Colca Canyon, Perú

Another post for a trek, how exciting!

Warning: No one was harmed in the making of this adventure.

We woke up at 02:45 and got picked up in a van to head to Colca Canyon. I was in and out of sleep on the three hour drive in the very back left seat of the six rows. All of a sudden we hit something hard and then began screeching to a halt. I thought we were falling off a cliff for a moment, in my sleepy daze, but we were not about to fall to our death. Turns out we hit a much smaller vehicle, a little four door sedan, that was taking the turn too wide. Wild, but this is a common driving technique down here. Who knew? After the encounter, neither vehicle was drivable. We then waited about thirty minutes before a public bus came by. We got in and many of us had to sit on the floor of the aisle and we had to pay twenty soles each. We got paid back so there was no need to overreact. No one did of course, but we all exchanged a curious look on the bus. The trek was 190 soles, fyi. We took the bus about an hour farther, and then got into two smaller vans that could accommodate our group. The vans took up to breakfast where we had the usually but also a bit of avocado to mix it up.

We didn’t have time now to stop at the viewpoint and look for condors. Instead we had to head straight for the canyon. We started an hour late, but it was basically all a downhill day. It’s a canyon so it’s terrain most of you know well. Hot! Dusty! Rocky! Not bad though. We stopped for a quick lunch at a restaurant along the trail and had alpaca, rice, veggies. We then hiked a little up and down tango until we finally made it to The Oasis. We went swimming right away, but it was still too cold for me to relax in the water with everyone. I say on the edge for a bit before I needed to get warm. The sun had hidden behind the top of the canyon right when we got in, thanks to our delayed start.

They said there were hot showers, but our shower did not even work, so we went without. Ain’t no biggie. Lodging was the bare minimum, but it was enough. Dinner that night was lovely. We had a quinoa version of grits that I loved. Miri let me have her portion too, so kind. Accompanied by chicken, rice, taters, and veggies. I read a few chapters of my book to Mer and then we went to sleep. It was nice because we had a window that went the length of the room and I could see the stars as I drifted off to sleep.

The stars greeted me the next morning as well. We started out hike at 04:30 the next morning and I thought I might throw up that first hour. It’s normally a three hour hike, straight up the canyon. Mer and I finished at 06:58. I was aiming to finish before 07:00 so it was a real buzzer beater ending. After the first hour I calmed down a bit as I slowed my pace and took my time. The first hour the guide was pacing us and I think it’s too early for me to exude that much energy with a sleepy body that hasn’t eaten. Although if I’d eaten I probably wouldn’t have liked it either. Regardless, we made it up!

The hike was beautiful, and I was more sore than any day on the Inka trek, so that’s saying something. after the hike though, we had quite a long day. We walked to breakfast, then vanned to see condors, went to a hot spring, got lunch, saw the highest point in Arequipa, stopped to look at Inka terraces and fry a fruit that looked like kiwi but was way more sour, and then eventually made it back to Arequipa at 17:00. I think the fruit was called sancoyo, but I have no clue the spelling.

That evening we were exhausted and just ate in and went to bed. We walked to our new hostel with Maxim and Albert who were both staying there before the trek. Funny characters those two.

We had a great time chatting with Miri and Justin among the trek.

If this post doesn’t seem like it, I had a wonderful time in Colca Canyon.

Talk to you later!