Amy and Chris backpack South America: Misti volcano and Arequipa

We arrived in Arequipa after a 10 hour bus ride from Cusco. Knowing there was lots of hiking to do in this city and feeling like we were in good shape after the Inca trail we decided to book a hike up the famous Misti Volcano. El Misti is an active volcano towering over the white city of Arequipa and is the source for many myths in town. Not really knowing what we were in for we started our 2 day adventure with a stop at the office to get supplies and our guide. For this hike we were carrying all of our own gear - no porters. The first day was a grueling 6 hours and 1300m climb to base camp where the elevation was 4600m. We were climbing the ridge of the volcano over large boulders and between dusty cracks. Over looking the city we had an amazing sunset.

El Misti - and we are going to the top of that !?

Where is base camp?

Going up

Base camp

Sunset

What they fail to mention to you is that on the second day you must get up at 1 am in below freezing temperatures and little sleep to start hiking for the summit! Pitch black out and hiking by the light of the moon and our headlamps we started the 5 hour push to the top. Hiking in the dark was alright because you couldnt see your destination it didnt seem so bad. A beautiful sunrise and now we could see the peak. Still looks so far!!!! The wind picked up and it was cold out. My fingers and toes were numb and it was getting harder to breathe. Every bolder we crossed felt like the life was draining out of me. Step by step we pushed on and were feeling the effects of the altitude, your lungs screaming for more oxygen. Finally we made it !! 6000m above sea level! Arriving on the top ridge felt sureal, I think we were going crazy from the altitude and cold. My first smile of the day and its funny how your emotions can change so quickly. A few pictures taken and with the sun starting to shine through it was time to go down! The slide down was on the black volcanic ash and at a steep angle of 35 degrees we were ready to start running. It was like skiing down a volcano sinking up to your shins in the sand with every stride. SO FUN! A horrible 5 hour uphill and all it took was 45 minutes down to base camp ! Not fair. Hiking the rest of the way out I looked back at the towering mountain of pain and cold and wondered why we thought we wanted to conquer it, but so glad we did :)