May 17, 2026
Today was a hiking day. And based on prior experiences in Peru I upped the amount of water I carried. 3 liters for what I had estimated as a 6 mile day hike. It turned out to be a great deal longer than 6 miles, and 3 liters wasn’t even close to enough.
Anyway. Slipped on the pulseox before heading out. SpO2 was 87, which is higher than it was at these elevations in the Himalayas, and it did come up to 94 after hiking for a while. I think part of me is taking for granted that I’m performing better here than I was at these elevations in the Himalayas, so I’m tackling trails like I’m at sea level, and my body lets me get away with that for a while, and then it doesn’t.
Also I’m still getting pretty severe migraines by mid day, with light sensitivity to go with it. And I’m still not sure why because there’s a whole lot of things that could cause it. Altitude, for one. Tho I’d expect my body to mostly be adapted at this point. The intensity of the sun is another. It is damn bright up here. I had clouds in Nepal. I had clouds last year in Peru. I haven’t seen clouds since leaving Chile on this trip. Dehydration is another. I’ve been panting a lot because of the altitude and the air here is extremely dry. I definitely have chapped lips because of it, but it also dehydrates the rest of me as well. And also the yellow fever vaccine – headaches and light sensitivity are potential side effects, tho I don’t have a fever which is the most common side effect. Still, would be nice if I had some clue what variable was causing it, because it’s extremely irritating.
Anyway, the hike. The goal was to head to the Pueblo of Corporaque, and in the mountain above it there are pre Incan tombs which seemed interesting. Then head from there to a place called San Antonio, which despite the name is the ruins of a pre Incan settlement. Then head to UyoUyo which is another pre Incan settlement. Then come back to Chivay.
I accomplished some of it.
Made it to Corporaque.
By this point I had already consumed a liter of water and was feeling really tired. Sat in the plaza for a while, then moved on towards the tumbas de yuraq qaqa.
They’re at the top. I decided I wasn’t in it to win it like that, and moved on to San Antonio.
Let the plethora of cacti tell the story of how dry it was. Took a bunch of pictures, but I’m only attaching that one because lots of pictures to attach. I had gone through another liter of water getting here. The site dates back to 1100 AD, so well before the Inca, tho the Inca made use of it during their time.
It’s high on the mountain side above the valley, so offered great views of the valley.
Pano of the upper Colca valley.
Also saw a volcano eruption.
That’s the volcano subancaya. Last major eruption was in 1994. But apparently it has frequent explosive smaller eruptions. And I got to witness one.
From San Antonio I hiked along upper terraces to uyouyo. My initial estimate of a 6 mile total hike was very wrong. It was 6 miles from San Antonio to uyouyo.
UyoUyo is also from roughly 1100 AD, tho was later reused by the Inca. Very very different doorway architecture than the Inca, and significantly taller. No banana for scale, but all the doors I saw were very skinny and about 10 feet tall.
Architecture is otherwise similar to the Inca.
Also not sure if this was a temple or communal house. It’s different than all the other buildings in that it’s bigger and one wall was colonnaded.
Once I finished exploring UyoUyo it was clear to me that I lacked the energy and water to make it back to Chivay. Yanaque is a Pueblo that’s more or less directly across the river from UyoUyo, and I figured that was my best bet. Trouble is, by this point, I’m out of water, very parched, out of energy entirely, and starting to feel trail loopy. And getting across the river requires going down into the river gorge, which meant steeply coming back up the other side. I took no pictures along that route. Primary objective was ”don’t die”. But I made it.
I was going to get lunch there and then try to find a taxi, or hitchhike, to get back to Chivay. But as I was walking around the plaza every restaurant was closed, and just as I finished a colectivo rolled by and stopped. A $0.75 ride later I was back in Chivay and heading into a restaurant. Feeling better now that I’ve eaten and rehydrated, tho I still have a headache.
As for tomorrow. The plan is to go see the spring that gives birth to the Amazon river. It’s at 17,000 feet on the north face of the nevado mismi. We’ll see if it happens. There’s no way of getting myself there and back in a day, so I had contacted a tour company to handle those logistics for me. They made it clear they weren’t going to be bothered organizing a trip just for me, but after pushing on my part they agreed to find a local driver to take me up there at a significantly reduced cost. I agreed to their terms, but never heard back. So either some guy is gonna show up at 7am tomorrow with a 4wd vehicle and haul me up there for $175, or nobody shows up and I figure out something else to do.
