¿Dónde está el oxígeno?

We arrive in Arequipa at midnight on Wednesday October 22 after a bus ride full of drama. The terminal terrestre is a short cab ride to the Point Hostel. After dealing with hunger pangs and an apathetic staff, we catch a cab to the Plaza de Armas in search of food. Nothing is open.

Nothing except a little pizza restaurant with a wood-burning stove and guitar-playing waiters. The pizza was good for our empty tummies. Sleep was good for our tired bodies.

Thursday Octber 23.

Took it easy.

Decided relatively spur of the moment to climb Mount Chachani, a 6075m stratovolcano peak overlooking Arequipa. (See middle peak) It wasn't a task to be taken lightly. The highest I've ever been was Mount Ararat at 5200m and I remember that being quite tough. Nate's never done a climb like this. But we've had enough of bus-sitting and passive food-eating. We needed a proper push-yourself adventure. We also needed three people for the trek. Luckily, a minute later, Irish Mark walked into the room inquiring about the same trek. We made reservations for the next day.


The rest of the day was devoted to necessary errands and gazing at the mountains rising over of Plaza de Armas. We got to be rather familiar with the Ariquipeño streets, markets, and vibe.



Friday October 24

The 4 x 4 came to pick us up at 8:30am. It took us scowering the city to find hiking boots that fit us and around 10:30am we were on our way out of town. We sped out of the Arequipa city limits and into the countryside. The tremendous peaks of Chachani and El Misti towered in front of us. It was hard to believe that we would be climbing in less than 24 hours!

After a tremendously rough ride, the car dropped us off at 5200 meters. We shouldered our packs and walked by the green alien moss-covered rocks to the base camp at 5400 meters. I could definitely feel the altitude. Whew. Tents were set up quickly and we rested with tallarines for the rest of the afternoon.


The view was pretty spectacular from the base camp. The air turned chilly and then bitter as the sun set. Soup warmed our tummies. We crawled into our layers and packed our daypacks for the next morning.

But sleep doesn't come. It's cold. And uncomfortable. My sleeping bag's zipper doesn't work. Mice pine at our tent flaps. I work myself up about how the vacuum that the antibiotics left in me plus the extreme conditions I was subjecting my body to would leave me uncontrollably ill.

Saturday October 25

2am. Roy, our trekking guide extraordinaire, gives us the buenos dias wakeup call. Mate de coca and bread with jam, breakfast of mountain trekker champions. The night is dark and cold. Even with every conceivable layer, my toes and fingers are numb.

We set off with our headlamps and gear.

We start heading up, gaining altitude with every step, weaving in and around boulders. I bet Nate was secretly (or not so secretly) yearning to climb them. Meanwhile, I was working on my breathing. Breathe, step, step, breathe, step, step, swig of coca tea, breathe, rinse, repeat.

Phase II began when the ground to our left disappeared. That meant it was pole time, so I whipped out my ski-like poles of radically different lengths. One positioned on the steep incline to the right, one as a third leg on the narrow path. Without proper light, I couldn’t gauge how far the drop was. I just took a deep breath and tried not to think about it.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, I just had to concentrate on where I placed my steps on the soft volcanic sand and loose rocks. My breathing had a chance to stabilize itself.



Next came the ice. Continuing traversing, we sidestepped the conical icy stalagmites. No slipping allowed.





Slowly the twinkling lights of Arequipa became visible thousands of meters below us. Perfect timing too because we were due for a descanso. We sat on rocks with our coca tea watching the sky soften into morning colors. It was 4:30am.


Roy points up. We have to summit El Angel and Fatima before we can begin with Chachani. Three volcanoes for the price of one? Fantastic.

Across another icy maze and up the slippery dusty path. Nate and Roy flew. Mark and I held our own steady pace. Breaks usually included someone flinging themselves into a sprawl and chocolate munchies.



Passed 5600 meters sobre el nivel del mar. Passed 5800 meters snm. And climbing!



The sun rose and exposed the breathtaking scenery. Mountain peaks near and far towered over the misty ground. Wispy clouds snaked in and out of view. It was so unreally stunning. Being able to switch off our headlamps was humbling because it showed us the magnitude of what we were doing. It made the task at hand (putting one foot in front of the other) that much more daunting. Just keep breathing.






¿Dónde está el oxígeno? Breathing was getting quite hard. Mark was talking about a headache. Our breaks became more and more frequent. Whew.

Nate and Roy are up ahead. I can hardly make it ten steps without a break to lean on my poles.


Will I make it? I have to; I'm so close. But it's tough. There's hardly any air. And my body is so fatigued. Do people really do this for fun?!

Oh stop it, Alisa. You know you'll make it. And YOU are doing this for fun. Just take your time, head down and step, breath, step, breath, step...

Mark says he feels like he's going to throw up. My limbs feel so tired.

But but but. I make it! And collapse at the top.







We spend some time at the summit, regaining our composure. The view is ridiculous.



Going down is a lot easier than going up. We practically runslideski down the soft sand. I try to keep up with the guide, but he scoots on ahead. We take well-needed long breaks enjoying the view and and act of rehydrating.

It takes us about 3 hours to return to base camp. That's about 2 hours less than the ascent. All-in-all, I think we held our own against the volcanic peak. And we couldn't have asked for nicer weather and better company!


Completely exhausted, we all plopped down for a nap. The 4 x 4 picked us up around 1pm and we headed back into town. We arrived back to our cushy hostel completely exhausted around 3:15pm. What a tremendous day!