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We are in Aplao, the last proper town before we step into the Colca Canyon, situated at the northern end of the Majes River Valley.  This is a very wide, fertile valley fed by glaciers from the Andes.

The walk and the terrain, on the whole has been relatively easy.  However, we´ve learnt (the hard way) about walking in the midday sun.  The first couple of days we couldn´t quite work out why our energy was being sapped and the sweat was pouring off us, even with the ridiculous weight and slow pace.  Until I put my watch (with a temperature gauge) out in the midday sun…it was getting to 50 degrees celsius!  Hmmm, thank god for the hats and sun lotion.  Our farmer´s tans are coming on nicely.

So now we start walking at about 05.00 and go on till 10.30ish then stop in some shade until 16.00 when we set off again for a couple of hours.  This avoids that ridiculous midday heat and we seem to be able to get further distances done.

I´ve had the worst blisters on both heels which just seemed to get worse no matter what I did.  So, I´ve been walking the last 60km in my crocs.  Both Ed and I have come down with diarrhea brought on either by something we´ve eaten or the heat.  And of course, no walk is complete without the odd bit of chaffage here and there!

The pueblos (towns) that we pass or stay in have tended to be a collection of stick or mud huts, but generally with a well built school in the middle.  Everyone has been genuinely friendly and offered so much help and support, allowing us to either stay in their backyard (with the chickens) or take shelter from the sun in unfinished huts and of course allow us to buy plenty of fizzy pop whenever we were able to.

We´ve also shed loads of the weight from the rucksacks by being utterly ruthless with things.  Wherever we can double up on kit, or think we might not need kit, or get away with not using kit then its been given away to the locals.  Almost every place we stopped by has received some form of gifts, from machete to compasses, clothes, day sacks, fishing kit, batteries, knives etc.

The last pueblo in the first valley was called Sosco.  Leaving here the track disappeared.  What followed for the next couple of days was a mountain traverse with 300 foot drop to one side and some interesting river crossings.  The traverse was done in twilight and ended in the dark with Ed and I using head torches and Oswaldo, our guide, having to use my back-up 5 pounds 99 wind up torch from Morrisons.  The traverse was a combination of constant slips and falls followed by a crash of rocks falling 300´followed by a burst of laughter followed by the desperate whirring of Oswaldo´s torch - then repeat.

For the rivers we were lucky enough to have a local appear from nowhere carrying only a large inflated inner tube and a long pole.  He ferried our rucksacks across fast flowing parts of the river by sitting in his rubber tube and doing the perfect break-in/break-out of the flow using the pole to punt his way into an eddie.  We followed by diving in and swimming madly for the other side having to catch each other in the eddie to stop ourselves being swept down river.  Rubber tube man would always just shake his head, shoulder his rubber tube, turn and continue on ahead.  Drenched, we put on our rucksacks and staggered after him.

At one point we passed an ancient Inca cemetery which was very weird.  Literally, loads of Inca pottery and human skeletons scattered around mummified in various positions.  Most of the heads still had hair and the materials used to mummify still attached.

Eventually we joined the southern end of the Rio Majes Valley where the track started up again.  Now in Aplao we´ve been planning our next leg, the Colca Canyon.  We never thought for one moment, that the local Tourist Information Center would have information for the type of trip Ed and I are doing but when we went in there they were so helpful and knowledgeable.  And now we´re set and ready for the next leg to get to the foot of Nevado Mismi.  A massive thanks has to go to Seniorita Mabel Zuñiga of the Oficina de Turismo, Municipalidad Provincial de Castilla for giving us all the useful information and contacts for the peoples in the hills.

We´re up tomorrow at 03.40 to leave at 04.30 to start the long journey through the Canyon.  We´ll have another blog entry in a weeks time.

Luke