Command Zed

There is so much to summarize from our last few days in Peru, so I can only cover a few highlights. I can’t seem to recall when we left Lima, but we did - this memory lapse must be a sign of a good vacation, or it is the altitude.

Arequipa was the first stop on our grand excursion across southern Peru, the second largest city in the country that sits up in the highlands of the Andes mountains. It is very pretty, with many buildings constructed of white volcanic rock that had spewed from one of the many volcanoes that surround Arequipa. About 2-3 hours bus ride from the city is the Colca Valley and Canyon, with it’s ancient Inca Terraces and Andean Condors. We spent two days in Colca, traveling through tiny towns with no paved roads, free roaming Vicuñas and Alpacas, and going to mountain summits to view the deepest canyon in the world. When I return from my trip, I’ll try to elaborate in more detail with photographs some of the sights and history of the area - it is just too hard to explain in words alone.

Altitude can be a problem for people traveling in the Andes. Arequipa is approximately 2300 meters above sea level (~7000 ft) and some of the areas we visited around Colca sit at about 4900 meters (walking 10 feet was hard at this altitude). We stayed in a quaint cottage on the edge of the canyon near a desolate little town called Chivay, which sits at about 3600 meters (12,000 feet). This is where I experienced early symptoms of what could have become altitude sickness (gasping for breathe in the middle of the night, very high heart rate, chills), but I got lucky, survived and I’m mostly climatized for the remainder of our stay at high altitude. Here in Cusco we are at about 3400 meters above sea level and I’m feeling just fine, though climbing or walking fast can still do a number on my lungs. Our gorgeous little hotel has given us a can of oxygen to put in our bag in case we ever need it - which we did today to take the edge off of climbing some stairs.

We’ve eaten amazing food including alpaca and ostrich, held beautiful eagles on our heads and tiny lambs in our arms. We’ve watched the massive Andean Condors soar over 4000 ft canyons and we’ve walked through Inca and pre-Inca ruins. And just this evening, we finished a very full day in Cusco with much needed massage therapy for our aching, oxygen-hungry bodies. I’d say that this trip is turning out quite well.