To Trek or Not To Trek

So, the Nazca lines... They are basically these huge formations in the sand, apparently created by humans, that can only be perceived from the sky. There are hundreds of them spread over 500 square km. of the Nazca desert, some are simple lines and others are more elaborate, like birds, spiders etc. Apparently it barely ever rains in Nazca so the figures have kept their shape for over 1,000 years. Nobody knows who made them and why, but there are plenty of theories that base their presence on a multitude of purposes, ranging from agricultural to religious. It is possible to look at the lines from the ground, but I think it requires a lot of imagination to perceive them properly.

We decided to dish the extra cash and took a flight, which was most definitely worth it. Before getting on, we were handed a little map of the 15 or so designs that the flight focuses on. Lonely Planet and some other tourists we met claimed that it would not be wise to have breakfast before the flight and indeed, the pilots did push our stomachs´ limit by turning the small plane sharply in all sorts of directions to get the best sight of the designs. It´s not very easy to discern the figures from the photos I took (I blame the pilot :P) , but here´s a relatively clear one of a condor:

Once we were done with Nazca, our next destination was Arequipa. We were a little wary of going there, what with the Israeli girl who had recently been murdered in the city, but we made sure not to do anything silly and hoped for the best. I found Arequipa to be very cute. But then again, give me some cobblestone and narrow streets and I might even find Lima to be cute. :P I mean, look at this, isn´t it adorable?

We arrived in Arequipa thinking we were going to trek the Colca Canyon, which is what people generally do there. After we went to a few tour agencies, we got all excited about the 2 volcanes by Arequipa which we were told we could climb. It was only the 5th or so agency that thought to ask us how long we had been in Arequipa and declared that we were not acclimitized to the height and there was no way we could climb those mountains. So back to Canyon Colca it was. We decided to spend the rest of the day walking towards a lookout point from which the mountains were visible. And what should we come across on our little journey, but even smaller and cuter cobble stone streets:

and, of course, some sort of celebration in the street. Because a day without celebration is a day wasted in Peru: The next day we set out early for our hike to the colca canyon. When I say early, I mean 2 am. So, yeah, not quite morning. Because you see, it´s very important to get early to a point called the Cruz del Condor, where you watch the sunrise and wait for the condors to show up.

Never mind that it takes the condors about 3 hours to appear and you have turned to a block of ice by that point. Never mind that the condors don´t even come near you and rather blend in with the canyon when you try to take a picture. And never mind that the actual trek is quite warm so that you have to schlep all the warm clothes you brought for the duration of the whole hike. The scenery was beautiful:

so I have nothing negative to say about that. The problem, once again, was my breathing. The first day of the hike is going down into the canyon and the second day is climbing back up, a distance of approximately 1,000 meters. I had an extremely rough time on the second day, owing in part to some digestive issues I had along the way. Mainly though, I think it was the climbing that did it. A wonderful Australian guy kept me company at the back of the line, together we made our way to the top slowly and he kept encouraging me along the way. This trek was the straw that broke the camel´s back though. I really suffered and did not get any satisfaction from my hiking. I barely looked at the view and was way more concerned with keeping people waiting than I was about enjoying myself. And I couldn´t breathe and had to stop every few minutes.

So there it was then. I decided, with a very heavy heart, that I couldn´t do any more of these kind of treks. I may not have formulated my exact expectations from my vacation at that moment, but I definitely knew that I hadn´t come here to suffer. Some people like a physical challenge for the challenge and are even extremely happy at the end of it to have made it to the peak. Not me. I don´t derive any satisfaction from having gotten there, all I feel is relief. If the ¨reward¨ at the end doesn´t make it ¨worth it¨, then all I´m doing is torturing myself. And I really don´t need that in my life. I decided that the last ¨climbing¨ trek I would do would be Macchu Picchu and then I would look for flatter hikes.

Can you tell which one of these is the donkey and which one the donkey lady? :P

After leaving the Colca Canyon, I had the most wonderful bus ride to Cusco, but more on that in the next post...