Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

Our next stop was Arequipa, known as “the white city” because many of the buildings have been made with white volcanic rock. For a big city, it was pretty nice. There are small corridors and lots of cobblestone in the historical centre (where we were staying). The streets seemed even more narrow because the sidewalks were very narrow and the buildings all had tall walls with their doors shut most of the time. When we first arrived, it seemed as though everything was in very tight quarters, but when people opened their doors (beautiful old doors full of character), there would be courtyards and plenty of space. It seemed like there were secret fortresses everywhere!

This is the city where Adeline and Charlie got to play with some other kids for the first time. When we went on a walk, we found a park to play in (which are far and few between, at least in the city centres were we have been staying). After a bit of a play, we continued on our walk to see a nice viewpoint of the city and the three volcanoes standing tall near the city (not exactly very exciting for the kids, but you never know what you will find - and we found lots of old Volkswagen Beetles, and we taught the kids the old Punch Buggy game - and we saw little parks surrounded by hedges and llamas munching away on the grass inside - perhaps natural lawn mowers).

As we headed home, we saw a school group playing in the same park we played in earlier, so we went back to see what they were up to. There was a large group of boys playing soccer - awesome - and most of the girls were playing on the slides and swings - that’s okay too. So we watched for a bit and the kids were careful observers. Charlie and Adeline definitely wanted to play, but, being from a different country and not speaking the same language, it is hard to invite yourself into a game. Charlie noticed that the ball frequently went out of bounds and all the boys would run after it and kick it in, so he stood in behind one of the nets and gave the ball a good boot a couple of times. Once the boys saw his interest, they invited Charlie to play goal. He had absolutely no idea what the boys were saying, and was being a bit shy, but the boys were gesturing him for where to stand and how to block with his hands, and he quickly figured out what they were trying to tell him. Adeline was also standing on the side and kicking the ball back into the game when it came near her. After a few kicks, one of the boys came over and gave her a high five. A little bit later, a group of girls invited her to come play some volleyball. With a little bit of encouragement she went and played with the girls. Adeline hasn’t had a lot of experience with volleyball, but she figured it out well enough and the girls were patient with her. When it was time for the kids to leave, they all exchanged an ‘adios’ and we headed back to our hostel feeling pretty good with ourselves. There is nothing better than making connections with some new friends, even if you don’t speak the same language.

Many people use Arequipa as a gateway to the Colca Canyon, we decided to go on a 3 day trek as we were eager to get away from city and into the countryside again. Colca Canyon is known to be one of the deepest canyons in the world and is home to the Andean Condor (the largest flying bird in the world) and several small and remote traditional villages. The hardest part about this trip was that we had to catch our bus around 3:00 am. It is very hard to motivate children to wake up that early to go hiking! But they did it! What troopers! Our fist stop was at Cruz del Condor (a viewing area where you are likely to see condors). To be completely honest, we didn’t see much. A single condor made an appearance and performed for the crowds of people that made the trip to see the famous bird, but I think the most valuable part of the experience was getting a first glimpse into what it is like moving around at a high altitude. I was wondering how it would affect the children. Would they throw up? Would they get dizzy? Would it slow them down? Nope not our kids! Their parents, yes. It slowed us down... The next stop was at the entrance of the canyon trail. It was a long bumpy, and sometimes sketchy zigzagging trail down to the river. It took about 4 hours going down the extremely steep side of the canyon. It was also extremely hot as there is no cover on that side of the canyon. At the bottom, near the river, a very smart local built a pool to charge hikers to cool down after the difficult decent.

We had a quick little jaunt up the other side of the canyon to a village where we would stay our first night. The accommodation was very simple. We were in a small cottage made of clay with a straw roof, with many holes (good thing it doesn’t rain much here). Water comes from inside the mountain and the locals have built an aqueduct system that runs through the villages, and the kids had a great time dunking their heads and filling their caps and having a water fight with the relatively pristine water (pristine as long as the neighbours above haven’t dirtied the waters). We ate dinner by candle light that night with the view of our hiking trail across the canyon from us. It was very impressive to see what we had done already that day! Adeline and Charlie especially loved this village because there were many farm animals to follow and play around. Adeline’s favourite animal was the rooster because it would follow her around and come right into the dining room to look for scraps!

The second day was the easiest elevation-wise,  but certainly wasn’t easy physically as we were all hurting from the damage we put our bodies through climbing down the canyon the previous day. But the goal was to get to an oasis with a swimming pool. Just the thought of soaking in the mountain water was motivation enough for us to keep moving our aching bodies. The only thing that kept Adeline going was an exciting tip our guide gave us about the parasitic insects that live on the cacti that you could find along the trail. On the cacti, you can see white powdery growths, which are bugs eating the  plant. If you pull the bugs off of the cacti and squish them, their violet coloured blood can be smeared easily and it looks like paint. Kind of gross that it is blood, but a surprising and fun discovery. It kept Adeline engaged for hours! She painted her whole hand and a rock. We had to be careful not to let her squish too many bugs because the locals harvest these bugs and sell them to people in  the cities and it seems like any source of revenue makes a big difference to them!

Arriving  at the Oasis was heavenly! We arrived at our accommodation around lunch time, which was perfect being the hottest part of the day. The water in our pool came straight from the mountain and the temperature was not regulated by a heater at all, so we had our swim early and dried off before it became too cold, and it gets very cold in the canyon at night (we had to wear toques and sweaters and slept under heavy wool blankets).

The last day was probably the hardest day of them all. We started our hike in the dark at 4:00 am. Again, waking your children to hike (and hike very steeply) that early was not an easy task, but they did! What troopers! And we didn’t even get to eat until we were at the top (an estimated 4 hours later)! Charlie was a power house and we  hardly saw him the whole hike! He stayed by the front the whole time.  Amanda slowly kept falling back, going more and more slowly. The elevation and exertion of the hike was hard! David was a superhero and carried Adeline most of the way, along with the water for our group. Some people rented mules to carry them up the trail. This could have been a great option for Adeline, but as we climbed, it was a really challenging trail at times with many opportunities to fall to your death (perhaps an exaggeration but it felt that way at the time), so putting your trust in a mule seemed like a crazy idea. But many people did it! We completed the hike in 3 hours (yay!) and sat down for a well deserved breakfast in the local village. The long bus ride back to Arequipa was rather uneventful. The kids were exhausted and I think that for the first time ever, Adeline just sat and looked out the window. We passed lots of fields with llamas, alpacas and sheep. That never gets old!