Arriving in Arequipa late Saturday evening we headed to our hotel, which was to be the nicest we stayed in in Arequipa, and then headed out for a late bite to eat and a quick look at the historical centre. The centre is UNESCO protected and made of white lava stone. The square looks very colonial Spanish and had a fountain in the middle surrounded by hundreds of pigeons. Very pretty compared to some of the places we've been to!!

On Sunday our main target for the day was to arrange the climb up Mount Chachani which is 6075m (19,930ft) and something Esben was really keen to do, I had managed to persuade myself that it was something I wanted to try! Apparently it is a great achievement to climb above 6km. The price ranges for the tour were massive and we settled for a cheaper option in the end as another person had also booked with the same company and they received excellent reviews for rafting trips. The trek was to start the next day so we ventured out to find some pisco sours and ceviche for lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing in the square and eating ice cream.

On Monday we met our guide at the equipment shop. He was alright and very experienced but a bit of a know-it-all, direct character called Ivan. We also met Stefan a Swiss guy who was going to climb the mountain with us as-well. He had left his girlfriend at the hotel ... Sensible. We got kitted out with ski jackets, salopets, head lamps, tent, roll matt and packed up our rucksacks.

Once we were in the 4x4 we headed to chachani mountain which took three hours on a very very bumpy track. I was sitting in the middle where there wasn't a middle seat so very uncomfortable. After arriving at 5100m (16,730ft), the highest I have ever been. The car could go no further and we got out and put on our very heavy backpacks for the 1.5hr hike to base camp at 5300m (17,390ft).

The hike was okay to start with but when we sat down for a break about half way I felt a bit faint due to the lack of oxygen. We did however make it to base camp which was fine except for the heavy backpacks!!

Next step was to put up the tents and get ready to camp. Because the air was so thin everything was exhausting and you'd put half a tent up and want to sit down for ten minutes to get the energy back up to do the rest! Ivan cooked us dinner straight away even though it was 3.30pm because we were due up at 1am to start the climb at 2am ... Eugh!! We had some noodle soup and pasta with tuna and sauce followed by some hot tea.

Ivan then checked the percentage of oxygen in our blood because if it is below 70% you have to go straight back down. Mine was 87% and Esben 90% so all was looking positive. Next it was rest time and time to try and sleep because of our early start. After reading until sunset we managed to get to sleep at about 7.30pm and had on and off sleep. What we weren't expecting was the freezing freezing cold. As it got later it got colder and ice started forming inside the tent and on our sleeping bags. Even with -10 sleeping bags and thermals it was very hard to get warm.

At 1am we got up, put on as many clothes as possible and had breakfast of dry bread, jam and cheese. Then it was time to set off. I was feeling positive and had my headphones at the ready. The aim of the day was to make it to the summit 6075m (19,930ft) and Ivan said this could take anywhere between 4-8 hours.

We started off and I was okay. After half an hour we had a break and my extremities were freezing (it was -20). During the next half hour I started struggling with the cold and feeling very faint with the altitude so in the end I told Ivan how I was feeling and he and I decided that it would be best for me to go back down to camp so he ran me down a big sand section of the mountain and then went back up to join the boys. Esben reckons I made it 1/3 of the way.

Once back at camp I put my sleeping bag inside Esben's and managed to get some more sleep until the sun rose and my frozen tent started to defrost.

Esben, Stefan and Ivan ended making it up to the summit in just over 4 hours and back down in 40 minutes which is pretty quick!! I felt a bit better knowing that in Ivan's last group only 1 out of 5 of the people who attempted it made the summit. Tuesday we packed up the camp and hiked back to the car. Only problem was the bozo driving the car up had smashed the bottom on a rock he had driven over too fast so we had to wait 4 hours for another car to come and get us from town and then endure the 3 hour bump marathon back to Arequipa!!!! Poor Esben was exhausted and starving as the only proper meal we had had was at 3pm the previous day. Needless to say that evening was spent relaxing again after a lasagne and glass of wine!

On Wednesday we decided to go to the museums in Arequipa. Firstly we visited Jaunita who is a 500 year old teenage girl who was sacrificed by the Incas to the mountain gods and froze at the top of the mountain after her death. An explorer came across her whilst hiking the mountain and everything on her body was intact including skin, bones and muscle, as it had been 500 years ago. The only placed on her body damaged slightly was her face which had turned white from sun exposure as she had fallen from the top of the mountain in a land slide. She was encased in three cases inside the museum including bullet proofing and insulating casing. I found her and the story of her death absolutely fascinating. At the time she was alive people were selected for sacrifice at birth and taken to Cusco to live in a special school to prepare them for their sacrifice. Only the most perfect and beautiful were chosen for sacrifice and Juanita's selection is an unusual one as she was royalty and royalty were often not the most perfect and beautiful due to inbreeding between family members. When the time came for her sacrifice she would have walked for about 3 months from Cuzco to the top of the mountain where she will have been given alcohol until she passed out then hit very hard over the head and wrapped in 100 blankets with figurines, gold and pottery and buried at the top of the mountain. She will have believed that she herself was going to join the gods and in herself become a sort of god.

After this interesting visit we went to the huge monastery in the centre of town for a look around. Nun's still live in part of the monastery but there is a large section of old living quarters you can visit. It was sort of interesting but once you've seen one nun cell you have sort of seen them all. What was nice was the architecture and brightly painted walls and the small walled garden where we sat on a bench in the sun for a while.

All was well until that evening when the pasta carbonara Esben had eaten for lunch made a reappearance and didn't stop until 5am. I felt really bad for him as he was very unwell and exhausted the next day.

I had booked for us to do the Peruvian Cooking Experience the day after Esben started being unwell and he was in no state to attend so I decided to leave him tucked up in bed with some coca cola and crackers and go it alone! When I arrived I was the only one without a partner but soon got chatting to some Americans and the girls who worked at the kitchen.

The first stage of the course was a tour of the market. I found this fascinating. There was a stall selling frog juice as a natural Viagra. Huge stalls filled with tons of random decorations which were all to be purchased as gifts to the gods of mountain, land and sea. There were also dead, dried up lamas hanging at these stalls that you could purchase as offerings. They looked horrendous!! I saw frogs hanging from strings for sale and chickens opened up with half formed eggs inside for soup. Some of the stalls had little black baby dolls on which apparently were for luck and to bring customers. All in all a great insight.

Next we headed back to the hostel where the cooking course was held. The kitchen was located outside at the back of a beautiful garden so we got to cook outside which was great. There were about 10 of us from all over the world. The two female cooks took us through making our own ceviche and fish dishes which we sat at a long table and enjoyed afterwards. It was a great experience and I can't wait to try the dishes back home.

In the evening Esben was a bit better so we went for a small bite to eat and then had an early night. The next day he was still tired so we shopped around and booked a white water rafting course for the following day. We also investigated Colca Canyon tours but after much deliberation we decided we didn't need a guide and we would go it alone (a great decision). We changed hotels this day as after our first hotel we had moved to a cheaper one where there was building work right outside our window and it was just a bit rubbish it was also the site of the food poisoning incident! Sadly the next hotel wasn't nearly as great as we were expecting given it was more expensive and got great trip advisor reviews.

Friday was white water rafting day and I was really excited as I love all water activities! It was great to be out in the fresh air and sunshine but the rapids were a little pathetic so we are going to look for something a bit more crazy in Cuzco to pump up the adrenaline!! In the afternoon we prepared to leave Arequipa the next day as we were heading to Cabanaconda and Colca Canyon on the public bus. Before we left we treated ourselves to a meal in the best restaurant in town and had beef and lamb steaks on hot stones. It was delicious!!

I am going to write a separate blog about Colca Canyon as we have just left and I don't want to bore you to death too much ;-)!!

Lesson learnt in Arequipa ... Don't eat pasta carbonara in Peru.

Alice
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