Colca Canyon (Arequipa, Peru) - Day 2
We had a long day ahead since we wanted to get to our accommodation early. I wanted everyone to be up and ready to go by 6am so I woke everyone up at 5:20am but we didn't leave until about 7:30am. A whole 2 hours to get ready. On our way out, we had a little doggie follow us. At first I thought he was just following us to the exit of the village but he kept going. We encountered a pig who was vicious and kept changing and oinking at us. We ended up naming our dog Babe after the movie pig. It was unbelievable, he kept up with us the entire time. We could tell he has done this before because he knew all of the shortcuts and right path to take, even before we realized them. We feed him and gave him water, as if he was our own dog. I grew sooooo attached to him! He was so affectionate and calm. He never barked once and always had the jolliest face. Towards the end we could tell he was getting so tired. He would stop at every shaded area and take a quick nap. He would just bloop right down and sleep. Then when we were ready to go again he would get right up and lead the way.
While on our hike, we finally saw condors! We save about 6 or 7 of them swooping down really close to us. That definitely made up for us not seeing them at the mirador. This was actually better, like our own personal condor show. Lach and I ended up leaving Will and Carla behind because Carla had nasty blisters on both feet and was struggling really hard to catch up. It took us only about 5 hours to reach the "Oasis" or Sangalla, an area at the bottom surrounded by the Canyon walls. There were 3 different accommodations but we were recommended the second one for some reason. To be honest, I couldn't really tell the difference but for 10s a night, it was beyond perfect. They had a swimming pool, beautiful accommodation, decent food and drinks, and comfy beds so no complaints.
Lach and I got there first so we enjoyed having the pool and place to ourselves. We brought out our rum and enjoyed the sun. The weather was beautiful so it was perfect tanning opportunity. An hour later the Aussie couple arrived then a bit after that Will arrived but without Carla. He said he had to leave her behind because her feet were killing her and she was walking with a Swiss group who adopted her since they were going at the same slow speed. After another hour or so, we saw this little Honduran girl make her way down to Paraíso. We all gave her a round of applause because I honestly didn't think she was going to make it. They boys ran up to carry her bag and help her down the rest of the steps.
Lunch today was actually sooo much better. They had soup, of course, and this chicken curry with rice, pretty flavorful compared to the night bedsore. So the reason we wanted to get here early was so we could take San Pedro. It's this hallucination drug from a cactus that's really popular in Peru. It's legal so everyone grows it in their backyard. We bought the powder form from the market before we left. We read it was supposed to taste pretty disgusting but it turned out to taste like matcha green tea. The 4 of us finished the bag and sat outside in the grass talking all afternoon but nothing happened. Hours passed and we were all still pretty normal. So that was a bit disappointing. All we felt were a bit lightheaded. So much for that :/
We just spent the rest of the day talking until it got dark then we migrated to the indoor area to have dinner. We even tried tricking Babe into taking a shower but he refused. He could use some cleaning but I guess that will be the next group's job. When we headed to our rooms for the might Babe found a comfy spot on Carla's bed and went right to sleep. Lucky dog! He got fed and given a nice bed to sleep. I think he does this a lot haha the life of a Canyon dog.
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