Mountain climbing is a physical activity.

The group APU (that I went to Huacachina with) planned a hiking excursion for the weekend. About 20 of us left Saturday morning at 8:30 in cabs to Chosica an hour away that cost 8 soles/person ($3), then we switched there to a combi that took another hour or so to Matucana which was 3.5 soles ($1.15). Upon our arrival in Matucana we got all of our backpacks together, changed into shorts and t-shirts and got anything else we needed for the night. The weather was perfect it was sunny and not too hot. The entrance fee to climb was 2 soles ($.70). The landscape was amazing and we were hiking through valleys, around rivers and farms that lined the mountain. We met some locals who had farms a few hours climb up on the side of the mountains, and it was actually embarrassing as we were all panting, short of breath and had to stop for many breaks to see these little old ladies just hiking up the side of a mountain like it was nothing. The hike was so much harder than I could have ever imagined. I thought I brought nothing in my backpack but part was up the hill I felt like I had the whole world it in! The hardest part was between 30 and 60 % of the way when it was basically just straight up the side of the mountain like we were climbing stairs, only there were no stairs it was just rocks and gravel. I'm so glad I got those new hiking shoes (thanks mom and dad) because everyone else was having a really hard time slipping on the gravel but I was pretty much fine. I have never in my life been so out of breath and having my heart beat so hard from walking, and walking really really slowly at that! It seemed like we had to stop every few meters to catch our breath at that point because we were so tired and with the altitude there was less oxygen in the air. After about 75% of the way it got easier and we just had to hike around the side of a peak until we made it to our camping destination at this waterfall. The waterfall wasn't that impressive after going to Ithaca with Eric over the summer but it was pretty none the less. We played in the waterfall and the river even though it was pretty cold; I didn't think it was that bad seeing as I come from the north and go wakeboarding in April but everyone else was dying! I took a nap on my towel for an hour or so before we set up camp. We looked for firewood, which was very scarce because there really wasn't any trees in the area just other little bushes and such. We ended up having a pretty nice fire anyway. The Germans brought bread dough and we made stockbrot (stick bread) which basically you just take dough and wrap it around a stick and hold it over the fire forever and then eat it even though the inside is still mostly dough. I learned a lot about German and Dutch culture as we made stockbrot. I went to bed pretty early because I had the worst headache of my entire life because of the altitude. I didn't have a tent so I just slept outside in a sleeping bag which was amazing because I saw more stars and shooting stars in one night than I ever have in my whole life. On Sunday we got up early and packed everything up and started back down the mountain. Instead of taking multiple hours like it did to go up it probably only took us at most an hour to get down. We encountered a guard dog that we were pretty sure was going to attack us so we pick up rocks to throw at it just in case but it ended up just barking at us as we passed. That was lucky though because getting attacked by a dog on a gravel path on the side of a cliff is probably pretty dangerous. We got back into Matucana and took two combis back into Lima that took a few hours but the drive through the mountains is really gorgeous. Overall it was the coolest and cheapest weekend yet. It cost about 20 soles ($6.67) for transportation and the park fee but besides that we just had to bring our own food and sleeping bag. On the way out of the park the ranger told us about guided multiple day hikes that we could do around the area that we are thinking about doing in a couple of weekends.