Biking El ChaChani

Upon return from Puno we did some better planning with Nick to fit our new budget and take in the factor that my camera had been robbed, so pictures were limited to an iPhone's lenses.  We decided to stay around Arequipa for a few days as it has some seriously beautiful things surrounding it.  First we decided to head to ChaChani (skirt in Quechua,) an extremely tall mountain resting at  6,905 m (19,997ft) we would go near the peak by car and later downhill bike back to our hotel.  We had a schedule mix-up and we wound up leaving biking with all our warm clothes still wet and drying.  We went up to a snowy mountain in shorts, t-shirts, and thin wind-breakers.  I was also extremely happy because once we reached near to the top it began snowing.  I really missed snow so it was good to see :)  We began riding down, took breaks when someone fell or broke a bike (ended up being a common thing for me.)  Halfway down and four bikes later, I was keeled over on the side of the trail throwing up from altitude sickness.  After a few coca leaves and some stream water we headed off again.  The bike ride ended up being one of the funnest things I have done in a really long time.  The trail was pretty intense with huge ditches and jumps (also the fact it was raining at times.)  At the end it changed to windy pavement and I had the time of my life bombing down nice pavement and ripping around the corners.  Near the end of the trail, we entered the slums surrounding the edges of the city; we were instructed to dodge the dogs that would attack us.  Extremely confused we kept going until very soon groups of German shepards, rottweiler's, and various other sketchy dogs began chasing us and barking.  It was actually pretty awesome we just pedaled very fast and kicked out our legs protectively at times.  We later rode through the city until we reached el Mirador.  All in all the biking was wonderful.