Arequipa, Perú - featuring El Misti

I arrived in Arequipa, Peru at about 21hr, and took a taxi with another girl who was on my bus to a hostel she was booked in, close to the center of town. I went to bed relatively right away and slept so well that night, voluntarily waking up at 7am. As I was standing outside of the bathroom waiting for my turn to shower I saw a billboard promoting all different kinds of tours up mountains and down canyons. I hadn't done any research at all on Arequipa, but the receptionist saw me looking and mentioned that El Misti was the city's famous volcano -I later found out that that has to do with the fact that it tours over the city, it is an active volcano and has been pronounced "ready to erupt", in which case it would most likely destroy the whole city.:

I asked her about the 2day1night tour and she told me that I was a difficult hike up El Misti leaving at 8am and returning the next day in the afternoon. I asked if she could sign me up for the that day. When the owner of the hostel called and talked to the guide, he came to me and asked me how I was physically, and I told him that I was pretty capable of climbing mountains, but I had never done this one so obviously I didn't know. He then tried to talk me out of it saying that there were only 4 athletic boys signed up to hike the mountain that day and they didn't want to be held up.

I emptied my big pack and within a few minutes was picked up my the guide and the 4 "athletic boys". We went to the tour office to get all our gear: tents (I was the only one who had to carry a whole tent alone because according to our guide girls aren't to tent with boys), sleeping bags and mats, snow pants, jackets, pots and utensils, 5+ liters of water each, food, our own snacks (lots of chocolate), etc., and then we drove about an hour until the jeep could no longer take the mountain road, all the while looking up at the daunting cone we were to conquer!

We set off enthusiastically, and were quickly slowed and lectured by our guide about the continental "mountaineer's pace" that would save our legs and energy for the tougher parts of the hike when there were more elements acting against us. So, about one short step per second at a time we made out way up, up the long, dusty path. Up, down and along small canyons, up small rock faces, around small cacti (and a few other plants that could hold their own way up there, high above tree level in the desert), stopping every once in a while to breathe deeply, drink, eat, and gape at the ever bettering beauty bellow! 

Some 5 or 6 hours later, at 4:39ish, we arrived and the highest possible base camp (we as a group decided to push on, hopefully making the 2nd day more manageable), and got to setting up camp (setting up tents between rock walls we built as wind barriers) and making dinner!

We ate our carb-packed dinner while watching the sunset light the sky on fire, and then at about 19h we all climbed into our tents ms curled up in our sleeping bags to try to sleep -which turned out to be quite difficult. Every single time I was able to calm my excitement and anxiety enough and fell asleep, I would [semingly]  immediately wake up gasping for air.

At 1am we were woken up by our guide, and with all our clothes and snow clothes on we gathered around the little camping stove in the dark to drink some coca tea. Coca tea (made from the same plant as cocaine) helps against altitude sickness, and gives energy. We were lucky to have all made it to that point without any real altitude sickness that would stop us, but every meter higher we went, the more difficult it would become to breathe regularly, meaning that our muscles, brain, and all other organs wouldn't be getting the proper amount of oxygen... 

We left our tents set up and set off with only our packs, water, snacks, and any extra clothes we had, small, rythmic step by small, rythmic step up the steep mountain to the light of our headlamps. This time we had to stop more frequently (every half hour or so) for a short break to catch our breath, steady our heads (and maybe take a painkiller), and recharge with some chocolate and some by chewing coca leaves. 

After a couple hours, as the sky was starting to light up, I didn't feel in need of the breaks we were taking, so I asked to go on ahead. I was completely aware that I had to be careful not to let myself get too confident and forget to pace myself now that I didn't have the guide setting the speed, because once I got sick that was would be it.

I focused on my every step, keeping my breathing rythmic, and paying close attention to how I felt as I progressed up the mountain. It was a great exercise at controlling my mind -because any time I'd let the thoughts about altitude sickness or about how I was kicking all the guys butts, I'd find myself starting to feel it or getting overly confident and going too fast. 

I finally made it to the crater (5,600m) at about 6am, and then made the final push to the summit (5,825m / 19,110ft)! Wow, those last meters were sooo painful and labored, but upon arriving all I wanted to do was jump and scream!!!

The others summited one by one about 1/2hr after me, and just dumped their bags and lay down, limbs spread every which way, not wanting to move an inch. It was an amazing feeling knowing we'd made it - and all of us!!

Looking over the crater:

Neighboring mountains:

So, after some nice summit time, we started down the mountain, back to our base camp, by way of a short cut: running down the steep slope of deeep sand (similar to the volcano on Java, Indonesia that I hiked), instead of the zig zaggy path up rocks we had used to ascend. 

We packed up camp and then hiked down the rest of the mountain with the last of our energy:

We arrived at the road where we'd been dropped off, to our ride and some beers waiting for us!

Victory!!!

I spent a few more days in Arequipa, with my new volcano friends! One of them knows a bit of acro yoga, so that was our daily activity: find a park, play around, and then go to the market for food!

Potosí, Bolivia to Puno, Perú!

From Uyuni I got on a bus to Potosí where I was planning to find a cheaper bus to La Paz, but upon arriving in Potosí I figured I might stay for a night. Potosí is one of the world's highest cities with an elevation of 4,050m. I, along with 3 other travelers searched around and found a relatively cheap hostel (very basic), and then I took them too a tiny place where they only made a few typical Bolivian dishes for dinner. It was not their custom to go to places like this, and they were blown away by the quality and quantity of the dishes for the $1 or $2 that we each payed, and they very much enjoyed being immersed like that! (:

And later we went out for some local beer, and then stopped for a bit in a small discotheque full of dancing Latinos to check out that atmosphere! It was quite the cultural evening...followed by a very cold night curled up on cardboard-like mattresses.

The next day the three boys went on a tour of the silver mine in the town, and I spent the day wandering through big markets full of cheap clothing and plastics made in China, beautiful handmade artisanal products made right there, an incredible variety of colorful and textured fruits and veggies, huge bags of grains, nuts, cereals, and other starches piled high, and little grills and stoves on wheels selling corn on the cob, sweet and savory tamales, roasted potatoes, fresh ceviche, meet sandwiches, tiny cooked quail eggs, and boiled chicken feet. That's my kind of exploration!!

That evening I caught a pretty miserable, cold, wet 11hour overnight bus to La Paz:.

When we arrive in the big, hilly city, I walked to a hostel close to the bus station, but after a few hours in the city I decided to get on a bus right away to Lake Titicaca, which is at a lower altitude and closer to the coast hence hopefully warmer and less rainy.

So that afternoon I took a bus from La Pas, Bolivia to Puno, Peru, a small lakeside city. The Bolivia-Peru border crossing took a couple hours, so when we arrived to Puno at 22hrs I took a taxi to a hostel in the center of town ($2 for 10 mins in the taxi). I normally would've walked it, but I didn't get a very good feeling walking out of the bus station onto small, empty, dark streets.

I stayed in Puno for 2 days and 2 nights, most of which I spent with a Russian friend I made at the hostel, wandering around the back streets, and again exploring the local markets.

 On my last morning in Puno, I took a boat to the cultural, floating Uros Village a few Km out in Lake Titikaka. It was a big rip off and reminded me of how in these tourist places they try to squeeze money out of you any way possible -even if you go out of your way see the places without a tour; but, it was still veryyy cool to see!:

Salar de Uyuni

I woke up at 7h, bag already packed, and headed into town to exchange the rest of my Chilean pesos to Bolivian bolivianos, because we were told that we would have to pay an additional $150.00BOB (approx. $22USD), and I figured it didn't make sense to cross the mountains in to Chile again before going to Peru. But all of the currency exchange places were still closed and everyone asleep...but I couldn't leave without changing Daniel's and my $, or else we wouldn't be able to get into the national park with the rest of the tour group.

Finally at 8, one of the places whose door I'd been knocking on for the past hour opened and changed our money. I ran back to the hostel to find Daniel standing outside without either of our bags. He told me that the mini bus that would take us to the Bolivian border had come back for us 3 times, and Daniel had given him our bags for the mean time... So, we decided to walk to the place where we got our stamp for exiting Chile (just a few Km away) where we'd hopefully find our group still there waiting to cross. ...We just made it before they left!!

After they stamped my American passport that I had used to enter Chile, we drove an hour -all up hill into the Andes- and arrived at the entry checkpoint to Bolivia at 4,400m altitude. I again pulled out my German passport, because Bolivia has the same deal as Argentina where Americans have to pay for the visa (as Bolivians, Argentinians, and some other nationalities have to pay for an American visa). But when went up to get my visa stamp, the official looked at me like I was crazy and yelled at me telling me that I had to use the same passport to enter Bolivia as I had used to exit Chile, and that I had to go fill out the visa application form.

I ended up having to pay $60USD for the visa (less than I thought it would be but still really annoying), and I spent the next couple of hours driving trying not to regret having bought that tour. It's honestly the first time during all my travels that I have ever second thought a decision...and that's because I let myself be pushed and pressured and didn't ever really justify the decision in my own mind.

That first day our group of 10 was split into two at the border and we drove all day in two cross-country jeeps through the colorful Bolivian mountains:

Our guide spoke to us in Spanish (3 of the five of us in our jeep didn't really speak any Spanish), explaining why some of the mountains were white (no, there was no snow on them), or red, or green: the different mineral compositions. 

We visited the Laguna Blanca:

The Laguna Verde:

We drove through the Desierto de Dalí:

We visited some beautiful thermal springs where we bathed (with some other tour groups) in the hot water, looking out over the magnificent landscape:

And then the Geyseres del Tatio:

We visited the stunning Laguna Colorada (with flamingos and llamas):

We arrived at our 'hotel' which was at 5,000meters altitude (16,400feet) at about 5 and sat to drink some maté -a typical South American tea. Unfortunately two ladies from our group were quite affected by how high we were and started showing signs of altitude sickness: vomiting, headache, fainting, drowsiness, etc. After all we were quite high up there!

There were definitely no showers since every drop of water has to be lugged hundreds of Km, and that's not a luxury they spend the little money they have on. So, we ate dinner -soup followed by spaghetti and sauce- played some card games and then got into sleeping bags and under heavy blankets to sleep through a colddd night.

At 6:30 we ate some bread with dulce de leche for breakfast, and at 7h we piled and strapped all out packed to the roof of the jeep and set off for another day of awe-striking views!

We drove to the Árbol de Piedra (Rock Tree):

And drove through the Desierto de Dalí again:

We walked around the Mirador del Volcán Ollague (actually a Chilean volcano):

And then finally We stopped at the Laguna Hedionda (with flamingos and vacuna):

That night we slept in a salt hotel...yes, the whole hotel was made of salt: the beds, the tables, the walls, the floor, the support beams, etc.:

And then the next morning we all got up at 3am and set off in the jeeps to the Salar (salt flat) to watch the sunrise:

And to just check out the amazing Flat made of hexagonal shapes due to the salt form:

We went to a cactus island:

And then also admired the amazingly reflective part of the flat that had just a couple millimeters of water sitting on it:

And then we ended that day in the small town (20,000 habitants) of Uyuni.

We visited the famous train grave yard, and after our guide left, we walked around the city!: