- It was a chilly chilly night. The bungalows looked amazing, but winds were seeping through the huge gaps between the bamboo stickes, plus the door doesn´t really close. Again I got up at 4:30 am. I guess I just have this biological clock instilled inside my brain and I knew when to wake up when I needed to. When we started walking at 5 am, it was all darkness. We needed to use our head flashlights.
- I hate walking uphill (so does everyone). And I hate walking up steps even more. Turned out most of the uphill trek were steps. I am not talking about stairmaster steps, but those humongous steps of uneven depth.
- As I dragged my feet up the steps, I started cursing in my mind: I cursed Camilla for making it look so easy. She was trotting way in front, side by side with Roger. I cursed Roger for not making more regular stops since I was too embarrassed to ask for rests too often. I cursed the Frenchman and ladies for being the soldiers they were. They should be lagging behind, yet they showed so sign of weariness and were marching up with even rhythms. Most of all, I cursed myself for not being in the right mind when I signed up for the trek. UHHH ! Who else can I curse?
- After 3 hours of cursing, 2 bottles of water, and 2 Oreo cookie bars, I made my way up to the top. It was a bit embarrassing, but I was about 10 minutes behind the group. Still, I walked to the top in 3 hours. When I was standing at the top and looked down, I saw all these little dots (heads) scattered on different parts of the winding roads and I started thinking: Why did we need to rush to the top? We were not in a hurry ... Whatever, I made it! I am alive and (barely) kicking.
- From the top, we walked another 20 mins back to Cabanaconde village (where we started our trek) for breakfast and hopped back to the bus which made another stop at Cruz del Condor. This time, we actually spotted a number of condors flying over us real close. But every time it happened, I was in the midst of doing other things and missed the photo opportunity. Oh well ...
- Our last stop before our departure to Arequipa was the much anticipated hot spring at Chivay. It felt SO GOOD after the 3 day hike. (I know it sounded gross, but I later realized the water must be pretty yucky since most people who headed there are hikers who have not showered for days. Hmm ...)
- After a 15 minute buffet lunch, we caught our bus back to Arequipa and arrived at around 5:30 pm. We would take a break and meet at around 7:30 for dinner.
- Back at the hostel, I found out there was no water. (Special thanks to Faye's translation) Apparently, every couple months, Arequipa as a city would shut down water supply for a short while to clean the water tanks. Water would resume some time late at night or tomorrow morning. I was assigned the same room as Faye and Teresa (the other two gals who did the Colca Canyon Trek) and while chatting, I realized they came up the Canyon on a mule. It made me feel so much better. Even though I was gasping for breath, I walked up the canyon with my own two feet.
- Faye's wallet got stolen on her way back, and another gal (who stayed at our hostel) found her backpack missing after she lost sight of it for a second at the Tourist Information Center. Simply more reminders/reinforcements that I need to take good care of my belongings.
- Met up with Camilla and Victoria for dinner. We went to this cool pub with 80's music and pool tables. (Kind of surprised that Brits play pool too, not snookers) None of us were really hungry, so we just ordered fries and drinks. Camilla and I teamed up and we played two games of pool.
- Tonight would be our last night hanging out together. Camilla and Victoria are busing to Bolivia tomorrow morning, and I am staying at Arequipa a few more days. Will see what tomorrow brings, but the plan is to visit a small village Aplao and check out the Toro Muerto Petroglyphs. We have only traveled together for 6 days, but it felt like a long time. Really glad to have befriended them and got to share the experience with them. Thanks to Facebook, we will keep in touch. Victoria said she will come visit Hong Kong/San Francisco when she save enough money, and I would probably be 40 by then. Great! Thanks! (Oh, did I mention they are 19 year-old college kiddos? So doing the math, it actually makes sense. Guess I need to plan a trip to Europe soon ...)
Tour Recommendation: Colonial Tour: 3/5. It was just ok. Roger was a nice guy, but not necessarily a great tour guide. We asked a lot of questions the first couple days (about the history of Cruz del Cross, what our trekking map would be etc) and he promised he would tell us later, which he never did. On our last day on our tour, in order to catch our bus back to Arequipa, Camilla and I were given 15 minutes to finish our buffet lunch. It was an expensive lunch and we barely had time to try half of the selection. Nothing really went wrong though, and we had our discounts. I would recommend Land Adventures (slightly more expensive, but witnessed their personal/professional service at the tour bus), Pablo Tours or Colca Trek (both highly recommended by others at the Lonely Planet Forum).
