon we stopped at a lookout point for the Andes. For someone who is not acclimatized it would probably be a good idea to not run off the bus to relieve themselves at 12,000 ft. But of course I was only thinking about getting off the bus as fast as possible! The view from my ¨bathroom¨was probably as good as you get for a toilet. There was no time to enjoy it too much as I was rushed back onto the bus to head to the canyon. So I ran back on and sat down. What followed was my attempt to not scare Sarah and pass out from my sudden onset of altitude sickness. My head was spinning and I began to sweat. Nothing serious, but I thought I was going to be on the floor! After about ten minutes I regained my senses and was able to enjoy the great scenery down to the canyon. A word to anyone traveling to the mountains, take it easy and don´t run to the bathroom at 12,000 ft the first day you are there! This was the worst of our mishaps so that is a good thing. After a night in the city of Cabanaconde on top of the canyon we headed down. Walking downhill sounds a lot easier than it is! The paths clung to the sides of the canyon as they wound down to the bottom. 4 hours later we had reached our first destination. A small camp on the Rio Del Colca would be our home for two nights. We were in luck as our camp had natural hot springs down by the river. After two days of recovery we headed to Sangalle or ¨the oasis¨ located further down the river. In order to get there we had to wind our way up out of the canyon and back down again, no easy feat as we had already learned. This was another 4 hour hike. The scenery was amazing so it made our trekking much more exciting. My motivation was always to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill. I also was trying not to leave Sarah in the dust as I can be a little speedy. I think I managed to not make her too upset as she huffed and puffed her way up. But she did great and should really be proud of tackling such daunting hikes. I have to realize that not everyone loves the feeling of being absolutely exhausted and still wanting more. For me, thats when I feel most alive! After a night in the oasis we headed up out of the canyon on our toughest hike. I was about to feel absolutely exhausted and absolutely not wanting more! After three and a half hours I reached the top. It was not easy, but a great ending to our time in the canyon. This morning we made our way back to Arequipa and plan on leaving for Lake Titicaca tommorow morning. Many of the internet places do not have places to upload pics so I will put them up as soon as I can. Track me on the GPS!