Surviving The Rapids

This past weekend my and some 'compañeros' took a trip to Arequipa, Peru. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru and is known as the white city for all of it's stone washed buildings. We started off the trip with another early morning. Our flight was at 530 in the morning and we got there at 7 and to the hostel at about 8. We started off the day with a nap of course and then hit the city. We walked to the Plaza de Armas which is basically the town square. We walked around there and decided to go get something to eat. We were told by alot of Limeños (People form Lima) that the food in Arequipa is the best in Peru. They weren't lying either. I got Rocotto Relleno which is basically a pepper stuffed with cheese, meat, and some egg, it was AMAZING!! After the meal we took a 4 hour tour around town for under seven bucks! On the tour we saw the Arequipan landscape, which was gorgeous, saw some historical sights and even rode some horses. My horse was so cranky, he bit any and every horse the tried to pass him. Good thing he couldn't reach me, he would have amputated my leg.

Statue in the Plaza de Armas

A hippie that sang in the restaurant we ate in

My cranky horse Pablo

Plaza de Armas

That next day we foung a really good deal for white water rafting. We paid around 25 dollars! We loaded up in a van and headed of to the River Chili. We put on all of our rafting gear, in which I felt like I was about to swim with Shamu, and got our quick lesson on rafting. I'm surprised the guide passed us after finding out our level of intelligence. He was giving commands like 'Forward' 'Back' which we passed with flying colors but then he yelled 'Left side forward, right side back', we all looked at him with a blank stare. This was in English by the way. We hit the river and it was a blast. The water level wasn´t very high so we were hitting rocks left and right, this made for a more fun/dangerous ride. My friend Emily and I even fell in at one point. She fleww of her side and flew in right after her. She thought I was trying to save her, I Should've just let her believe that. I did bang my thigh really bad and couldn't walk that night.

Before the rafting

After rafting, we lost alot of good men...

That next morning, I should say night, we got up at 2 am and drove three hours to go to Colca Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world. We drove three hours in the most uncomfortable seats in the world. The stayed at an 90 degree angle and felt like rock. Staying in them was a task also. Forget Abb RipperX, I have a 12 pack now from just trying to keep my self in my seat! We learned in class that the Sierra, the part od Peru up in the mountains, is lacking in infrastructure and the roads are very bumpy and sometimes dangerous. They lived up to this reputation. Instead of going through the mountains like in the US, we had to go around, sometimes teetering on a ledge.

On the bus to Colca Canyon!

Joke, just a joke...

But it was all woth it when we finally got there! We also learned in class that in the Sierra there are many small plots of farming lands that are built into the mountains by the Incas and even some that date before that, that's crazy how old they are! More than 500 years and they're still being used. We hiked throughout the canyon and stopped at many checkpoints. One of the big atractions to the canyon are the condors that frequent the canyon. We were told that they are rare to see, but guess what?? We saw not one but two! They must have heard we traveled so far to come to the canyon.

All of the farming plots

Colca Canyon