Colca Canyon - PERU

We arrived in Arequipa which was a beautiful Peruvian city, much like Sucre in Bolvia with whitewashed buildings. When we arrived unfortunately there was a power cut so we were keen to book a tour out of the city. We booked to do the Colca Canyon which is the second deepest Canyon in the world. This was going to be a 2 day trek and after we booked it me and Michael where like arrgh, what have we done booking a trek, we never trek. But then we thought it would be a good warm up to the Machu Pichu trek which everyone kept saying was really hard. Not forgetting we are also at high altitude in Peru and the peak of the Canyon reaches upto 4800m. 

We were told to be ready by 4.30am and as per usual, Peruvian time meant they picked us up at 5.30am. It was a 3 hour bus ride to Colca Valley, then we got out to see the condors at the view point. The condors were spectacular big birds that soared gracefully through the canyons. Some of the condors had white feathers and we were later told that this meant the bird was over 8 years old. 

After the condor spotting we started our trek in the blistering heat. The first leg of our 8 hour trek was a downhill walk down the Canyon which took 4 hours. Yes, I thought it would be easy too, as soon as he said downhill but I tell you now it was bloody hard work. Due to path being gravelley you had to really watch where you walked and the incline was quite steep so eventually your knees wanted to give way. You also had to watch out for the mules that came up and down the canyon, if you werent carefully they could push you off the narrow path and down the side of the canyon.

Once we made it down we had our lunch before we started our 4 hour walk to the oasis where we would be spending the night. The walk was up and down, some of the people on our group had come from the 5 day trek in Cusco so they were marching on and others were ready to have a fit and had to stop lots. Me and Michael were around 4th or 5th so better than we thought. Our guide was really good and stopped to tell us about the history of the canyon. He said back in the days of the incas the villagers from the top of the Canyon would travel to the bottom of the Canyon and trade food. At the bottom of the Canyon it was bursting of fresh fruit and vegetables, while at the top of the Canyon they were rich of maze and corn so they would often do trades with each other. He showed us the different type of fruit and a white insect that lived on the cactus plants, once you crush the insects a red dye would come out. He said many cosmetic companys used this as a dye for their products.

Our guide - for once he spoke and actually knew about stuff

Top of the Colca Canyon which we climbed!!!

Condor sight seeing

The canyon is guarded by huge condors who fly all day looking for prey and broken down trekkers

Trekking

Fruit found at the bottom of the Canyon

Bride to cross before climbing back up

The insects that contain dye

As we reached the oasis it was heavenly, we walked over a bridge through a waterfall and all around was huts and swimming pools. After a day of walking we couldnt wait to get to our hotel. We arrived at 9pm and it was already dark and the pool was pretty cold but we jumped in anyway. Our feet needed to  soak, it was the best feeling ever. We then had food and most people went to bed after that as we had to get up at 5am to start our climb back up the Canyon. We had the option to get a mule up the Canyon for a price and we found that most of the girls in our group had opted for that. So it was just me and two hardcore trekker girls from switzerland left to walk up with the boys. The climb was so hard, we had no breakfast and the first 40 minutes was in the dark. The route was also a zig zag and was crumbly and extremely steep. I was making some strange noise, mostly, "Oh fuck, oh fuck a duck, this is hard," Followed by gasping as you take a breath and no air fills your lungs due to the altitude. After 2 hours the top seemed so close but so far away, the sun was beginning to appear and we were being over taken by our group on the mules. The mules are unbelievable, they could climb the canyon in 20minutes with a heavy load on their backs.

By a second I was the first one up, I saw the last stretch and decided just to go for it and not stop, Soon after the rest made it and it felt great. We bought bananas for 5pence each of a lady and sat and ate it looking down at the Canyon we had just conquered. The guides ofcourse just walked up it no problem and told us one year they had two guys from New Zealand who did it under an hour! But we were proud of our 3 hour effort, it was our first proper trek and we had survived it. We then walked through cornfields and streams for another 1hour to breakfast and finally reach a restaurant with a buffet. I think I had about 9 platefuls I was so excited, I definately remember having 4 plates of the creme brulea. After that we were stuffed and still had a day of sight seeing left.

We were taken to the highest point standing at 5000km where you could see a Volcano. Our guide told us that the incas had sacrificed a girl called nina or chiquita..cant quite remember the name now... to the Gods in this particular Volcano. The incas use to keep the most beautiful girls in the same house and offer them to the Gods. They use to make them drink Chi Cha, which is the local strong alcoholic drink and knock them over the head to then feed them to the mouth of the Volcano. That was our last stop before we headed back to the bustling city of Arequipà to take a bus to Cusco.

Michael with an Eagle