Ok, sorry we´ve been slack. I don´t know why. We´ve had plenty of time to do blog, but sometimes, you know, you just can´t be bothered.
After we finished the Ausangate circuit, we said goodbye to Leece and Em (who were flying north into Columbia and then on to Equador) and hello to Kath White, a good friend from Cairns who we worked with and hung out with lots. She was only in South America for 5 weeks (her annual leave), arriving in Cusco the day we left for the Ausangate circuit. She´d been accimatising and checking out Machu Picchu whilst we were gone.
So the three of us caught an overnight bus to Arequipa, where there´s meant to be lots of stuff to do, like mountain biking and climbing volcanoes and stuff. We stayed at this awesome hotel called Posada Misti House. It was small, clean, extremely cheap, and the staff were super super friendly. That afternoon we met up with Rik Lane, another doc who we´d worked with in Cairns.
The first thing we did was head off for a day´s rock climbing. Unfortunately Jen had the shits so she missed out. So Rik, Kath and I, plus 2 other lasses from the UK headed out with our guides Ivan and this other dude who I can´t remember what his name was.
The climbing area was a small, shitty pile of choss. Our guides were dodgy. Their top-rope anchors constituted of one rusty bolt at the top plus a single quickdraw hanging from it. Disgusting really. I had to ask them to back it up, and luckily they did (albeit reluctantly). They had the bright idea of using a screwgate at the top (how novel) but of course forgot to screw it up. Oh and they failed to tie us in properly on at least 2 occasions. Go you good things.
The next day we headed out to climb Volcano Misti, a 5825m high pile of ash that overlooks Arequipa. We were going with the same company, with Ivan "Guy Smiley" guiding us again.
It was a couple of hours drive which was delayed by a police check point who deemed our 4WD unsafe. They weren´t going to let us go on, and in hindsight, we probably should have listened to them. I think an exchange of currency took place and we were on our way.
It was a 3 hour hike to the first camp. It was pretty hot in the blazing sun, and steep, and the fine volcanic ash made the going slippery and tough. Dinner was at around 4pm and we were in bed by 7pm.
View from of the Arequipa lights from camp.
It was a horrendous 1am wakeup call for a 2am start. Ugh. We managed to get going by 2:30am I think. Everyone was feeling ill due to lack of sleep; Rik and Kath´s tent wasn´t set up properly and was in effect a cyclone simulator. I think they go about 30mins sleep between them. Jen didn´t get much sleep either. I slept like a log as usual and was the only one feeling vaguely refreshed. It was a long, slogging sufferfest.
Rik and Kath´s cyclone simulator
Rik's headache was unbearable at this stage, the rim of the crater. The top is the right peak in view, about 15 minutes more away.Then I overtook Ivan near the top (I was sick of crawling along at a snail's pace) and the girls went "up" the "down" path for about 15 metres. From the top onwards, Guy Smiley was no longer talking to us. We're not sure as to why he chucked this hissy-fit, but chuck it he did.
After askin Guy Smiley 3 times to take our photo, he begrudgingly said yes. So here's us at the top.
The way down was fun. We got to run down the black volcanic ash slope, kinda like a huge big black sand dune. What took us 6 hours to climb was smashed in 45 minutes on the way down.
We got back to camp, and Guy Smiley told us he "had to keep going" and left us at the campsite with our porter. What a dickhead. The porter was cool though. We packed up our things, and headed back to the carpark which took about 2 hours, again surfing a lot of ash downhill. It was about midday when we got back to the carpark, and it was hot and cloudless. Of course, Guy Smiley had probaby taken the 4WD back with him, as there was no-one waiting for us in the carpark. I think we fried in the sun for about 2-3 hours before the 4WD came back for us.
Suffice to say we cancelled our next trip with that dodgy fucker Ivan. So for those who are heading to Arequipa, please avoid an adventure company called "Quechua" something. Dodgy, dangerous, and childlike.
The next day was a rest day, and we organised to go for a cruise down the local grade II-III-IV river, the Chile River, which started at the same place we went rock climbing the other day. Jen and I were in kayaks, and Rik and Kath in a raft. It was a beautiful river trip, with lots of fun grade III creeking. We portaged one grade IV and had a crack the other one; obviously Jen cruised it and I managed to get pinned on a rock and swam. But it was fun anyway, and luckily the sun was shining and the water was warm.
After that we said goodbye to Rik and the remaining three of us headed off to the Colca Canyon, for 3 days of mountain biking.
