Claudia... en Perù!

Wow, there are so many things that I haven't written, but I have been back home for 2 months now... If you have any questions, don't hesitate :P

But I just want to say that Peru is an amazing country and it's definitely in my top 3, of all the countries I've been to.
It's wonderful. I need to go back!

Chachani volcano is meant to be one of the easiest 6000m summit in the world, suitable for beginners.
¿¿¿ PARDON ME ???

Je vais ecrire en francais, ce sera plus percutant, desolee car ce clavier n'a pas d'accent.

Premiere journee, nous partons en 4 x 4 vers 9hrs du matin. Nous etions 7 personnes, tous des benevoles de Traveller Not Tourist. Nous avons d'abord fait 3hrs de route, inconfortablement cahoteuse, pour se rendre au point de depart, a 5100 metres. Par contre, nous avons pu admirer le paysage de la reserve Salinas y Aguada Blanca, dans laquelle les volcans Chachani et El Misti sont situe, entre autre. C'etait magnifique, et nous avons croise plusieurs vicuñas, des animaux ressemblant a des lamas. Le ciel bleu petant, la vegetation desertique, les fleurs, et les montagnes et volcans en arriere plan... Le voyage en valait la peine seulement pour cette vue, tant qu'a moi.

En chemin, nous arretons a un peu plus de 4000 metres pour une petite pause. Je vous rappelle que normalement, une ascension responsable devrait etre de 500 metres par jour. Arequipa se situe a une altitude de 2300 metres, alors deja la nous avions largement depasse la norme. Alors tout bonnement, je sors du vehicule, je descends une petite cote pour aller aux 'toilettes', je remonte, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE. Je commence a me sentir etourdie, et je remarque que mes mains tremblent.... Merde, deja ??? Je respire profondement et ca passe. Ouf, ca commence raide.

Nous arrivons donc au point de depart, recuperons notre equipement, et debutons l'ascension de 300 metres jusqu'au camp de base. Apres quelques pas, nous sommes tous bien essoufles. Incroyable. Nous continuons, et apres quelques minutes seulement, je me sens faiblir... Une autre fille derriere moi se sent vraiment mal aussi. Mais bon, nous continuons... Durant ce chemin de 1h30, je me suis sentie pres de l'evanouissement environ 5 fois. Etait-ce dans ma tete, car j'etais tellement terrifiee par l'altitude, ou etait-ce vraiment l'altitude? J'opte pour la deuxieme option, mais je ne le saurai jamais. Ciara, elle, a eu envie de vomir du debut a la fin.

Nous arrivons au camp de base, vue magnifique. Il fait frais, mais les forts rayons de soleil nous rechauffent. Il est environ 2hPM, j'ai faim en maudit... les guides ne semblent pas pret a commencer la cuisine... Alors nous nous bourrons la face dans nos snacks. Pour ceux qui avaient encore de l'appetit, bien sur. Les guides nous servent du the de coca, qui aide a appaiser les symptomes de l'altitude. J'en bois le plus possible, et je mange plein de bonbons de coca achetes pour l'occasion. Vers 3h30, le soleil disparait derriere une montagne, et nous nous rendons compte a quel point il fera FROID. Nous sortons nos vetements d'hiver: combines, multiples paires de bas, polar, bas de soute, manteaux, foulards, tuques, etc. Nous soupons vers 5h30 dans une tente ou il fait plus chaud, merci mon Dieu, et nous nous retirons dans nos appartements, i.e nos minuscules tentes, vers 7hPM, car le lever sera tres tot. Ciara a encore envie de vomir, Margot est a moitie morte, et la plupart se sentent bizarre.

Nuit d'enfer pour tous. De mon cote, j'ai eu tres froid au pied, mais jai tout de meme reussi a dormir quelques heures par ci par la. La seule chose etait que je respirais environ 2 fois plus vite qu'a l'habitude pour aller chercher assez d'oxygene, ce qui n'est pas particulierement plaisant.

Reveil a 3h30. Je sors de la tente, on GELE. Ciara est malade et reste couchee. Jerome a passe une nuit d'enfer et n'a pas dormi une petite seconce, car il suffocait. Margot toujours a moitie morte. Marie a failli vomir toute la nuit. James a aussi la nausee. Anna va bien, et moi aussi. Je me surprends. On mange du bon pain blanc congele, de la confiture congelee et du fromage un peu bizarre. J'ai faim, miam miam miam. J'ai un peu peur de cette ascension. Tout le monde parle a quel point la nuit a ete penible. Tout a coup, OH MERDE, je me sens faiblir... Cette fois, j'ai VRAIMENT failli tomber dans les pommes. Cette fois, je crois vraiment que c'etait le stress et la peur. Un choc vagal, comme quand je me fais prendre des prises de sang. Car apres 2 minutes, je suis redevenue normale. Prete pour le depart.

Nous partons a 4h30, Marie, Anna, James et moi, les autres etant trop mal en point. Il fait noir total et tellement froid. Nous avons des lampes frontales. Le debut est assez apique mais nous marchons tres tres lentement alors ca va, l'essouflement est acceptable. Apres 30 minutes, Marie, completement gelee, retourne de bord. Nous continuons un autre 30 minutes jusqu'a ce que la neige apparaisse. Le soleil se leve, c'est magnifique. On enfile nos crampons, on sort nos pics a glace, et on repart. James et Anna sont geles, moi mes orteils et mes doigts me font souffrir, mais je me dis que ce n'est pas pire que l'hiver a Quebec.

Nous commencons a marcher dans la glace. Pas de la glace lisse, des PICS de glace. Je croyais que les crampons etaient par precaution.... eh non. Ils sont bel et bien essentiels. On marche et marche dans la glace, on arrive sur la montagne Angel qui est appique comme une pente de ski double lozange, toute glacee. Je me dis, HOLY SHIT. Il y a une corde a laquelle on doit s'agripper, et on avance. Il y a un chemin de moins de 30cm de large. Je me dis, si je trebuche, c'est sur que la corde me glisse des mains, que je deboule, et que je meurs. J'essaie de ne pas trop y penser. Un pas a la fois. Esti que j'ai la chienne. On continue, apres 20m il ny a plus de corde. On utilise nos pics a glace pour s'aggriper du cote de la montagne et on essaie de planter nos crampons dans la glace, puisque a quelques centimetres est une belle pente qui n'attend que de me voir perdre l'equilibre. Parfois, il y a des petites traces de pas ou un chemin de quelques centimetres de large dans lequel on se sent plus en securite, parfois on doit deviner ou il est le moins dangereux de mettre notre pied et essayer de donner des coups de pieds avec nos crampons pour applatir la glace et ne pas tomber. Cette aventure palpitante dure un bon 2h30. Un moment donne, en plein milieu de la glace, je me sens faiblir. Je le dis au guide car je n'ai pas envie de finir en bas de la montagne. Je m'assois en me retenant en piquant mes crampons dans la glace. Apres quelques minutes, on decide qu'on allait continuer un peu et ensuite revirer de bord, car 1- Nous n'avons pas assez de temps de toute maniere pour se rendre au sommet de Chachani car nous sommes partis trop tard et nous marchons trop lentement et 2- James ne se sent vraiment pas bien, Anna commence aussi a se sentir bizarre et moi aussi. Nous nous rendons dans un tres beau spot, a seulement 30 minutes du sommet de Fatima, 6000m. La vue est magnifique. Nous relaxons une bonne demie heure, j'ai un mal de tete intense. Je pourrais probablement continuer, mais je n'ai pas particulierement envie de crever. En plus, tout ce que j'ai a manger sont des peanuts et une barre de chocolat. Les guides n'ont pas pense nous informer qu'il serait interessant d'amener beaucoup de bouffe pour une hike de 10 heures. Ils etaient bien gentils, mais ne nous disaient pas grand chose, en faite.

Alors nous revirons de bord. Ah merde, encore la pente glacee... Ca semble moins pire par contre, j'imagine qu'on finit par s'habituer au danger. Nous revenons au camp vers 12h, apres un périple de 7h30. Nous ne dinons pas, alors je mange des crackers au chocolat et une sandwiche au beurre de peanut, une chance que je l'avais... Nous pactons tout, et nous remarchons environ 45 minutes jusqu'au 4 x 4 qui nous attends dans un autre camp de base, plus bas. Je suis fatiguee....

Je ne regrette vraiment rien, sauf peut-etre de n'avoir pas reussi a me rendre au sommet. Sur 7 personnes, aucune n'a reussi. La seule chose que je trouve vraiment nulle, c'est que les guides ne nous nourissent pas assez, c'est ridicule, si je n'avais pas amene autant de bouffe je serais surement a moitie morte. Mais le paysage et l'aventure que j'ai vecu compensent pour le reste. C'est selon moi tres dangereux, et quelqu'un qui a le vertige serait totalement terrifie.

Mais c'etat super !!!

I found a great place for horse riding around Arequipa.
The name of the village is Sabandia. It is only a 15 minute taxi ride from the center. And it is GREAT, so great I went 3 times in a week! At 5 dollars per hour, I do not feel a tiny little bit of guilt. The scenery is amazing. We pass through a small village, always surrounded by snowcapped mountains, we cross streams, pass beautiful terrasses, fighting bulls, sheep, raging dogs and pigs...

And last time, we spent about 30 minutes galoping on a dirt road, that was AMAZING... The horses seem to be pretty well looked after, which makes me feel better.

I am sick again, this time its more like nausea and puking and stuff. This morning I felt so good and so hungry that I had a big bowl of cereals, only to realise 30 minutes later that it was a terrible idea. In fact I nearly puked on the sidewalk on my way to the chemist. Thanks God I did not.... I really really hope I feel better soon, because I a little sick of doing nothing but sleep and read all day, I really feel like I am wasting my precious time in Peru... But what can I do. Hopefully if I keep on eating only rice and soup and patatoes I will feel better very soon.

So I spent the Fiestas Patrias of Peru and celebrated the Independance in my bed, apart from Saturday night. We went to a Salsa concert in a park and had some beers and pop corn. At first, it was pretty sad. There was very few people, and the band was playing but no one would clap or move or anything. After every song they were like: Oh thank you thank you, but it was total silence. I felt really bad for the group. But as the evening went on, more people came, and everyone got a little more drunk, so after a while the party was on, everyone was dancing and it was pretty fun. We left at around 12h30am and the main band had not even started playing yet...

Chachani is still great. Some volunteers left, some new ones arrived, and now we are really going to try to organise more the classes. But we always say that and never seem to succeed. Its very hard and complicated to do some proper teaching in these conditions. Sometimes I kind of feel useless, but at least I know that the kids have a good time while they are at school.

Last week, one of my favorite student left. She moved to another place, in a proper house, which is really great, but it still made me kind of sad. She took a picture of me and her that I had given her, made a cute picture frame and gave it to me. Awww. I will really miss them all when I leave.

Last weekend, I went on a day hike to Colca Canyon, the worlds second deepest canyon. It was beautiful.

We took the bus to Cabanaconde, a small and beautiful town surrounded by mountains, which was our departure point. On the first day we hiked down for about 5 hours, which might sound pretty easy but it was not.
The path was sometimes so narrow that I prefered not to look down to see what was waiting for me if I slipped and fell. The view was fabulous though. At the top of the canyon everything was rocky and dusty, and the more we went down, the more green it became.

We spent the first night in a very small village, not to far from the bottom of the canyon. The women there were wearing traditionnal clothing which made this place even more interesting. We stayed in a room with 5 beds, and the walls were build with mud or something like that. It was perfect, except the fact that I had to sleep with my jacket, hat, gloves and woolen socks on, and I still managed to shiver all night long.

The next day we got to the oasis, a little paradise at the bottom of the canyon, after around 2 hours. Palm trees, bamboo shacks and a nice swimming pool were making this hard work worth all the effort. We stayed there for more than 3 hours, went for a swim, had a delicious lunch as usual and had a nap before starting the hardest part of the trek, 3.5 or 4 hours UPHILL. Steep. Very steep. And very hot, too.

It was hard work, but Im so glad I did it. We got back to Cabanaconde at around 6h30 and had a nice dinner which felt so good after so much exercice.

The next day I could barely walk. We went to Cruz del Condor and unfortunately I only got to see 2 condors that were flying very far away. Im glad I wasnt too excited about them because I wouldve had been pretty disappointed. Apparently some people saw quite a few so maybe I just wasnt patient enough.

The worst part of this trip was the following day, because then I really could not walk. My legs hurt sooooo much. So little advice, STRETCH before and after.

I will put some pictures later because I just tried and electrocuted myself with the computer. Great!

On July 8th, I thought that I would die in Peru. I woke up at around 4.30 AM, as if someone was shaking my bed. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was an earthquake.

It is so strange because the day before, we were all talking about earthquakes and we had a look on the Internet to see what we should do if that happened. One of the things it said was, if you are in bed, stay in bed. But I did not.

So I went under my bedrooms doorway while the whole house was shaking, while my bathroom stuff was falling on the floor, while all the dogs of the area were barking and while the sirens of the ambulances were making it even worse. I was there, scared as hell, hoping that people would get out of their room and tell me I was not going to die. But no one did. It lasted about 30 seconds. One of the longer 30 seconds ever.

Apparently there are about 7 earthquakes every day in Arequipa, but that one was the strongest in 5 years. And of course, I had to be there... hehe.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Yesterday, there was a strike. Basically, citizens were protesting "an increase in the cost of staple foods, the privatization of ports and airports as well as trade policies that would harm Peruvian agriculture".
Many roads were blocked by fire and rocks, and all public transport was stopped, so most of the shops and restaurants were closed, as well as the schools. Apparently, some government buildings were set on fire in nearby cities. We went to the center and everything was pretty peaceful. A whole bunch of citizens, unions and different groups were protesting, but I havent seen any incident. It's good to see that many people unifying their energies for a cause... as long as it is and stays peaceful.