colca canyon

Pritti holding COCA leaves bought for 50pence in Arequipa as we prepare to climb(in a car) up to 5000m ie over 17000ft to see Colca Del Canyon and various other things.Chewing COCA leaves relieves symptoms of Altitude Sickness which can be fatal if not observed properly(if symptoms of altitude sickness persists for 24 hours then one has to descend very quickly to less than 2300m.)This bunch of leaves will produce 0.00021g of COKE-yes the real thing!
P prepares COCA leaves for chewing-up to 10 leaves are chewed and left in the side of the mouth and juices swallowed-taste is rather bitter-a specially prepared alkaloid stone like object is also chewed at the same time which draws out the drugs from the leaves and it gives instant buzz-I chewed more than 20 leaves and oh boy! I was a gonner! It has one side effect hours latter and that is it gives you a mother of all hang-overs-I mean our heads were ready to EXPLODE! and so our days of using hard drug lasted less than 24 hours .Also it suppresses hunger for up to 2 days at a time and you can stay awake for up to 48 hours and yes that happened to us too! COCA break at work is an institution here.It is legal to posses COCA leaves here but illegal to make paste from it as it is from the paste that COKE-yes the real thing!-is made after a lengthy chemical process usually in the jungles of Colombia. Everyone chews COCA leaves here ,long distant lorry drivers and bus drivers all seems to have huge gob-stopper like ball of COCA leaves in their mouth.COCA leaves COCA tea are at every breakfast, lunch and dinner tables once you go over 2500m.In Peru ,Bolivia and Ecuador Altitude Sickness is a real health hazard for tourist and those who take it lightly have to always cut their holidays short due to symptoms-up to 2000m it’s not a problem for most people, then every 1000m you climb you have to acclimatize for at least 48 to 72 hours by staying in one place.We acclimatized in Lima,Nazca,Arequipa and La Paz and we still suffered from mild symptoms of Altitude Sickness through out stay specially loss of appetite and sleep and slight nagging headache-in La Paz we really had to walk slowly due to it’s mountain location and we were always shattered after walking just 5 to 10 minutes and climbing even just 10 steps in our hotel made me feel like 70 year old-honest!



Alpacas and Llamas in Canon Del Colca near Arequipa



Mountains are worshipped in many part of this continent-today was a cloudy day otherwise from here one can see up to 7 snow-capped volcano peaks of around 6500m and we were standing at 4900m-people come here to worship theses mountains and built these towers for good luck for example before getting married ,starting a new business etc…it is rumored that the big square tower on the right of this picture was built by BILL GATES just before he started MICROSOFT!

…not sure whether it’s my good looks or my chram but I am always a hit with the local girls…this before we enter a town called Chivay for a night high in the Andes.

…early morning in Chivay –this view from our bedroom window-those snowy mountains are called MISMY and it here that the mighty AMAZON river is born and goes on for 6500km in to the Atlantic…

…on the road to see Cannon Del Colca…
…this area known as Cruz Del Condor and this is the beginning of Cannon Del Colca(Canyons Of Colca)-it is 100km long with snow capped volcanoes on each side and it’s depth ranges from 1000m to 3000m and is the world’s deepest canyon at 3191m ie twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in US! –a large family of Andean Condors nests here by the rocky outcrop and are seen sometime gliding close by on thermal air currents that rises from the canyons, swooping low over onlookers heads-Condors failed to show up on this day as the whole canyon was shrouded in mist and clouds!...

…locals selling all sorts to the tourist…we had nice local lunch while waiting for the Condors to show up-steamed corn on the cob,vegge rice etc…


…finally we saw 2 Condors flying above us few km from Cruz Del Condor as we prepared to head back to Arequipa and it was a magical sight-Condors can live up to 70 years!...