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After arriving in Arequipa a city of 1 million we found ourselves a nice hotel for around 8 pounds a night - fully equipped with Cable TV and excellent shower. First point of call was coffee and black jungle cake sitting in a cafe overlooking the central plaza. Life is relaxing at the moment. Some nice Italian food followed by a comfy bed.

Volcanoes and Valleys

James and Anne Walkington
2006-09-11 11:37:11

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After arriving in Arequipa a city of 1 million we found ourselves a nice hotel for around 8 pounds a night - fully equipped with Cable TV and excellent shower. First point of call was coffee and black jungle cake sitting in a cafe overlooking the central plaza. Life is relaxing at the moment. Some nice Italian food followed by a comfy bed.

It was time to do some more exercise. We joined a guide and rather controversially a French guy and set off early the following morning to the base of the volcano El Misti. Our plan was a two day ascent of this 5822m mountain which overlooks the city of Arequipa. Starting at 3400m we set off at a crawling snail pace. Within a hundred meters James was getting annoyed but held back. After being annoyed by irritating flies we started climbing up the scree covered slopes of the mountain. Six slow hours later we arrived at the High Camp around 4600m early in the afternoon. Sitting around in the baking sun we passed the remainder of the day eating and drinking Coca tea.

An early bedtime before the sun had set at 6pm was in order prior to our 2am start up the final 1200m. A reasonable nights sleep was only spoiled by having to get up at 2am in the freezing cold. It was full moon and there was enough light to see by without using our head torches.

Very little can be said about a 6 hour climb up a zig zagging path slowly ascending the scree slope. Anne started to feel the pain around 5600m - needless to say James was still going strong! Around this time the top finally came into view. A huge 10m metal cross marks the highest point but was still iover an hour away. The French guy lent Anne his trekking poles to help her (a rather nice thing for a Frenchman to do). Eventually the summit was only a matter of metres away and Anne managed the final crawl before slumping to the ground for a short nap. James was surprised at how good he was feeling and was disappointed that there was no more to climb!
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