well, i survived my first high altitude trek. What an experieance!! I apoligize in advance for any major spelling errors as i am on a spanish keyboard. On the way to the canyon (Colca Canyon) we stoppeda t a lot of view points and man, the views fhere are incredible. I did feela bit like a herd of sheep being sheparded from poin to point, but i guess that comes with the tour. We drove througha pass that was 5000 m high, which is way higher than anything i´ve ever been on. Interesting note... to help combat altitude sickness, we´ve been drinking coca tea, which can be refined to make.. that´s right, cocaine!! i found that interesting. anyway, all narcotics aside the scenary is really beautiful here. The people farm for a living despite the fact there her is no flat place to put a field. The mountains have been terraced since pre-inca times. It´s neat to look out and see teh mountains covered in these fileds all in differant colors. Not much grows here naturally, so they have a pretty seriuos irrigation suystem.another interesting note. The traditional dress that the peruvians are always wearing in pictures.. they actually wear that . It´s awesoem to see these ladies workin the field in a full skirt. The trek was fantasitic. We walked down teh first day and lost about 1100 m in elevation. The camp spot at the bottom is like something out ofa story book. There are spring fed swimming poolsm small shops to by coke ans fanta , a full kitvhen, showers, running water... it was incredible. we went for a walk downeth canyon abit and crosse dteh river. There isa path that leads to several differant villages taht are only accessabel by foot. And yeat they all have electricity and internet. Today we walked back up the canyon. we got up at 4 am to avoid hiking in the sun. Marni and i made it up in 2 hours. I thought it would take longer, but oi am glad that it didn´t. we reached teh top justa s teh sun hit the trail and then it really started to heat up. Aftera few days in teh quite country side, it was strange coming back to teh city. This place is a mad house!!
well, that´s all i have time for.
I love you all!!
Sydney :)