Today started at the ridiculously early hour of 3am, when we were picked up for our one-day tour of Colca Canyon.
Going up, up, up
The impressive Colca Canyon is one of the deepest in the world, more than twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. It’s quite popular for tourists to come to Arequipa specifically to go on multi-day hikes into the canyon. Not being the sporty sort, we opted instead to book a bus tour to see some of the more popular spots. The distance from Arequipa meant that the tour left in the middle of the night.
In anticipation of this, we’d made it an early night, attempting to get four or five hours of sleep before our 2:30am alarm. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way, as we were all kept awake by Saturday night outdoor partying, music, people smashing bottles on the street, and a car alarm that sounded like an air-raid siren.
All that to say, when it came time to stagger onto the bus this morning, none of us were exactly in top shape. My stomach was still bothering me, too. So I swallowed some Gravol and curled up on the bus and dozed for the first few hours of the trip.
The bus climbed a series of winding roads across spectacular mountain passes. We drove through snow for the first hour or two, and I did catch a glimpse of the beautiful sunrise, though I wasn’t quite awake enough at any point to take any photos of it.
The flight of the condors
We reached Chivay by 7am or so, and stopped off for a quick basic breakfast. And then we headed to our first real stop of the day: Condor’s Cross, to see the majestic Andean condors.
These giant birds, part of the vulture family, live at the high altitudes and are known to frequent this particular spot. We got “lucky” — there had been a minor earthquake that morning, which kicked up quite a bit of dust in the canyon, thus encouraging all the condors to take flight at once. At one point, we must have seen seven or eight condors flying all together, putting on quite the show.
I felt the earth move
After the condors, we stopped off at a lookout called Wayra Punku. There we saw more great views, and some alpacas that didn’t seem to mind getting their selfies taken.
I mentioned there had been a small earthquake earlier, right? The whole canyon region has quite frequent seismic activity. So at one point, I was taking a bathroom break… and the ground started shaking. Not too hard, and only for a few seconds, but still. An earthquake is not what you want to have happen while you’re in the middle of going to the bathroom. Like, the ground. Moving. I have never scrambled so quickly to get out of a bathroom in my life.
The earthquake kicked some rocks and debris onto the roads, and there were a few hairy spots where it wasn’t looking like the bus was going to get through. They seem quite used to it around here, though; within minutes, the locals had sprung into action, putting up caution tape and working to clear the paths. Could you imagine that in Montreal? Ten months later and we’d still have an open construction site with nobody actually working at it.
Ghetto hot springs and lunch
Next, we stopped off at the hot springs in Yanque. Not the nice fancy ones we could see at a resort we drove by, but the cheaper ones. There was also an option to zipline over the canyon. Both of these activities might have appealed to me more if I had been feeling better; as it was, we all skipped them and hung out under the cover of some shade for an hour or so.
Lunch was at a tourist trap buffet in Chivay, where I think some people might have launched all-out battles for the few chocolate puddings there were for dessert. I nibbled on some rice and sipped some broth, willing my stomach to behave for the rest of the day.
Kicked in the head by altitude
After lunch, the tour was pretty much over. The guide tried to break up the drive back a bit with stops at a couple of viewpoints for photos, and at a place where we could see llamas and alpacas.
At one point, we stopped at a viewpoint known as PataPampa, which, at 4910m above sea level, is the highest point in Colca Canyon. All we did was get off the bus and walk a few steps over to the lookout, but I immediately felt the full force of the altitude. A splitting headache and a wave of dizziness overcame me almost right away. Ah, so that’s what altitude sickness feels like.
Now, I should mention, I did a whole bunch of “what not to do” things over the past couple of days, so this is my own fault, really. Ascending from Lima, which is essentially at sea level, to nearly 5000m in the space of just over a day, probably wasn’t smart. Neither was doing so on very little sleep and an upset stomach. Needless to say, it wasn’t much fun. One of the guides brought me a cup of coca leaf tea, which I dutifully sipped a bit of, though I don’t think helped very much. But there was nothing to be done for it other than go back down.
The drive back to Arequipa was hellish. Even with the Gravol I’d taken, I felt nauseous and dizzy, and my headache was getting worse with each wind of the road. The stop-and-go city traffic once we arrived to the outskirts of the city sent me over the edge; I simply couldn’t stand to be on that bus a minute longer, so I hopped off when one of the first people was being dropped off.
The girls grabbed my bags, and gave me some time to catch my breath. Arequipa’s lower altitude and fresh air helped restore me a bit, and we all walked back to the B&B, slowly. At that point, I promptly collapsed and slept for the next couple of hours straight, while Vanessa and Marie picked up some water, groceries and other necessities.
All in all, the canyon was beautiful, but feeling the way I did today, I didn’t really get to properly enjoy the trip. In hindsight, it might have been smarter to skip it and just spend the day lounging in Arequipa. But I’m hoping that, once I feel better, I’ll be glad I went.
The road ahead
None of us being particularly hungry, and me feeling under the weather, we had decided to eat in tonight. Unfortunately, the grocery store was closed; most of Arequipa shuts down on Sundays. So Vany and Marie wrangled me some bread from a sandwich shop, and they ended up eating at McDonald’s. According to them, it was terrible, even for McDonald’s. Oh well, not every meal can be in a restaurant by a world-renowned chef.
Tomorrow morning, we fly up to Cusco. I won’t lie: Feeling sick like this has thrown me for a real loop, and I’m honestly concerned about the rest of my trip, most of which takes place at altitude. But I’m hoping that the combo of a good night’s sleep tonight, lots of water, and the altitude sickness medication I have with me is enough to help me acclimatize.
And if not, well, there are always plans B, C and D; most of the hotels and tour operators carry oxygen, Cusco sees a lot of tourists with altitude symptoms so there’s always medical help available, and the option always exists to check out of Cusco and head lower down to the Sacred Valley if all else fails.
As the song goes: You’ll have to excuse me; I’m not at my best. But, here’s hoping I’ll be better after a good rest.