CHACHANI :

Shortly after completing our tour on El Misti we decided that we definately were going to try Chachani too. The opportunity to stand on a mountain 6000meter above the sea level was so real and we booked a tour for monday 2nd of may. Two days were spent in Arequipa and The Scandinavian relaxing, reading, drinking coffee and writing postcards. We booked the tour through Quechua Explorer, a different from the last one. This place was much more professional and the prices were very similar. We ended up paying $85 each for the 2 day tour. Having learnt our lessons from El Misti we brought a lot more snacks this time around. Snickers, sublimes and crackers was safely tucked in our bags as our transport picked us up at the hotel at about 8am. We geared up at their office, getting sleeping bags and matts, tents, crampons, ice picks etc. Met our fellow summiters were a couple from Poland, a couple from New Zealand and Jos from holland, plus two guides. Packed up and ready to go, the drive was a 3 hours rigid ride up the side of Chachani.

We headed for the north side of the mountain, the side not facing the city. Across the valley we could see El Misti raging, but she was already defeated and we were heading to her big sister. The road was a dirt one full of holes and dumps and our speed was not great. Desertlike landscapes with green dots of grass that only are green in this time of the year(right after raining season). Saw many Vicuñas, wild relative of the llama and alpaca, walking around in flocks. After reaching the end of the road on about 5000msl we started the fairly easy first leg of 2 hours up to 5250m where our basecamp was to be. We walked on the side of a 10 million year old volcano crater with a small 800 000 year old volcano inside it: Amazing scenery! Got to basecamp, put up the tent, ate the dinner the guide had made for us and went to bed at around 7pm.

Sleeping on that altitude is not easy and we didn´t sleep very well, and at 1am our guides called us for breakfast. Same procedure as on el misti, we ate loaf with cheese and jam, and drank coca tea to deal better with the altitude. The main reaction to the lack of oxygen at these heights is headaches. Started the ascent at 2am and after about 2 hours the polacks had to break and go down again, due to lack of good acclimatization. We kept on going at a slow pace, concentrating on breathing. Headaches came and went but we were fine on the whole ascent. It got pretty cold but when the light of the sunrise showed in the horizon it invigorated the summitters.

Last hour or so was on snow and we wore crampons and had a rope between us. The view got better and better on the way up and when we got up to a ridge which we follow to the summit the view was just amazing. Almost 4000meters down we could see the city of Arequipa in the early morning. Followed the ridge for 20-30 minutes before we reached the summit. All of us came up and the feeling of being on the top is great. The sun was shining and we enjoyed good snickers chocolates and photo sessions. Jos got the priviledge to take nude pictures of us and I think he enjoyed it. After 20 minutes on the top, at 6095msl(or 20000ft), we started the long way down to the basecamp. Same procedure as on el misti again and we found some loose sand that we could descend fast on. Down at basecamp we had about 30 minutes of sleep before we packed up and went the last 2 hours back down to where the car picked us up. Survived the road back down to Arequipa and we ate our usual kebab at El Turku in town.

Wednesday we just chilled in arequipa, reading and writing, playing computer games and updating blog. Went to an irish hostal for some drinks. Thursday was very relaxed being hungover and just doing nothing. Friday we got a bus to Cuzco for $10 each(Taurobus) and we were officially on our way to one of the seven wonders of the world: Macchu Picchu.