The first day, Neil and I hiked for about 5 hours - down to the river and then up the other side to a little pueblo, Tapay. Tapay was a town I have always dreamed of. It has only 40 inhabitants, tons of beautiful, luscious clean water running in canals down from the mountains, tons of fresh fruit trees, animals and an incredible healthy lifestyle. It takes the locals about 2 1/2 hours to hike to the closest town and 1 1/2 for the younger ones. Gosh how fit they are. My back was sore after hiking in and the owner´s father of the hospedaje or hostal was 65 years old helped me out and did some adjusting for me as well as a back massage. During part of the adjustment, he lifted me up off my feet 2 times like I was a feather. Boy do I hope to be in at least three quarters that shape when I get to be his age! He looked great as well. He also showed me how to eat tuna. Not the same as our english speaking fish tuna but the fruit of the prickly pear cacti. MMMMNNNN YUMMMMM!! I attached a picture of some fruit on the cactus. Beware of the fine spines - clear the off with a knife before you pick the fruit. I was able to camp at the hospedaje and just had incredible views and a fresh spring running next to my tent.
The next day we hiked about 2 -3 hours, stopping to eat more tuna. MMMmmmmm. We hiked down to the river and I was amazed at how green it was near the river. It reminded me a bit of Hawaii. We stayed at another hostal where again I camped out. There were a ton of turistas but what was amazing is we all spoke spanish. I loved it!!!! Dreams do come true - you just have to put your thoughts and intentions out there and be patient! There were sooooooo many french here. If you want to find a frenchwoman - go to Peru. There were at least 8 at the hostal in Oasis and in the sign in book in Tapay there were at least 30 over the past 2 years.
We hiked up and out of the canyon in 3 hours - which was up the entire time. I was quite proud of ou efforts! Granted it takes most people 3 - 4 hours but I am glad I was on the low end. We took a bus back to Arequipa and saw some more amazing views. Herds of alpacas/llamas/vicuñas - I am not really sure because of the distance - grzing on the side of the highway. incredible vistas of canyons, mountains and river. Gosh mama earth is absolutely spectacular and these Andes are one of her treasures!!!! I loved how the bus would enter each town by laying on the horn to let the people know the bus is here. It reminded me of the train laying on its horn in Eugene at night as it was passing through Eugene.
In the pueblo, Cabanaconde where you start hiking down into the canyon, it was Carnaval. It lasted for 3 days and everyday they celebrated with music, dancing and parades. The first parade started at 6am with firecrackers and booms. You could here them into the canyon as well. They sure do know how to celebrate life down here! They even had parades outside of town as we were leaving. Incredible - life is grand and the people sure know how to appreciate it here!
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