Colca Canyon

The kulak that everyone hates

We have betrayed our usual way of uploading blogs under the places we stayed and have instead favoured integrity by keeping the Colca Canyon trip in one place.

'Colca Canyon is the canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. It is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Arequipa.Colca Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the world at 10,725 ft (3,269 m), it is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States. However, the canyon's walls are not as vertical as the ones of the Grand Canyon. The Cotahuasi Canyon nearby to the northwest is a deeper canyon at 11,488 ft (3,501 m). Since they are such major features of the landscape, the Colca and Cotahuasi canyons are both easily recognizable in even low-resolution satellite photos of the region. The Colca Valley is a colorful andean valley with towns founded in Spanish Colonial times and formerly inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces.'

Another Thank you to Wikipedia

We set off from our hotel in Arequipa later than expected and had to get in different taxis. Lisa got stuck with the kulak guide. We were then taken to the bus station and got the local bus for a 6 hour journey to Cabanaconda.

We passed through a National Park and had a small rest in Chivay after passing a height of 4800m above sea level. We then passed through a few of the small villages on the edge of the Canyon. It was from one of these stops that the bus became a very hectic affair. One million locally dressed women with large sacks on their backs squashed onto the already full bus. Lots of packages and giant bundles were placed on the roof and in the hold whilst they shouted and squashed further down the bus. One of these women stood right next to Lisa and leant a crispy old hand onto her leg and seemed to rest her massive bulk upon it. Many of the sacks were scrapped against Lisa's arm and head. Some left different variations of hay and other foliage. We were all glad to get off the bus at Cabanaconda but not ready to start a trek.

Luckily we had a very typical lunch before we set off. Most of the group had Lomo Saltado (a mixture of beef and veg, with rice) and Lisa had rice, chips and a fried egg. This meal was to be repeated often on the trek.

Charlie tried to give a sweet to a small child but it refused and helped Charlie pack his bag - kulaks are trained young!

The trek started with a flat walk to the Canyon edge and then we had an almost non-stop 4 hour walk down a very shingly path. Every second step was a slide forward on the loose rock followed by an oops and then a snigger. This painful affair continued for an inordinately long time and when we reached the river all our knees were suffering. It was then a frustrating climb up to the village of San Juan de Chuccho (pronounced the same as the childish noise for a steam train). We fell into our new home, which was a hut made of mud bricks and a roof made from vegetation. There was a simple double bed with blankets (no sheets) and surprisingly there was electricity. We waited a long time for dinner, then ate ravenously and plucked up the courage to use the primitive toilet.  We were offered drinks of foliage in hot water - citronella turned out to taste ok.  Showers were not had by anyone in the group. We fell asleep soon after removing the wildlife from our bed. A few spiders crawled on Lisa in the night but she refused to tell Charlie as one progressed towards his side of the bed after he got up to add more clothing layers.

The next morning after waking up naturally, and not getting the promised knock from the kulak guide, we had time to spare before breakfast and so fed the rabbits. There were 20 rabbits in a small enclosure next to a guinea pig enclosure, which could only mean one thing....... dinner. We picked half the garden to feed to the rabbits whilst hiding from the kulaks that lived there. We gave then grass and moved along to a dessert course of flowers. The rabbits fought each other for the food and lived on a base of their own excrement. They were beautiful rabbits and we tried to steal them but it might have been noticed. The guinea pigs were ignored for being antisocial, but were given our respect for this same behaviour.

We shall now describe the other members of our group. There were 5 others apart from us and the guide. There were 2 couples, 1 couple were from London and younger than us, the other couple were German and much older than us. The final soul was a Chinese looking boy travelling alone, he was mostly ignored until dinner the first night an then he was found to be Canadian and a nice guy.

We set off again with our very awful guide who uttered very few words and left us to ask what was going on. The guide did show us a small beetle that lived on the cacti. To Lisa's horror he squashed it and showed the dark copious red stain. This was the Cochineal beetle. We walked uphill for a short time to get to two villages. In the first we saw some weaving and ate some Prickly Pears (a new favourite fruit) and in the second we visited a small museum. Apparently this out of the way Incan village had a school paid for by us, the British. Hurrah. The museum contained lots of really strange implements and clothing and corn. The women spoke to us in Spanish but was much more informative than our useless guide. The only let down was the death of another beetle!

We then had an hour trek downhill to Sangalle (Oasis), our lodgings for the second night. We had got behind with the young English couple and decided to dally a bit longer until the kulak guide got angry and stayed behind us to herd us like sheep. On arrival at Oasis we ended up behind another group of people belonging to the older generation. One of the women had a green scarf tied randomly around her head and scowled at us as we passed and said "hola". The dislike was instant but our spirits lifted as she tumbled down a path and rolled violently into the flower border.

We arrived at lunchtime and sat around the swimming pool trying to get a tan. We had a short dip, but the water was cold and full of dead flies; it didn't last long! Instead we sat and watched a multitude of sparkling gold dragonflies flitter around the area.

We ate a filling dinner of spaghetti but Lisa fed most of hers to a very persistent cat. This night the hut had devolved into a stick hut with very very large gaps between the narrow, bendy bamboo poles. Luckily we only had to sleep until 2am. It turned out to be a very comfortable night until the wake up call.

The 3rd day was the hardest as we had to trek a distance of 5km but we were climbing out of the canyon, which from the bottom to the top (straight) was 1000m. The trek was started at 2:30am in pitch black. The stars were amazing but the head torch soon blocked tem out. We soon heated up and rebelled from the guide by stopping to remove layers. We trekked in hour blocks and then stopped for about 10 minutes. This kind of trekking did not suit us as the stops were too long. The sweat produced by walking soon cooled when stopped and left the body very cold and shaking. The kulak got angry as the English dallied again, but we were just looking at the view! The Germans had brought trekking poles and looked like spiders limbering to the top. We chuckled at their preparedness. We were passed by the kulak that everyone hates and all the old people and lazy people that had hired mules to carry them to the top!

Three and a half hours later we reached the top and took a photo of the group. We then headed into town for breakfast, which was rushed as we had to beat local kulaks to the bus. Again we got squashed by the locals but we soon alighted at Mirador Del Condor - to see the condors. We watched a few of the condors circle around but the site was soon mobbed by bus tour granjas, so we left and sat on a rock to read our books. We got the next bus to Chivay.

At Chivay we were herded to a buffet restaurant, where we ate as much as we could fit in without being sick. This included the local food of Quinoa, which is a bit of a health food specialty in England. Even the veggie was happy. We rolled out of the restaurant and refused to go to the Hot Springs as we had to pay extra, again this seemed to make the kulak angry!

We finally got the bus to Arequipa, another 4 hour journey. This time Lisa paid attention as the bus went passed the 4800m mark and into the National Park. There were Alpacas, Llamas and the delicate Vicuna, which looks like an antelope when viewed from the bus. The plains were surrounded by snowy volcano peaks. Lisa was ecstatic to see Vizcacha, long-tailed rabbits leaping out of sight when the bus passed. Many birds were also seen on the lakes. This was a nice highlight to the very exhausted travellers.

Final Thoughts: Huge sense of achievement once the trek was over but it was difficult to feel happy at 2am. Nice to see the Condors but had a good view from a nice restaurant in Arequipa City (without having to trek). The guide was rubbish and so received no tip except from the Germans, who complained about him the most. We feel good but achy and will not do this again too soon.

Mark out of 10: 8

Next Time.............. Arequipa II