It´s always so terribly intimidating beginning a blog when there´s no possible way I can even touch all thats happened since the last. Gosh, last time I wrote, journal.. blog.. anything.. was at the albergue, which was now almost a week ago. Ugh! I want to write about my leaving the orphanage, the kids, the clowns, the many tough goodbyes... later... I want to write about meeting with my new dear friend Heidi, how much a blessing she has been... later... I can´t wait to write about our many adventures, the 24+hrs spent on busses traveling to arequipa, sharing a local bottle during sunset on the roof of a neighboring church, gunshots in ica, crowded markets, fraudulant teas, discotec diaries... later. I will however share of my most recent misadventure, our dirt-bike trek to the Colca Canyon! Booya!
Oh wow...
Where do I start. Sunday. Heidi and I were walking around town looking for a way to effectively see the greater majority of this beautiful city... we thought it would be fun to take tour bus, maybe pay a taxi driver to take us around, walking would be the last option, still a good one. Then the suggestion of renting a motorbike for the day somehow came up... hmm. Both heidi and myself got very excited at the prospect, but both were imagining some sort of europeanesque, vespa through the countryside, type ride. Ha. Anyway, we find our way to the nearest tour office and of course they didn´t know of any companies that rented bikes... but wait.. she had a friend. Eddy, her friend, a motorbike enthusiast, was willing and able to take us (so random.. and what the heck, just cause i wear a bandana and am from washington doesn´t mean I ride.. crazy gamble). Gosh.. so we agree to a price, set a time, hailed a taxi, and it wasn´t more than 20 minutes til we arrived at his house, met eddy, his novia, mama, and 6 other friends... all who had plans for a mid afternoon stroll on their motos with eddy. So basically, we were grafted into their friend family for the day... it was great. I don´t even know how to describe it... easily the best way to experience a city, a country even.. bike through south america anyone?! So it took a few close encounters to shake off the nerves which have piled up for the last 5 or so years since my last wonderful experience on a bike (acl). Comfortable soon enough, we got through the thick of the busy city streets and were in no time village hopping, experiencing the vascular system of arequipa. Six hours later, arriving safely back at eddys home (amazingly), we were hooked. We told eddy we had plans to hike the colca canyon for three days starting tomorrow, and his response was.. ´hmm.. colca en motos?´ Umm.. YES PLEASE?!
Two mornings later we began our colca adventure... heidi, myself, our friend alina, eddy, and thhree other guys from holand, madrid, and arequipa. Where do I start? This time we were given the larger of his 6 bikes, a honda 400, it was greeeat. I guess I can´t really describe the ride, and I suppose I don´t really need to.. we had a group of 6 bikes, and it took 6 hrs to travel into the canyon to the small town of colca. We cleaned up, ate, and that night spent a few hours at what were apparently natural hot springs, although it just seemed like a large swimming pool with warm water. A good mix of locals and tourists... pretty good fun, minus the 9 soles i spent on a crappy warm arequepena beer. Whatever... That night we stayed at a hostel owned by a friend of eddys... it was loooovely, heidi and I opted out of going out that night because we were so tired, so we were asleep by nine in preperation for an early departure.
Timeout -- I´m realizing how terrible I am at describing larger experiences.. I would so much rather delve into the micro and describe the detail that lies between the lines... It´s frustrating trying to relay an accurate picture of how incredibly awesome this trip was, with so little time in a crowded hostel lobby, i´m just not feeling it. However, finishing up the trip story real quick, the next morning we took off at around 8ish, rode up hills, over streams, through tunnels an hour and a half to where we would sit for an hour, a mile above the river below, taking in a new nature, enjoying eachothers company. This place we stopped was the home to what seemed like about a dozen Condor birds... anyway, sticking to the macro, I move on. We left there, and basically re-traced our path back through the town of Colca, up and out of the canyon, heading towards our most recent home.. arequipa.
I´ve got to go pack, we´ve got to leave today for Puno (lake titicaca), there for a day, then Cusco, Maccupiccu, and after another 23hrs on a bus, its back in the air, nose pointed home.
So... if you want to know more about this trip, definitely ask.. it´s just hard for me to put into words what we saw and did, as it often is.
Gah! This blog sucks.. and I have to check out.. but I just wanted to share a bit about this rediculous trip, and am realizing how terrible it is. Ha! Ask me about it... like i said, so much between the lines!
Misadventuring,
Luke
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