After recovering from our respective Arequipean illnessess (and the trauma of the guinea pig), we got up at 3am to start a 3 day trek in the Colca Canyon - apparently twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US.

On the minibus there we got chatting to lots of friendly Ozzies and Dutch, but on disembarking they all set off for the 2 day trip and our depleted group was us, a slightly dour looking French couple and a quiet but approachable looking Chilean lady. The others all raced off down the canyon while Dave and Emily dawdled and guiltily took photos at the back. The canyon is both bleak and beautiful, with sheer gray rock faces with bizarre swirls or jagged patterns and fertile terraces below. Unfortunately we could not find out about the rock formations as the guide had also run off.

The lunch did not improve the cohesiveness of our group, so Dave and Emily sloped off the their adobe and thatch hut to read and nap. Just as it was getting dark, 2 very lost French-Canadians turned up. They had been wandering around very confused for about 4 hours before stumbling on our small hostel. Although they confused the language dynamic even more (Dave and Emily spoke English and Spanish but no French, the French spoke French and limited Spanish but no English, the Canadians spoke French and English but no Spanish and the Chilean was sickening fluent in all 3), somehow their addition (and some beers) helped us all along into a funny evening.

The next day we set off a much more jolly party. Our guide, Juan-Carlos also came into his own, chatting about the small farms with a remarkable variety of fruit, irrigated from ancient channels bring water from nearby glaciers. Even a midday chicha beer (not great, but good to try) didn´t thwart us and we continued past lush terraces and avocado trees with the canyon towering on both sides. Just before lunch we reached the natural oasis where we would be staying and jumped straight into a beautiful swimming pool fed by a waterfall and partially formed from 2 massive rocks.

The final day we got up at 4am to start the ascent of over 1000m to the top of the canyon. It was a beautiful walk winding ever upward and with every turn the sun slowly advanced from the very tip of the opposite mountains, deep into the canyon and slowly up towards us. Apart from a couple of near misses with heavily laded mules it was a straightforward journey for the hardened Inca Trail graduates (you´ll have to take our word for that!).

To top it all off, we stopped at some amazing thermal baths on the way back to soothe our (not aching really...) muscles and then went for a massive Peruvian feast. Happy (but sleepy) campers...