Arequipa Peru, Getting Lost In The Mountains

So… I'm in Peru. For about three weeks, and just because. I had friend traveling around South America and really, it's not very difficult to convince me to join. This is my third trip to South America this year and it's only May. Anyhow, I flew into Lima and then hopped on another flight to meet up in Arequipa. So far, we've done a day trip to see Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The highlight was definitely seeing the huge condors at one of the points overlooking the canyon. The birds are so big (10-12 ft wingspan) they can't take off without wind and so they only live is specific places in the valley. They look really unstable in the air… like a plane that's at the mercy of the wind. The second trip was an overnight to Chachani Mountain, which is about 3 hours outside the city and is 6075m tall. That's over 18,000 ft. We camped the first night at about 15,500 ft, which made it very cold and hard to breathe. We left at midnight to start the 6 hour hike, and people were dropping like flies. I made it to about 17,000 ft before I was overcome by altitude sickness and couldn't walk in a straight line, let alone continue hiking through the snow in crampons. I had to turn around solo and make it back to base camp in the dark In my dizzy state I of course got lost as the trail was not marked. I was lost for about 2 and a half hours which got pretty scary because my mind was playing tricks on me. Also because being lost alone on a Peruvian mountainside in the middle of the night when I'm dizzy and have a hard time breathing really isn't an ideal situation. Anyhow, I eventually made it to within shouting distance and someone in the base camp turned on their headlamp and I was able to make it back. SO relieved. So anyhow, I'm alive and well and ready for the next adventure. Headed to Lake Titicaca tonight and Machu Picchu in about a week.