Lost, Broken, and Stolen

This will be a growing list of all lost, broken or stolen on the trip. This list will hopefully stay small, but should be an interesting history for the journey. So far:


Stolen: Visa Card and $660 in Miraflores, close to Lima. I noticed my ATM card had gone missing, so I went and checked my accounts and was missing $660. Thanks to the FDIC, its all coming back to me, and Visa sent me a new card in Peru.

Stolen: Black EMS Fleece, Deja Vu bar in Arequipa. I set this down for 5 minutes at our table, turned and it was gone. Real bummer.

Lost: Backup sunglasses on Rio Colca. I always carry an extra pair in my PFD. I set these down on the rocks at the second night camp and lost them in the flurry of the fireline to get gear to camp. I bought a new pair in Arequipa for 16 soles.

Broken: Pentax Optio WPi Camera on Rio Cotahuasi. My trusty old camera gave out after taking its 5000th picture. The viewing screen was already cracked, but this hit killed the lens, cracking it in pieces. Fortunatley, Christina sold me her W10 so the pictures will keep coming!

Lost: Six Six One Elbow pads on Rio Cotahuasi. In the unwrapping scene, I set them down on a rock because swimming with them is nearly impossibble. I was going to remember them, but didn´t. I´m borrowing Brian's till I get new ones... maybe in Chile?

Lost: Food, oar, oarlocks, oar sleaves on Rio Cotahuasi.

Broken: Oar and cooler on Rio Cotahuasi.

Lost: Nalgene Bottle, in taxi coming back from Paucartambo to hostal in Cuzco.

Lost: Petzel Zipka Headlamp, somewhere between Paucartambo-Urubamba Confluence and Cuzco. Bummer.

Lost/Broken/Stolen: Wairo, Gian Marco's dog, somewhere around Cotahuasi. We took the dog for the first dog decent of the Colca, then it stole a wheel of cheese and dissapeared in Cotahuasi. Not really sure if we lost the dog, the cheese broke the dog, or he was stolen.

10/30 - Rio Chili, Arequipa

Andy, Ben, Christina, Todd and I got to run the Rio Chili into Arequipa yesterday. The river was mellow Class IV to III. Its a fun one because it goes into the center of the city, taking out at Puente Grau, in the center of town. Now we´re headed to Cuzco to begin on the Rio Paucartambo, the most classic of the multi-day Class V runs in Peru. Its 250kms through the mountains and down into the jungle of the Urubamba Valley. I can't wait. More to come, maybe around November 8th...

10/29- Camana to Arequipa, Rio Cotahuasi, Day 6

We arrived at Camana around 1am, after our other bus broke down. We slept in the ghetoest place I´ve ever seen, paying $20 for the night for 14 people and all our stuff. In the morning Roberto and I hit the street looking to rent a Kombi Bus to get us back to Arequipa. In the end, luck, word of mouth, and Gian Marco scored us this puppy:


We got hooked up, finally. Now I´m back in Arequipa...

10/28- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 5

The last day on the Cotahuasi was the 6 hour paddle out through the spike fields of the cameron fishermen. They fill the river with spikes to hold their nets, which made paddling the section interesting! Rafter's worst nightmere:


The takeout was in the middle of nowhere, but we were lucky to catch a ride to the nearby town of Icipi, the cameron capital of the world! The takeout:

Ben keepin it real in Icipi:

Andy in front of the town mascot:

Loading our POS bus that would break down in the middle of the night:

The drive out was heinous. 4 hours of spine jaring, brain sloshing dirt road in the noisiest, smelliest bus ever.... more to come later...

10/27- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 4

We rafted Marpa in the AM, and Gian Marco hit his head swimming across the river. Then we had a great line up of rapids:

Meter canyon where we had to highside the rafts to get them through the narrow slot:

Centimeter Canyon where we had a nasty big rapid above a narrow constriction where we had to portage the rafts. Kayakers ran and it was a great rapid:
Christina in Orange Juice, named after a swim Gian Marco had here where he had all the orange juice in his kayak, and it all swam out. A few big holes with great boofs. Liz had an impressive line down the right on her riverboard. Christina nailed the boof:
High side for your life which looked undoable in a raft, but both totally styled it. Great rapid with two HUGE boulders. Start left, cut right, highside for your life!:
Last big rapid everyone portaged, and one raft flipped being lined down on the right side. Baker totally styled it. It was a complex 7 foot slide with narrow margin of error:

We also got some stellar views of Inca ruins and terraces on the hills:
Long day ending with confluence and GALES of wind.


Liz´s comentary: Drew ran Marpa at the beginning of the day. Styled it. For some reason, Gian Marco decided to jump into Marpa and swim the last drop.. and I guess he hit his head in it.
All the biggest rapids were on day 4. We had Meter Canyon, which was cool, then we had Centimeter canyon, which was one of the harder rapids. An S-turn move into the center drop with a giant wieve at the botton left and a tiny slot on the right with crazy boily water at the bottom. Had to roll off the wall at the bottom of that one. It was kinda gnarly. They lined the rafts.
We had another rapid called Orange Juice with 3 flakes at the top and a HUGE flake/ pourover tombstone at the bottom in the center. We all styled it, and they lined the rafts. There was another rapid called Highside for Your Life. I went super deep in the hole and when I came up, all I heard was Scott yelling " That girl´s crazy!" It was a fun one.
There was one huge one that most people walked and they lined the rafts through, and Drew´s raft flipped while lining it. Only Jonathan, Scott, and Andy ran it. It wasn´t very fun looking.

10/26- Rio Cotahuasi, Day 3

Day 3 on the Cotahuasi began stout. There was some steep read and run rapids until we got to Marpa, the said biggest rapid on the trip. We all got out and scouted it and it was longer and bigger than anything we had seen on the Cotahuasi:

The paddle raft went first and made it look easy, which was great cause we were all like, 'Sweet, so now Drew is going to style it like he does everything else.' All the kayakers were placed along shore with throwropes near all the big hydraulics. Christina near the bottom of Marpa:


Ben stylin the bottom of Marpa:



As the signal went up that Drew was running the rapid, I saw Todd blow his whistle three times signaling a problem or emergency and we took off running upstream. Drew had pinned the gear boat in the top drop of the rapid, right above the gnar between a rock and the undercut wall. This was around 10 am.

Drew had done a stellar job rigging the boat, so most of the gear stayed in, even though the boat was fully underwater. The kayakers ferried across to river right to help get the boat off. After unloading a bit of the gear, we set up a zdrag and started hauling. The boat didn´t budge and we broke a few polypro and spectra lines hauling. Around 2 pm we decided to camp there with the pinned boat, hoping the river would take care of it for us. I swam over with Andy and we started unloading more gear. It was intense being out there on the boat because the water would surge and the boat would go further under water. It was also right above a big rapid, so if I got washed out or fell into the river, my only safety was Ben downstream in his kayak. I was greatful to have such a strong team with Andy upstream and Ben downstream. As I loosened the straps and took off the oars and gear, the boat began to move and buckle a bit more. The more I took off, the more it moved. I started to jump up and down on the bow, pushing off the rocks. The boat was moving! A few minutes later it came off and I jumped into the eddy upstream of the wrap! As Gian Marco put it best, 'Now! We are a lot less fucked than we were 5 hours ago!'


We were all tired and had lost a lot of gear and food. The coolers were empty and most of the pasta and tortillas were soggy at best. As Todd added, 'Its not really an expedition until you run out of food!' We were getting close.

We ate soggy pasta for dinner because that was all we had. It was a quiet night at camp. We camped there beside the largest rapid on the river. It was a long day.

10/25 - Rio Cotahuasi, Day 2

Day 2 on the Cotahuasi River was a day of nervous energy and tension. After the flips the day before, losing food, and not making it as far downstream as we had hoped, it was clear we needed a change of plan. We got on the water and had some bigger rapids right away. We scouted probably 7 times through the day, including a HUGE scout at 'The Wall'. The rapid was long, technical, narrow, and BIG... and it was all against the left wall. Although there was a lot of nervous energy at the top, everyone had great lines, and it gave the group a much needed boost over our perviously stressful day.



After The Wall, we stopped and ate snack in the boulder garden below the rapid. We were feeling pretty good!



The river continued after the wall with lots more long, steep, continuos boulder gardens and great rapids. With a bit more water than we had, it would have been a nonstop rollercoaster the whole way down.


There was a rapid that we linded for the rafts that had a sweet move for the kayaks to the right, next to a big boulder.

10/24 - Rio Cotahuasi, Day 1

The first day on the Rio Cotahuasi was crazy. In one of the first rapids Hootie lost an oar. Gone. Baker and I saw it go under a rock and pin, so we tried to get it out but we couldn´t see it... eventually gave up because we had to keep moving downstream.

The river was really low. It was steep, technical, and continuous. There were 2 rafts, one raft with 4 people, gear, and a kayak strapped on it, one gear raft, one ducky, one riverboarder, and 8 kayakers. It was a lot of boats to have on such a steep, technical river at low water. We decided that the best plan was to have 5 kayakers, the riverboarder and the ducky out front to scout and give signals, then 2 kayakers and 2 rafts in the back all running together. Drew Parker was killing it on the oars all day, every day. His rowing ability through the rapids was astonishing. He ended up styling almost everything.

After we changed the Hootie, Sara, Emily raft to a paddle rig, they flipped off the stuck gear boat in a big rapid and we lost some food. Gian Marco was intense in the momment and decided it would be best if he guided the raft, so he hopped in and took over. They got through one rapid and then flipped again!

The river karma was unreal. Gear was floating everywhere, people too. We decided to call it an early day and camp before we crashed any more. Everyone was pretty tired, but it was apparent it was time to pull it all together. We lined a rapid for the rafts that had a sketchy line for the kayaks:


As the sun set over the canyon walls, the red glow of the canyon was impressive. The photos don´t really capture it, but here´s the 'Mars Wall':

The campsite we stayed at had awesome inca ruins and terraces. We dried gear on the terraces and hiked up to the ruins, finding skulls, bones and pottery.

10/23 - Flatwater Canyon, Cotahuasi River, Second Known Decent

The Flatwater Canyon of the Cotahuasi River gets its name from the first decent, done by Gian Marco and 4 paddlers in 2003. They asked around to all of the local people in the Cotahuasi Canyon if there was whitewater deep in that part of the canyon. The walls are too steep to see down into the canyon, but the farmers and fisherman assured them that it was all flat. They found a sketchy mule trail into the canyon and 5 Class V rapids later, decided it should be named 'Flatwater Canyon'.

The trek began with the hike in. We had left our boats with the burros who were bringing them in that morning to the put in at Belinga. We decided that if we started hiking early, we could meet the burros with out kayaks about halfway, at the put in for the flatwater canyon. The only problem was that Todd wanted to come, and hadn´t paddled with us the day before, so the group carried his kayak aprox 7km to the put in. Our directions to the putin from Gian Marco were 'go up and then down and then up and past the green field and you will see a small trail. Follow the trail and you will need ropes. Ask the burro drivers...' When we got to where we thought the putin might be, we stopped and waited for the burros. We asked some locals we saw on the trail if they had seen burros with kayaks, and got mixed responses from '10 mintues back' to, 'they aren´t coming'. Spanish in the countryside is very difficult because most of the locals speak Quechua as a first, and spanish as a second language. Our boats showed less than 20 minutes later. This was good because we were in the middle of the desert with mid day sun and not nearly enough water or shade!


The hike to the putin may have been the most dangerous part of the Flatwater Canyon. Between the 500-1000 vertical foot drop very rapidly, and the gale force winds trying to pluck us off the hill with our kayaks, it was very scary. Our burro guide led us down the 'easy to find path' which was in the opposite direction than we would have guessed. We were waiting for the burrow driver to turn left toward the small pueblo, but he kept heading straigt towards the vertical cliff. Don´t try this one without a knowledgeable guide for the trail. The burros headed for the cliff:



Once we reached the river, we all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that all that stood between us and our camp was 7km of mostly continuous Class IV-V whitewater that none of us knew. It was nice to get the kayak off the shoulder and into the water, as usual.

The river started up slow, but within a km or so, it was full on. The first big rapid was a steep boulder garden, ending with a great drop into a tight slot. Once we got through this one, we could all tell that it was going to be an epic run.

The miles down below held numerous big boulder jumbles, but all runable whitewater. The magnitude of these rapids was huge (notice Todd for perspective in photo below, the little yellow spec up high in the rapid)


About halfway down the run we got to a rapid that looked like a killer, but on closer inspection went well. All the water went over a ledge into a huge boulder. Andy probed it and the rest went as well. The entrance was tricky with some sieved out lines, but sliding over the ledge into the boulder was unreal. The entrance:

The rock slide move:

The actual canyon in this section was beautiful. It had steep walls and lots of interesting geology.


The whole run took our team less than 2.5 hours. We spent about two hours running the first half, while it mellowed out a bit for the second half and we just bombed down it. We took out at our camp at Belinga, happy to know we were only the second group ever to venture into that part of the Cotahuasi Canyon. This part of expedition kayaking is really exciting to me: going into places where we are some of the first or few people who have ever passed that way. In Flatwater Canyon, we were persons 5-10 to pass through. Buen hazo!

At camp that night, we prepared Opal Cactus for dinner which turned out to be a bit hard on everyone´s stomaches. The camp was across from the town of Belinga, in a greener section of the desert canyon. Truley beautiful:

10/22 - Middle Cotahuasi, to Puente Sipia

This mission started out interesting, as things always seem to with the illustriuos Gian Marco Valentino (cusipata.com). We dropped off the crew for the hike into Belinga, the town where we begin the Cotahuasi River Canyon. The hike is 15km into the Canyon, passing by Sipia Falls, a 4-tier, 450 foot cascade in the middle of the canyon. The scene at the putin was crazy with kayaks, gear, burros, and people everywhere.

Andy, Baker, Gian Marco and I decided to head upstream of the town of Sipia to run a short section before our hike into the putin at Belinga. About halfway back out, Gian Marco realizes that he has forgotten all of his gear, so he hops out of the coaster to run back to Sipia to grab his gear that is being taken by burro to Belinga. He managed to catch the buros, get his stuff, and run back to where we were putting in, about halfway between the town of Cotahuasi and Sipia.

From the putin down there were some mellow warmup rapids and busy Class IIIish stuff. When a bridge came into sight overhead, the action really picked up. The rapid after the bridge is a wide sweeping right bend with clean lines to the left. Some big hydraulics through here, and then a big, horizon lined boulder field. We stopped to scout this rapid (left), and it proved to be one of the best in the run:

The line was somewhere down through the middle with a few big moves above the crux. The key move is the left slot on the side of the large boulder down in middle of the rapid. All of the water crashed into this one, and it has a gnarly looking sieved out line on the right. Stay left here.

After this long boulder garden comes the finale, the cascade that is visible from the Bridge at Sipia. The bouldery whitewater maze has a clean line down the middle between the huge boulders, and then two sweet boofs down at the bottom. As we ran down this rapid, a heard of llamas were being forced across the brige over our heads. A true Peru momment.

After we took out at the Sipia Bridge to begin our hike into the Canyon de Cotahuasi, we met up with Lady, the girl who was in charge of our buros down to her town of Belinga. Beautiful canyon scenery and cactus' for the next 15km!

Sipia Falls, not runable...

10/21 - Upper Rio Cotahuasi

We decided to spend a layover day in the small town of Cotahuasi, after driving from the Rio Colca over the altiplano for 9 hours. It was a long bus ride in one of the most deolate areas I have ever been. The drive took us past Coropuna, one of the highest peaks in Peru at an altitude of more than 15,000 feet. We saw llamas in the wild, roaming accross the plains, as well as an amazing high altitude moss that covers many of the rocks in the area. Although desolate, the altiplano was full of vibrant and extreme colors. Whites and neutrals mixed with brilliant greens and the sky blues. It was amazing.

Once in Cotahuasi, we packed into a small hotel for the night. In the morning I got to walk around Cotahuasi around 6am. The town is most active in the early morning as agriculture and work begins in the early hours. I walked through the narrow street, barely noticed by the local people getting ready for their day's work. Smiles and 'buenas dias' were common through the rural village. I stopped to ask directions to the belltower with a few locals who took great interest in why I was passing through their town. Since the village is in the middle of a deep canyon, more than 13 hours from the nearest real city, tourism isn't a major industry here. It was nice to know that our journey has truely taken us OFF the beaten path.

After breakfast, we loaded up the MicroBus to head to the Upper Cotahuasi. This section is seldom run, and anticipation was high as we cruised up the dirt road along the river. Driving this road was pretty incredible alone. From more than 500 feet up we could see the whitewater, peering over the edge of sheer drops on one lane blind corners. The view down into the valley was intense:

Andy, Todd, Ben, Scott Baker, Brian Lee and I got our things ready roadside, peering down towards the whitewater. We guessed the flow at the putin around 400-500cfs, and it seemed like a good low to medium flow for the run. The first rapid was a beautiful 8 foot ledge dropping between huge boudlers. The right boulder was a bit undercut with a sticky hole at the bottom. One by one we dropped over the ledge, like ducks following the leader. Brian got a bit worked and pushed against the wall, resulting in a swim in the first rapid of this unknown Class IV-V river canyon. He decided that was enough for him and hiked back upto the bus which was thankfully still in reach. Jonathan and Ben in the first drop, 8 footer:

Down to five, we pushed on into the canyon with continuous boulder gardens and good gradient. A bit further down there was a sweet 6-8 foot boof into a pool with a boulder in it, choking the landing zone down to a few small feet. I also pinned in one rapid, a strange side to side pin, as my boat fell in between two rocks, momentarily catching me between the two. I managed to wiggle my hips out of the rocks, but it was a first for me. Ben running other drop:

Downstream a ways was a Class V that had a ski jump down the left that landed next to an undercut on the left and a piton rock on the right. Andy and Scott Baker opted right while I went left. Andy styled it of course, while Baker had an interesting variation involving a broached kayak, a back deck roll and running the rest backwards. I hit the ski jump right on, but got pushed into the undercut wall, bracing hard to stay upright.The rest of the run down to the takeout bridge was good, with mixed boulder gardens, Class IVish.

We crusied back to Cotahuasi by way of Alta, a small agri village, and a few other pueblos that really are off the path traveled. On the river we suprised some fishermen who had probably never seen a kayak on the river, despite having fished it daily for many years. It is these moments of clarity and realization that make traveling and adventuring worthwhile and important for me. The look of shared understanding between people who live next to the river, and those who pass through it in a foreign land.

10/16-10/20 - Rio Colca, An Epic

The Rio Colca was an epic adventure. Each day had its own, unique, epicocity. Here is a brief until I have time for the rest and pictures:

10/16- We had to travel overnight into the putin. After loading up 23 buros with gear, we hiked 20km into the bottom of the deepest canyon on earth, nearly 6800 vertical feet. Hotsprings at the putin and bugs eating us alive made this day epic.

10/17- River Day One complete with the Rio Mamacocha doubling the flow of the river, ritual sacrifices of coca leaves to the river gods, and unbelieveable rapids. Rapids One, Two and Three were stompers for the first part of the Colca Canyon. We camped in the middle of a giant landslide above the biggest rapid on the river. Incredible views of the canyon, superb geology, unreal. Epic.

10/18- River Day Two began with Emily swimming the largest of the Class V rapids without serious injury, which was amazing (video to follow). More incredible canyon and scenery as we entered the Chocolate Canyon. We ran into 'Double Trouble' with TWO raft flips in the same spot, off the same wall. Impressive winds kept us paddling, but also kept the bugs off us at camp. Camping in the Chocolate Canyon ended this day, from a spot where we could hear the rocks tumbling into the canyon at night.

10/19- River Day Three began with some intense rapids, and Drew swimming super deep with at least 5 seconds down time. Huge boulders blocked the river twice, forcing two portages. The first potage was novel, going under house-size boulders, the other more typical, carrying around the gnar. We slept well at a very windy, sandy beach before the paddle out the next day.

10/20- The final river day on the Colca Canyon was short and sweet. Easier rapids as the canyon opened up into a huge valley. Rigging the MicroBus was epic, with 8 kayaks, two rafts and 13 people's stuff, but we got it done and now we're on the way to Rio Cotahuasi... Epic.

More to come...

10/20 - Rio Colca, Day 4

Day 4 on the Colca began with mellow Class III boulder gardens and shallow rapids for a few hours. We began to see signs of civilization including some bridges, concrete constructions, and people fishing in the river. It took about 3 hours to reach out takeout on river right. We had to carry all the gear up a steep hill to Garabato who was waiting for us with the Garabtomobile.

Our next stop was in town for food for the long ride ahead to the Cotahuasi.

After our first food stop we climbed up a huge mountain pass to a small town. We stopped in this other town to pick up avocado and bread for the last haul across the altiplano. It was stellar.

We crossed over a high pass right next to Coropurna, a huge volcano close to 20,000 feet high. Our pass was in the 15k foot range, cold, thin air. We saw packs of wild llamas, and Todd was really sick from the altitude.

We arrived in Coatahuasi around 10pm to an expensive hostal, unrest with group about sleeping arrangement and accomodation, and finally settled with great soup in the hostal.

10/19 - Rio Colca, Day 3

Our third day began with great Class IV rapids, narrow chutes

Drew swam deep on bouldery rapid, missed Andys rope and had lots of down time.

Narrow chute drop that looked impossible, down and to the right

Huge drop with hole in front of whale sized rock

2 portages, first was on left through caves, took 1 hour and we ate lunch on rocks up high

Second was 40 minutes later on right over rock wall, good teamwork. Polish canyon. Rock fall area. first decent ran out of food here and thought they'd never escape.

After second portage there was a fun rapid with holes going into a spectacular canyon with steep walls.

Camp was shortly after with high winds filling food with sand. Kitchen behind big rock but still sand everywhere. Anticipation of final day, lots of wind! Ugh, wind or bugs!?

10/18 - Rio Colca, Day 2

We broke camp and went right into the first rapid:

Rhodes Rhodila - First rapid right after camp, Class V rafting, IV+ in kayak, Ben ran upsidedown, good boof on left, Andy ran right down gut. I fucked it up badly but was fine down left sievey line. Emily had gnarly swim, ouch. Hurt left knee landing on rocks in main drop. Gian Marco got her with a bag and Andy with kayak. Probably the biggest single rapid on the river.

Below Emily's rapid we cruised to lunch quickly, breaking for lunch at the Shower of the Condors, an impressive cascade coming down on river left. We ate lunch on the right below the shower, arnicaed Emily's knee, and layed in the sun.

We camped at a sweet camp on the right amongst huge boulders. Big open canyon with lots of rocks. We lost some stuff amonst the rocks because they had lots of gaps and if you dropped stuff, it would fall 5 feet down. We could hear the river running far below us. Drew and I swam the rapids above camp and Gian Marco went with his mask looking for crawdads. There were some perfect rock seats and the camp was spectacualar view of the canyon. A great camp and great night.

10/17 - Rio Colca, Day 1

Day 1 on the river began with the low flow of 500cfs for the first 5km. Barely raftable

Mamacocha doubles flow coming in from river right. We gave an offering to the river gods of Coca leaves.

Had lunch, scouted, Gian Marco portaged Wairo around Rapids 1, 2, and 3.

Scouted on loose rocks, old landslide. Cool sofa rock.

Good lines throguth the rapids.

Last rapids before camp were sweet. They had changed because of landslide, there was a huge pool where Gian Marco had said a big rapid used to be. Dust all over everything from rock fall. Amazing campsite in fall zone of rocks. Small beaches river right.

10/16 - Rio Colca, Day 0

We drove through the night, about an hour down the Panamerican from Arequipa and then right towards the Andes and the town of Huambo where we met the hired buros and got our stuff together for the hike in.

We also enjoyed a local breakfast before the hike:
(4685)
Burro with kayaks
(4693)
Burros with canyon
4696ç

The hike into the Colca Canyon was impressive beyond belief. We dropped into a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, passing through millions of years of geology on the way. The hike took about 6 hours and was probably close to 20km.

We arrived at camp to great hotsprings and swimming in the river.

Lots of bugs eating us alive. Big days up ahead.

10/15 - Rio Colca, Day -1

The Colca trip began with everyone arriving in Arequipa on the 15th and getting the logistics together for the trip. We had to buy food, gear, arrange shuttle, finances, everything! It was quite an ordeal for 13 people to go on a multiday expedition in a third world country. Highlights included rope shopping at a sweet store that only sold rope with Roberto, Gian Marco's assistant (IMG4678).

Roberto and I were responsible for rigging the rafts with 'Maya' netting and getting them to Gian Marcos house for the midnight shuttle. (4681). We managed to get a kayak, two rafts and all the other gear from the wearhouse to Gian Marcos in one Tico! It was impressive to say the least.

We had an interesting shuttle to the Rio Colca. We had arranged transportation through Gian Maro with his fearless driver, Elard Garabato. Unfortunatly, this driver didn't have a tourist licence that permitted him to operate where we were going, so we had to drive through the night. We loaded the bus around midnight and got rolling on the road at 1am! An epic start to an epic trip.

'Private' bus tour of Lima, Preu

In Lima, there are many differnt driving and bus tours of the city. With a population of nearly 10 million people, Lima is expansive, covering an area that rivals Chicago. For this reason, it is a good idea to go with an organized 'private' tour provider.

After taking a look at some of these 'private' tours, I decided it would be better to venture out on foot and bus to explore the city. The private tours cost $20-50 depending on the sites visited, and I prefer to explore myself anyway. Although the privateness of not interacting with the people of Peru was VERY appealing (Why would anyone want to visit a country and not interact with the people?), I thought just getting on any of the millions of busses in the city would wet my appetite for adventure.

The busses in Peru are worse and more numerous than the busses in Costa Rica. In Peru, every bus is covered with the names of places you can go: 'TASCA', 'Barrancos', 'Chorillios', 'Miraflores', 'Tdo Arequipa'. Each bus has at least 10 places written on it, sugesting where it might go. This is quite perplexing, because most of the busses doen't actually go where it says on their sides. The only way to know where it is really going is to ask the wingman of the bus as he hurriedly shoves people on and off the bus. I waited for a while to select my first bus, knowing that this could be the most important decision I made all day. After watching for a bit, I saw the first 'Wingwoman' and promplty boarded her bus. The only seat open was right in front of her post at the front door, so I sat there. 'This is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my spanish and get a private guided tour of the city' I thought as the bus rattled into the diesel smoke-filled Avenida Arequipa.

The entire city of Lima is a giant grid, not unlike LA, and there are good parts and bad parts. Avenida Arequipa passes through the center of the city. I got to see the national museum, capital buildings, and some of the other famous sites in Lima. I had gotten into a conversation with the wingwoman, and she was guiding me through the city as we went. I asked her to point out all the important site and some of the history. She was happy to oblige in between yelling at the driver and getting her passengers on and off as efficiently as posibble. I asked her to tell me when we were in TASCA, the central stop, so I could get off and walk around downtown.

As we passed through the center and crossed over the motorway into another part of Lima, I figured she knew better than I, and that we still hadn´t gotten to the center. We began getting into poorer and poorer areas, and the building kept getting older and older. I asked a few times if we were close, but 45 minutes later, I knew something was up. I told her I was getting off at the next stop, and asked if the busses going in the other direction would take me back to the center of Lima. She told me that her bus would take me back, at the end of its route. All I had to do was wait till the end (on a seemingly interminable ride across the urban sprawl that is Lima), eat lunch with her, and then wait for the bus to come all the way back around. I wasn´t impressed, and got off at the next stop I could.

This stop left me somewhere about one hour outside of the city center in one of the poorest looking areas I have ever been in. None of the houses had complete walls, and most looked as if they had been burnt to the ground. All of the houses were built with brick and mortar, with no doors and tin roofs, if they had a roof. I was the only non-peruvian person I had seen since I left Miraflores two hours earlier, and I was getting pretty worried about my wellbeing. I knew I could probably get a taxi back for $30, but I wasn´t quite ready to use that safety net yet.

I walked across the motoway to the traffic going the other direction and got on the first microbus that passed. Once I was on the new bus going the way I had came, I was feeling a bit easier, and my stomach began to untwist the knot it was in. About an hour later I was back in Lima Central where I had originally wanted to go.

The moral of the story is, if the wingwoman on a bus starts flirting with you, even if you don´t realize it, pay attention to where you are going and go with your gut instinct. I knew where I thought I was supposed to get off, but trusting her experience and not paying attention to her posibble alterior motives put me into a crazy situation. I feel fortunate that I got to see part of Lima that 99.9% of people visiting the country will never see. Now, that is a private tour.

The Two Guys Who Run Lima, Peru

In Lima, Peru, there are two guys who run the entire city. Whatever it is that you need or want, you must pass through them to get it. If you are crossing the street, these are the guys who decide if you live or die. They are 'the driver' and 'the drivers's assistant'.

The Driver

The Wingman

These guys share a weird kind of symbiotic relationship. While the driver is the employer of the wingman, the wingman can abuse the driver. If the wingman is on a bad day, the driver can fire the wingman. Communication between the two is rarely civil, and they rarely exchange more than a few words. The Wing Man gets paid on comission for how many people he can get on the bus. The driver is self employed, but is too bad at customer service to get clients on his bus. Thus, they need each other. While on my 'Private' bus tour of Lima, I got to observe a few of these dynamic duos. Here is a sample conversation:

Wing Man: 'Hurry, hurry, get on the bus!' (yelling at patrons)
Driver: 'Talk to me!'
WM: 'Still boarding.'
D: 'Hold on!' (as he speeds into traffic with people still boarding)
WM: 'Wait!'
D: 'Load the bus faster you asshole!'
WM: 'The people are too slow, lets go!'
D: (sticks arm out window and honks horn to indicate merging into speeding traffic)
WM: 'Paradero! Paradero!' (bus stop!)
D: 'We're not stopping at this stop. The bus is full' (traffic stops in front of bus so he opens door to let people on).
WM: 'Hurry, hurry, get one the bus!!!'

Without these two guys, the controled chaos that is Lima, Peru, would digress into utter madness. Thank you, driver and wingman.

Hola de Peru.

So, I've touched down in Peru and everything went smoothly. I checked my kayak from Portland to Lima through El Salvador and it made it, for only $50. It was a pleasant suprise finding all of my gear at the bagage claim in Lima.

Arriving in the airport in Lima is quite simlar to Costa Rica. There are tons of people offering you a ride, pressuring you to their hotel, and generally making your life more stresssful than is necessary. I think its a tactic to get people to make split decisions to do things in an uncomfortable situation.

I had a ride arranged to Miraflores and they were there to pick me up. The roads in Peru rival those of CR, with eight lanes crammed into a space big enough for only three or four. The weaving, the people, the motorbikes and the police are only there as a suggestion for what you should do or where you should go.

I went out with a few canadians last night walking around Miraflores and checking out the night scene. There is a central park here with lots of locals selling their handicrafts, foods, and services.

I went for a walk this morning along the coast. The coastline is very dramatic with a steep rocky drop down into the sea from the city. This is a popular place for paragliding off of the rocky cliff face. The paragliders were impressive, just lifting off of the ground and hovering a few feet up with amazing control.

I'm headed south in the next few days for the southern coast, making my way down to Arequipa.

daysontheriver blog back up!

Hey all,

So after a great 6 months of summer here in the US, I will be traveling again for the winter. This winter has some great adventures in store!

On October 8th, I will be flying to Lima, Peru. My first week will be spent aquainting myself with Peru, perhaps some treking around Machu Pichu, and trying to get my hands on a kayak if mine doesn't make it down. Good luck is about as good as you can do with kayaks on planes. On October 15th I'm meeting up with the Wet Planet Crew, and we're going to do a month of boating through Peru. We'll be down in the Cotahuasi, and Colca Canyons, the two deepest canyons on earth, followed by the Apurimac, Tombopata, Urubamba, and others.

After a month with that crew, Andy Round, Ben West, Scott Baker, and I will be headed out on a 4 month South American paddling epic. We'll be hitting Bolivia, Chile, and possibly others. Keep an eye on the blog to see where we're at. Itinerary subject to change. Vamos a ver.