We just finished our three day trek into one of the two deepest canyons in the world, and my knees have still not forgiven me for it. After a six hour minibus ride out to Chivay and beyond, we stopped to see the condors in flight which has of course spurred a never ending string of Flight of the Conchord songs with slightly varied words; if you want me to, I can fly 'round for you…

The descent into the bottom of the canyon took about 4 hours down steep, dusty, narrow paths. I was holding up very well until the last 30 minutes, at which point my knees and lungs packed it in, and the complaining began. Thankfully, that's when my "friend" grabbed my pack and showed me that he truly is able to play the role of "burro". We stopped in a little village (and by that I mean under 10 people) for lunch and spent the night in little adobe huts. I tasted my first alpaca and can honestly say that I'm not a fan, but I now know what the mystery "carne" was in the Chinese food we had in Arequipa. The shower was a very interesting experience. They actually had hot water, but it was set up in a little bamboo structure, so the wind would blow through and we had a clear view of the surrounding mountains while washing the dust and goo off ourselves. Really beautiful and strangely freezing and hot all at the same time.

On the second day, we headed off to the next small village called The Oasis. As you can guess, it was not just a clever name. It was wonderful. That was only about 2 and a half hours up and down cliff sides and not nearly as intolerable. Our guide pointed out some of the plants that only grow in the basin of the canyon; one that spits acid and blinds children, and another that smells really good and helps with nausea. Sadly there were none that would relieve sunburn. It would seem that although I diligently sun-screened the front half of my body, I kind of ignored my back side entirely. I must remember the old adage- just because I can't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Ouch, the backs of my knees and neck are still recovering.

We swam in the spring fed pools and spent the afternoon drinking boxes of red wine and playing card games with our Dutch friends. We were attacked by little, nasty, biting flies for about an hour until the rain came and drove them away. The other groups showed up around 7pm drenched and exhausted. That's' when Dair got his first experience of sitting around a table of truly international, multi-lingual travelers and playing the "where you from-where you been-where you going" game. He enjoyed that immensely. We then slept in little clay and bamboo huts with dirt floors and a decided aroma of alpaca. Very fun if a little uncomfortable.

The next morning we started our ascent around 5am, very grateful to be missing the mid-day sun we'd had to contend with the two days prior. We were told it would be a 3.5 to 4 hour hike straight up, and shocked ourselves by making it in 2.5 hours. Honestly, if Dair tells me one more time how proud he is of me, I think my head is going to explode with ego!! Holy praise Condor Man!!

We made it back to Arequipa with just enough time to repack our bags, change our smelly clothes, grab a bit of, you guessed it, chicken and board the overnight bus to Cuzco. Sometimes I question why I'm such a glutton for punishment, but I guess it's just in my nature.

Anyways, I'm going to grab a fabulous cup of Cuzco coffee while my buddy has a workout, then we're off for much deserved massages, so you'll have to wait for the next installment of our follies. I'm sure you're all doing so with baited breath. And just to let all you lovely folks back home know, it's not snowing here, but thank you for the weather reports. Yes, it does make us smile!!