Colca Canyon

Well, this is my trip to Colca Canyon, about 6 hours out of Arequipa. I got on a bus with a couple other groups and their guides at 3:30 a.m. We stopped about halfway there to look at some condors, then headed to the town closest to the canyon where we had lunch, then headed off. We went 2000 meters down to the bottom, walked along the river and then went a ways back up to stay the night with a family in a very small village. Just in the mountains, the middle of nowhere. I have never had such an amazing view right outside my window before. We were all pretty exhausted, so after playing some cards with the rest of the group (a couple from the U.K. and a guy from Austalia) , we all went to bed pretty early.

The next day we got up at around 7, and walked down to the bottom again, to relax around some pools with spring water and baske in the sun before climbing up the canyon. It was perfect. After a few hours, we started our climb up, which was the most difficult hike I have ever done, but was so amazing. Lots of people rented mules to go up, or to bring their backpacks, and the people that lived in the villages nearby brought in supplies with them. There was not much stopping on the way up, we just did it all at once, and it took us 2 hours and 20 minutes, which I thought was pretty good timing. The view at the top was very rewarding....a lot different from looking at it before going down into it and not just because we didn't go back up the same trail we went down. We enjoyed the view and took some pictures, then headed back into town where we stayed at the nicest hostel I have stayed at so far here. The water was hot, and for once you actually had to turn on the cold water, too. After dinner, a few of us went out to the pub and played more cards. The next day we went to a different, higher viewpoint of the canyon and saw some more condors before taking the bus to Chivay, which had several very hot thermal pools. It was a perfect ending to our trip and felt awesome. Then, back to Arequipa, bustling with cars and people, far away from the fresh mountain air...I stayed there another day to see a friend, then got on outta there.