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Chivay
Entry 12 of 12 | show all | print this entry |
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Unfortunately, this is not an entry of great adventure...
I took a 3-day, 2-night trip to Chivay, a town at the head of the Colca Canyon. I arrived Tuesday, late afternoon, checked in to my hotel and then walked around the town for a little while. I hadn't slept well the night before so I took a nap. After I went back to the Plaza de Armas and found a place for dinner, I was still a little tired so I got it to go. A man who had taken the same bus as me came in and we ended up while waiting for my dinner to arrive. He was in Peru visiting his girlfriend who was in school in Cusco; he was just doing a little sightseeing on his own. I thought that I got a great deal on my room, in high season it was $26 per night, about 75 soles, but I got it for 25 soles per night. My companion (have you ever spent time talking to somebody only to realize later that you never exchanged names?) beat me though - he got his room, which included a private hot shower, for only 10 soles. He only had the next day in Chivay so was braving the 4am bus down to the canyon. I wasn't doing that. My plan was to check out the travel agencies the next morning and do an afternoon trip. One thing I learned is that I'm very sensitive to altitude sickness. I assumed that since I'd been living in Arequipa, which is where guidebooks say to spend time acclimating to the altitude before going higher, it wouldn't be an issue. I was wrong. I didn't sleep well at all on Tuesday night, and to make matters worse the bus ride and the bed wreaked havoc on my back. Wednesday was spent in bed. I got up around 3pm and took a shower, it was the longest, hottest shower I've had in Peru. I ended up returning to bed though, nauseous and with a headache that filled my skull, classic altitude sickness. Finally around 7, I got up and ate a couple of bites of bread and then felt OK to go eat a meal. I was about a 15-minute walk from the center of town. I had one of my most satisfying Peruvian meals, chicken noodle (actually bow tie pasta) soup, followed by fried fish - they said it was trout but I don't think so, but it was still delicious and thankfully the head was split open and upside down, so I didn't have to look it in the eye. Then I stopped at another little restaurant that advertised cake and had a piece of Chocolate Selva Negra, Black Forest cake, literally "Chocolate Black Jungle" and hot chocolate, again very satisfying (selva actually seems to be the word for jungle, wilderness and forest). I went back to the hotel and read for a while. The reason I took this trip on the dates I did was so I could be in a place that didn't have a lot of artificial light to see the full lunar eclipse; I missed the one in August because though I was awake at 2:30 am, I was too lazy to get up and look out the window. So I really wanted to see this one. But it was overcast with zero-visibility. sigh, there's another one in 2010.
So I missed my one full day in Chivay. I wasn't planning to leave until the next afternoon so thought I would be able to at least do a hike the next day and/or hit the hot springs. I got up the next morning and had so much pain in my back that I almost cried while walking into the town center. I couldn't decide on a place to eat so just kept walking around and either the ibuprofen I took kicked in or walking helped, probably some of each. I did a little shopping, bought a gift for my niece, who's birthday isn't until June but I think she'll really like the panpipes and I got a new wallet/coin purse for myself since my last one is slowly disintegrating. I then had breakfast at the same place I had the fish the night before. Ham, cheese and egg sandwich, it was OK. Then I went to the bus station to get my ticket back to Arequipa. It was 11am, and I had a choice between 12:30, 2:30 and 4pm. Since hiking and the hot springs were out (hot water would have felt great on my back, but I know from experience that it makes it much worse in the long run) I decided to come back earlier and bought the 12:30 ticket.
I went back to the hotel, packed, checked out and got to the bus station around 11:45. And proceeded to buy snacks, as I am a "travel eater" I don't know what it is, but I need or want lots of food when I'm traveling. It doesn't matter how much I have with me, I eat it all! This includes icky airplane food too, but I digress. I got on the bus and discovered that the seat assigned to me didn't exist, there was a bathroom in its place. But it was easily rectified, with another window seat. The bus agents seem surprised when I asked for a window seat, it's so preferable to an aisle seat in my opinion.
The ride back was really beautiful. In addition to all the deterrents to hiking listed above, it also POURED when I was there. Mostly on Tuesday after I arrived and on Thursday right after I got to the bus station with my bags. There was hail on Tuesday, but I think more precipitation on Thursday. So driving up out of Chivay there was snow on the ground. The dirt was still visible in places, but I think with determination a small snowman could have been built. As we came to lower elevations, the snow gradually disappeared.
Now I know that if I visit any place with a high elevation, it needs to be at least a 4-day, 3-night trip. Live and learn, live and learn. I did manage to get some nice pictures.
Where I stayed:
Hostal Kolping Colca Wasi
Latest Comments (1)
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Bravo (reply)
Mar 21, 2008 21:55 EST by skewedscribe
Bravo adventurous one.
Stumbled upon your blog researching for my trip (am not usually a blogger). I found you to be refreshingly candid. I have been to Peru before and am returning in May to do more book research with an archaeological team near Moquegua. I am a hobby writer (1 published) and use that as an excuse for my travels. Will hit Chile first and then Peru. I also would like to take S... show all
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