The hike down took 3 hours. A tour group had told us that there were 3 hostels at the bottom of the canyon. I was pretty excited to get there and go out for a nice dinner. Well, we found out during the hike that there was no electricity down there and there was no town, like I was anticipating. After a lot of sweat and a few tears, we made it to the bottom. We went to the first hostel (recommended by 2 different people on the way down). It was a really nice setting that almost reminded me of camping with Girl Scouts. They had small little cabins made out of I think bamboo. In the picture our cabins are in the back to the left. IŽm also in the picture sitting in the dining area/kitchen.

On the property were horses, mules, sheep, alpaca, chickens, dogs, and one cat. They kept us pretty amused. HereŽs a picture of a few out the chickens hanging out on the chopping block. WhoŽs next?!

Basically we just hung out until dinner time. They had a pool that looked lovely, but by the time we got settled in it was too cool for me to swim. Mike swam and I sat on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. It started raining around dinnertime. We were served spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce, not too bad.

After dinner, Mike and I sat around playing cards by candlelight until about 8pm. Then we went to our cabin to find one of our pillows soaked from the leak in the roof. Nice! We just scooted the bed a little and were able to sleep, even though we stayed in our clothes because the sheets were dirty.

Next morning we woke at 5:45 so we could be at breakfast by 6am, like we arranged with the guy the night before. At about 6:50am he had breakfast ready. Not too bad. We finished and started our hike up. I had a bad cough and was really not wanting to hike so we tried to hire a mule for the way up. The neighbor of the hostel had offered it the day before, but he changed his mind. So hereŽs the mule that I hired to carry my bag up. And all it cost me was a few minutes of complaining!

I made it to the top of a 6000m (19,000 feet) peak! Without a doubt, it was the toughest thing I have ever done! (Fortunately, Alicia decided to sit this trip out.) The tour agency picked us up at 7:30am. On the 3 hour drive to the start, we saw our first glimpse of El Chachani, 6075m.

The truck dropped us off at 5000m, which is one reason such a high peak is feasible without training. Here is our group at the start. (L-R, Orlando our guide, me, Rebecca, Menny and Elicio.

We hiked up to base camp at 5300m and set up our tents. While relaxing here and trying to acclimate, it started to snow! So we jumped in the tent and tried to nap. Orlando had dinner ready for us around 5pm. We had some kind of cream soup and then Raman-like noodles with ketchup, yummy! It wasnŽt much but none of were feeling to great coming from 2400m that morning.

After dinner we tried to sleep again. I donŽt think any of us got much good sleep. Here is breakfast at 3:00am. Tea of Coca leaves and bread with jam. Supposedly a light breakfast was supposed to be enough!

Mounting our cramponŽs after about 1 hour of hiking.

A few hours into the hike, the sun started to rise. We had some spectacular views but that didnŽt distract us too much from the difficulty of hiking at such altitude. The going was rather slow, with many breaks.

About this time I really started to feel completely out of energy. One of the other tourists decided he couldnŽt go any further because he couldnŽt breath. He stayed back while we continued on. Here is me with the final peak of Chachani in the background. That last pitch was aweful! I would take 20 steps, then rest for 30 seconds or more.

From the top, me with the neighboring El Misti (5800m) in the background.

Looking at these pics now, I forget about the pain it took. On the way ŽdownŽ, there were still a number of places we had to climb up. Each time I stopped to rest, I would lay down in the snow and almost fall asleep! A killer headache set it too. Fortunately, by the time we made it back to Arequipa I was feeling better. I now really understand why the IncaŽs believed the mountains to be gods!

Back in Arequipa, folks are getting ready for Carnaval. I donŽt know why but they think this is a great time to throw water at people, including tourists! If itŽs not water, they have water balloons, or cans that spray white foam, like shaving cream. We got ŽhitŽ twice today. They hide out on rooftops, in the entryways of shops, or you can encounter mobs, like this one attacking a girl in the street!

Tomorrow we will take a bus to Cabanaconde, a small town close to Condor Canyon. We were only going to stay one night, but we fear the water fights will only get worse the closer we get to Carnaval so we may stay longer. If the hiking and accomodations are good, weŽll stay two or three nights.