The Adventures of Whit & Dan: September 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

More Pictures From the Hike

Dinner - pasta with "tuna salsa"

Morning Coffee :)

Our friend Koh showing Malaysia pride!

More dinner - Asparagus soup

Makin Coffee :)

The crew

I was almost lucky enough to get the wear this on the hike - straight out of the 80's

Contemplating the existence of man, god, and the universe...and stuff :)

These bugs were all over the place - the have long pointy noses but the locals claim they don't bight (no pica). Somehow I do not believe them.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Hiking a mountain...something I have always wanted to do...and something that I never need to do again! We thought we're young and in descent shape, so this should be doable for us...little did we know...

We left Saturday morning and began our hike at the base of the mountain. The terrain was at first dirt and rock as we began our ascent up the mountain, so by the first couple breaks we were feeling pretty good about things. As we continued to climb the terrain changed to boulders and then to sand. The funny thing about hiking up sand, is that for every 2 steps up, you slide 1 back! As the terrain became more difficult the altitude also increased, and by 6th hour and about 14,000 ft, altitude sickness set in. I began to feel light headed and had to stop and break every 20 steps or so. Luckily our friend Ko was having similar difficulties so we kept each other company bring up the rear! We got into Base Camp at about 4:00 and ate hot soup and spaghetti with tuna fish (interesting mix I have to say wasn't too bad). We promptly went to bed as the plan was to begin our hike to the summit at 3:00 am. By the time we went to bed the temp had dropped to about 20-30 degrees so we were dressed from head to toe in snow gear when we snuggled into out bags. We didn't sleep much as we didn't have any pillows and then also a group of fellow campers came up blasting music (darn youngsters!) Finally we get to sleep and I'm woken up in the middle of the night with a headache & nausea :( Altitude sickness in full force! So when 3:00 am rolls around I opted to stay at base camp while the others hiked the summit, so I got a few more hours of sleep and Dan embarked on a 7-hour round-trip hike to the top of Misti! About noon the group rolls back into base Camp...beaten, battered, bruised, exhausted and sick! Poor guys were spent and had only a little bit to rest before we began our descent back to the bottom. It's crazy that a hike that took 7 hours coming up the mountain only took 2 hours going down! The cool part about hiking down in sand...sliding all the way! Half-way on our descent my legs were shaking and all I could think of was laying down in my bed and not moving for a LONG time!

Hiking a mountain...one more thing to cross of the bucket list!

D & W - ready to trek!

(thanks for the hiking polls Aunt Kris & Uncle Mike)

These are our tour guides--Jesus & Gaston

The Crew: Peter, Dan, me, Andrew, Ko & Jesus

Heading Up!

Dessert Scenery

Taking a Break

Taking a nap

Working hard for my money

My rock wish

Arriving at Base Camp

We made it!

Dinner time

Beautiful Sunset

Early morning hiking

At the top

There's snow at the top

My man Dan

Sliding down the blank sand

One man and many rocks

Peter drinking a post-hike Red Bull

We came, we saw, we conquered

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Hiking Mt. Misti

This morning we leave on a 2-day hike up to the top of Mount Misti which stands 19,000 ft. above sea level. Day 1 we hike up to base camp which is at about 15,000 ft, then we wake up the next morning at 1:00 am to hike to the peak. This will be our first time at this height, as Arequipa is only 7,500 ft. Temperatures will reach 30 degrees (F) and there's snow at the top! This is the most physically challenging adventure we have done yet, hiking for 8+ hours/day at high elevation and cold temperatures--I am excited and Dan...well...he's glad that I'm excited ;) Yesterday we bought new hiking boots and supplies needed - we are grateful to have brought hiking poles (thanks Aunt Kris & Uncle Mike) and our new camel packs (courtesy of the team at Ramsey Real Estate Group). And YES Mom, we will wear lots of sunscreen & bug repellent :)

Friday, September 23, 2011

Futball Con Los Ninos

We challenged a group of 9-year-olds to a soccer scrimmage, and I am happy to say that we won...barely! These kids were damn good and the only reason we beat them was because we were bigger and had nothing to do with lack of skill.

Check out the caukiness of these kids when they score...

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Random Act of Song & Dance

While walking home from school I came across this men playing music in the park. This is a very traditional song of Peru and I have heard it many times since we've been here. About half way through the song, all the ladies get up and start dancing with one man (that lucky guy ;)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

White Water Rafting

Today we went white water rafting on Rio Chili in Arequipa with friends. This was our first time and so we really didn't know what to expect. Dan & I had only ever been rafting on the American River in Sacramento which is is pretty calm in the summer, so I for one was a little nervous about hitting bigger rapids. We wore wet suits which helped to fight the chill of the 40-50°F water. We had 2 raft guides, 1 per boat, and divided into 2 groups (Dan & I got our own boat). The rapids ranged from Class 2-4 throughout the trip, but even when waters were calmer there was still never a dull moment. Our guide, Javier, was a great guide, but he kept yelling at us "Escuchme!" apparently we weren't listening to his directions ;) At one point he called Dan a "woman" and said he needed to row harder. Haha!

This was a great day!