Story: Ghost Dog in the Colca Canyon
Originally Colca Canyon was an afterthought on our trip. There is so much to do in Peru, it's hard to do it all, and it's hard to narrow it down, but I wanted to give Colca Caynon a chance since I crave dramatic landscapes. While looking through pictures, I was afraid the hikes were a little redundant and the logistics were a bit of a headache. I played with the idea of doing a tour, but read that Colca Canyon is one of the places in Peru that is safe to do on your own. As someone who is a little wary of tours, I decided we would make it a little adventurous and do it on our own. Little did I know, it would be one of the most memorable parts of our trip. The scenery was AMAZING. Never judge a destination only by it's online pictures ;)
Let me introduce you to my two travel companions, Christina & Sander. Christina is my sister, the most grounded person I know, and this is our first big trip together. I'm pretty excited. Sander is Christina's husband/my brother-in-law. He is from Brazil, a musician, and this is the first time we are spending A LOT of time together. My husband, who you will hear more about in other stories of Peru, has not joined us on the trip yet because he was taking care of athletes at the US Olympic Trials by working his Chiropractic, Kinesology, and Quantum Neurology magic. Now that introductions are made, onto the story!
The trip started with a local bus to Cananaconde, a village that is perched at the top of the Colca Canyon, and it takes approximately 5 hours to get there from Arequipa, the city we flew into. I say approximately because the local bus takes much longer than they say. The views alone on this ride were incredible, we didn't need much entertainment. The locals were so lighthearted that even though they spoke Quechua and we spoke English, we got by communicating through fun exaggerated gestures.
Sander really got up close and personal with the locals when a woman dropped her little daughter onto Sander's lap and left the bus. We weren't alarmed at first as the little girl proceeded to feed her bread to Sander, and as a way of saying thanks, Sander reciprocated by feeding her his orange...and even collected the seeds that she spat into his hand. But after 30 minutes passed and the bus was getting ready to leave we started getting a little worried that we adopted a child. Right as the bus was taking off, the woman jumped back on the bus. This ended up being a common experience because, as I realized on this trip, Sander is a magnet for kids...and also a magnet for snacks now that I think about it. As the ride went along, the trip got longer, the bus got more cramped, and we were precariously hugging the side of the mountain. I figured no need to worry because they do this all the time! But later when the staff at our hostel mentioned how dangerous the drive was I was a little taken aback, maybe I should have been a little more worried?
Once in Cabanaconde, someone from our hostel, Pachamama, greeted us at the bus station and walked us up the street to our hostel. This place was a good find. Although it was VERY basic sleeping conditions, the hostel had good music, a friendly crew, amazing food, and the best cocktails we had in Peru. We ate there every night. We checked in, ate unpopped Peruvian popcorn (called canchita), shared a round of pizzas, toasted the fact that we survived the local bus, talked good music with the bartender, drank our coca tea, and went to bed.
Next morning, we woke up early to start hiking. Unfortunately we should have planned the hike the night before, because we missed the only bus to the route I wanted to do, the Lluhuar hike. I was so upset, especially since our only option left was to hike the typical way down to the oasis and back up. I like to go off the beaten track, so this was hard to accept, but honestly it was a blessing in disguise as I didn't know how the details of the day were about to unfold.
We were all on a high as we started the hike. The views were shocking, unlike any mountain range i've ever seen. The colors were beautiful as the sun was rising. It was infectious, there was something in the air. I forgot all about doing the most common hike, it wasn’t crowded or touristy at all, and I understood why this hike is so popular. On our way down we saw many people come up...all looking exhausted. We kept asking how the hike up was, and the answer was always the same, “HARD.” But for some reason the repercussions didn't register and we didn't care.
When the oasis came into view, the anticipation increased. The oasis is a bunch of man-made pools at the bottom of the Colca Canyon. When we arrived it was completely empty and we had the whole place to ourselves. Even though it is made for the tourists, it was beautiful with lush greenery and crystal clear pools. I loved it. We had a picnic, Sander played some music, and we swam.
We were all in good moods, and ready to tackle the hike up. We were good until half-way up, when the reality that we were climbing up the second deepest canyon in the world, in one day, hit. Sander started to not look so good. When he started throwing up, I knew we were in trouble. We were prepared and had a lot of water on us, but water means nothing if you can't keep it down. Next he started swaying and taking shorter steps. Soon he was hardly moving at all. I secretly started timing him as we were walking, because I knew we had a deadline before the sun set and the temperature dropped. We were walking one minute and taking eight minutes rest. As I looked up into the distance, seeking out where we had to get too, I got dizzy as I saw five donkeys appear from the rim of the canyon...they looked like little ants...we had a long way to go. Panic started to creep in. Altitude sickness is not something to take lightly, and I could see that Sander was quickly becoming incapacitated. He was continuously throwing up, he could barely walk, he couldn't keep his balance, and he was in pain.
This was my fault, I should have known better, I'm am an avid runner, my sister is a cross fit machine, while Sander is a musician, he basically has really fit fingers, he hadn’t been training like me and Christina. But Sander is also very spiritual. At one point he looked up and spoke out to the Andean goddess of Mother Earth, Pachamama, as he didn't think he could make it. Honestly, I didn't know if he could make it. He asked Pachamama for a sign that he could make it to the top. And you wouldn’t believe what happened. A dog showed up.
This dog followed Sander every step of the way up the mountain. Whenever Sander took a moment to rest, the dog would patiently lie down next to him and put his paws on his hands. EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
Christina and I named the dog Balto, after one of our favorite childhood movies, where a dog named Balto saves a girl from diphtheria by delivering medicine through the harsh winter weather conditions of Alaska. In this scenario, Balto saved Sander by lifting his spirits during the harsh hot climate and high altitude of the Colca Canyon.
I sped on ahead in hopes of looking for help, but the canyon was completely deserted. I turned around and headed back to meet Sander and Christina. The moment I saw Sander and Christina make it over the rim of the canyon, I felt a huge wave of relief. At least we were close to human contact. As we walked closer into town, Balto ran ahead, took one last look at us, and disappeared.
In our attempts to repay Balto back for saving Sander, we searched the streets with gifts in hand, muffins, but had no luck. His presence was gone, almost as if he was an apparition.
Once we got back to our hostel, the staff started taking care of Sander. There are no hospitals or doctors in Cabanaconde, so they used what they had - cocoa tea for altitude sickness and Muna leaves for stomach problems. Sander drank up and spent the rest of the night in bed. Christina and I stayed up and celebrated with drinks. After an exhausting hike and being at 10,000 feet, the drinks were too good and we got a little too giggly. It was that giddiness that comes along with being emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted, and completely relieved.
Lesson learned, respect the altitude.