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I arrived in Arequipa after a 10hr bus journey at 6am and fortunately the Wild Rover hostel there had beds spare so i could go straight for a nap. Once conscious again i went and found Alex (Peruvian from Machu Picchu) who is a tour operator in Arequipa. I booked a Colca Canyon tour with him (with Roy - also from Machu Picchu) as my guide and headed to a cheap restaurant he recommended for lunch. Soon after i went to the Juanita museum - im not much of a museum man, but this one was awesome.
The Inca´s used to believe that if a natural disaster hit, or fertility amongst the communities was not good enough then human sacrifice was needed to appease the Gods. For this children were chosen at a young age to be sacrificied and lived their life like normal until it was time to be slain. The children could be male or female and between 8 and 16 years of age. However, it wasn´t just a simple sacrifice. First they would have to walk from Cusco (it was a 10hr bus journey!!!!) to Arequipa, which is a city surrounded by big volcanos. Then they would have to trek the 5500m - 6000m to the summit of the volcanos in the freezing cold, where they would then be smashed over the head and laid to rest as an offering to the Gods!
On top of volcanos all over Peru these frozen children have been found. With each sacrifice were ceramics, clothes, shoes, offerings of precious metals etc... and the museum was full of them. The items themselves were typically 500 years old and in excellent condition. At the end of the museum tour there is even a frozen child on display kept in a glass cabinet at -20C. There is one child sacrifice in particular, Juanita - a 12 year old girl, that is an excellent condition complete with skin, organs and hair etc... unfortunately, the time i visited she was under testing in a laboratory to try and understand more about the diet, health and general conditions of life at the time. However, the child sacrifice that i could see was still in excellent condition.
That evening i met up with Evan (the American from Patagonia) and we had a good old natter about all that had happened in between. However, much of the evening was also spent trying to find a photo technician as all of my Machu Picchu shots had come out with grey lines across them, eventually an alternative method of download proved successful though so we could get back to the beer.
I awoke at 2.45am and got my trekking shoes on (although not literally as i actually wore trainers - interesting i know!). I was collected at 3am by my old chum Roy, and along with Taylor (Canadian) we headed to Colca Canyon just outside of town for a 2 day tour. After attempting to sleep on the 3.5hr journey we stopped off at a Condor viewpoint where they whizzed by just above your ahead so you could appreciate their scale.
Soon after we arrived at the top of the rather spectacular Colca Canyon and started heading down the steep side of the sheer canyon. The trek was around 5 hours in total to the bottom where we had a spot of lunch before continuining on the other side of the canyon for an hour until we found the Oasis. The whole trek was constantly interrupted by fruit tasting sessions, or information on which plants could cure you, as well as those that could kill you!! Every now and then Roy would fetch us some cactus fruit (3 different types), figs, weird pomegramite like fruit and some strange yogurt bean things to munch on as we went - all very delicious.
Once the oasis it was time for a swim in the pool and beer with dinner before heading to bed early ready for another early start.
In the morning we were trekking by 5am for the uphill leg of the journey. It was a 1200m incline up steps and should take between 3hrs and 3.5hrs. However, half way up i decided to press on and managed to race to the top in 1hr 54m - nothing though compared to Roy`s record of a staggering 45minutes - the man isn`t human!
At the top we had breakfast in a small village and then headed to a golden church in another nearby village. There were also 2 huge Andean eagles outside that you could hold and have placed on your head! After another 30 minutes or so in the car we reached the hot springs which everyone had been looking forward to after the challenging morning trek. They didn`t dissapointment and an hour of blissfull relaxing was very much welcomed.
On the way back there was a horrifying reminder of the sometimes lapse health and safety conditions of south america. There was a road on the other side of the canyon which rose 80m above the canyon. On our side of the road there were cars and emergency vehicles everywhere. We started to work out that there were tyre tracks at the top of the canyon and it looked like something had come over the cliff. The tour guides immediately shot off and after 10 minutes a few of us got out to see what was going on.
Sadly, a public bus had gone over the edge of the cliff, the roof had been ripped off clean and i later found out that 29 people on board had died. We had got there less than 2 hours after the incident itself and still bodies were being pulled from the wreckage - it was a very sombre mood heading back to town.
Back in Arequipa i headed out for a few drinks but didn`t last long as the mornings trek was starting to take its toll!
The next day was spent primarily in an internet cafe or chatting to Alex in town. However, in the evening i tried to find somwhere for a massage because my legs were a little sore from Machu Picchu and the Colca Canyon and i had now set my sights on climbing Chachani mountain which dominates the skyline on the outskirts of town. However, after 40 minutes of searching only one hairdresser which also offered massages seem like it could bare fruit. This was one of the biggest mistakes i have made in South America. In broken Spanish (she spoke no English) i asked for a 30 minute leg only massage...
It all started dandy as i lied down facefirst in my boxers, but some became clear that she was no highly trained professional. This became more clear when she said it was necessary for me to entirely remove my boxers. After a little confusion i obliged wandering how much of ass it was necessary to massage. A couple of minutes more and i was asked to turn over - it took a good couple of minutes though before she finally gave me a towel to try and keep some modesty - well the next 15 minutes or so involved a lot of b****** skimming and chest rubbing by a 50+ woman in what was one of the most awkward moments of my life - certainly didn´t help to much with the sore legs and i left feeling slightly violated - there were many things in South America that i had been concerned about but sexual assault by middle aged woman was not one of them i had previously much cared for!
After the ordeal i went out for some Turkish food with some Dutch girls before heading back to the hostel to meet Alex who had come over with some local friends of his for drinks before heading into town for the night.
Next day was again spent almost exclusively in an internet cafe, or at Alex`s tour agency but i did manage to book a Chachani attempt for the next day. Chachani is meant to be one of the easiest 6000m+ mountains in the world, but there isn`t such a thing as an easy 6000m+ mountain at the same time!
In the afternoon i went to the office to check over the equipment and rent anything i didn`t have and having tried on crampons and been given an ice axe i was starting to feel slightly out of my depth.
That afternoon i risked another massage as surprisingly the one the night before had not done much good. Fortunately, this one was by trained professionals and went some way to easing the pain. In the evening Alex and Roy came over to the hostel for drinks and along with some Canadian sisters we all had a jolly old fancy dress party, even though i was stone cold sobre and not risking a hangover for the mountain climb the next day!
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