Colca Canyon

After waking up at 3am we embarked on the Colca Canyon trek. This trek was an emotional rollercoaster with literal blood (I got pricked by a cactus), sweat (self explanatory), and tears (of joy... more on this later). We began the day with a 3 hour bus ride and we got unlucky and were in extremely uncomfortable seats in the back and didn't sleep a wink. We stopped at a lookout called Mirador of the Condors where we were lucky enough to see six of these beautiful birds. They were quite incredible and their flight was very graceful. We then got to try a fruit made of the inside of a local cactus which was very sour before continuing to the start of the trek.

The first section of the trek was 3 hours downhill followed by 30 mins of Andean flats (which are basically small uphills and downhills... Actual flat land doesn't really exist here lol). The view from the top of the Canyon was stunning. The Colca Canyon is not the largest but it is the deepest Canyon in the world! Seeing it in its entirety was a sight to behold. We then started the downhill trek and for the first 1.5 hours I found it not too difficult, but still hard on the joints as we were walking on loose rock which was difficult to balance on. After about 2.5 hours, I started really struggling with the heat. The canyon is made of volcanic rock and thus, it radiates the sun's heat. We had blistering heat and relentless sun all morning and it really started to take a toll on me. I felt myself having a slight heat stroke where I was feeling very nauseous and light headed (it didn't help that we had been up since 3 and it was almost 10 and we hadn't eaten anything yet)! At this point I took a long break and drank some water and had some snacks. Angus (my hero) also carried my bag for me for the last 30 mins of the downhill until we reached the shaded check point. We then had our 30 min flats hike before arriving at our lunch stop. Here we had an hour to eat and rest and afterwards I felt much better and was able to complete the next 3 hours of hiking without any issues. In total on day 1, we hiked for 18km across 6 hours and 45 minutes!

At the lunch stop I received some extra motivation when I found out that I was accepted into Western's Medical School. This was a very surreal moment for me as I had imagined this moment in my head for years and for it to finally be coming true was very emotional. It took about a minute after reading the acceptance for it to really hit me and when it did the emotions just came pouring out. Tears of joy and relief and pride hit me all at once when it sunk in that I had done it. That I had achieved a lifelong dream. It was one of those moments that are so hard to describe but I know it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I know this is a travel blog, but I just wanted to briefly say thank you to my parents, sisters, friends, and family who have supported, encouraged, and shared in this journey with me. I appreciate it more than you know. And to Angus who had helped me through moments of self doubt, has helped me pay for my retaking of the MCAT, and who even carries my hiking bag (literally carrying my load) when it becomes too much. I am so grateful to have him as my partner in travel and in life.

Medical school tangent over... Now back to the hike. We spent the night in 'the oasis', which had a freezing cold pool that I had a nice dip in. We then ate dinner and went straight to bed at like 8pm. We woke up for our ascent at 4am.

The first hour section of the ascent was done in the dark with our headlamps, which I actually enjoyed because the sun was off of me. That being said, the hike was relentless uphill. From the bottom of the Canyon to the top was 1.1km in elevation gain and it ended up taking us 3.5 hours to complete. This day I preferred (even though it was much more tiring on the leg muscles) because we were in shade/darkness for 3/3.5 hours. This trek was tough and there were moments where I would stop for a rest and my legs would start shaking. I kept telling myself, if you could get into med school, you can do this! With about 30 mins left in the hike, Angus once again took the extra bag to help make it a bit easier for me to get to the top... honestly he was an absolute beast! Making it to the top of the hike was such a good feeling. After hours of feeling like we were almost there only to find out the 'peak' we were looking at was not actually the top, it felt amazing to be there. I felt very proud to have completed it as this trek was one of the most physically challenging things I have done so far.

After arriving at the top we had a flat-ish 30 min hike to the breakfast stop before continuing to the hot springs. This was the perfect thing to do after such a long trek, especially because my muscles were quite sore. After the hot springs we stopped at a few view points on our drive back to Arequipa.

Overall, this trek has been an unforgettable experience. There were many personal obstacles overcome and it truly made for a very unique 'getting into med school's story. It has really reminded me how lucky I am to be living two dreams: one being this South America Adventure and the other being medical school. Feeling very tired and sore but my heart is filled with so much love and joy for the life I'm living! I know this was a really long post so thank you for reading to the end as I tried my best to summarize what may be some of the craziest days of my life! Up next, the adventure continues in Cusco!Read more