Colca Canyon is the world's deepest canyon, more than twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. However it looks more like a valley as the sides aren't as steep and so doesn't have quite the same wow factor. But it is pretty spectacular nonetheless.

The hostel pick up was at 3:30am followed by a 2 hour minibus ride through the spectacular high altitude plains outside Arequipa to the town of Chivay for breakfast. Of course we slept most of the way.

After breakfast we were taken to the Cruz del Condor viewpoint to view the infamous birds in flight (the largest flying bird in the world). Unfortunately it was quite a chilly morning and so the condors decided they'd rather stay snug in their nests. I think I saw a sparrow though.

We then found out that the rest of our minibus was on a 2 day hike rather then the 3 day option and so we said our goodbyes. Our group turned out to consist of a talk-a-lot Colombian-born Dutch girl and a sickly Belgian couple. Skipping ahead 3 days, we didn't become Facebook friends... It also turned out that our mammoth 3 day hike was simply the 2 day version spread over 3 days - not quite what we were sold. At first we were a bit miffed but actually it turned out to be a good thing!

Day 1, or rather morning 1, was spent descending to the bottom of the canyon. At that point this means going from 3,460m to 2,160m. We then spent the afternoon and night at a very basic hostel, essentially staying in a local family's outhouse. Actually a very pretty setting, great for chilling out.
As mentioned, the Belgian couple spent most of the time in the out-outhouse and being force fed various herbal remedies by the family. Bless 'em.

After dinner the owner's son decided to show us his card tricks. They were pretty unimpressive, but since we don't know any ourselves we were suitably appreciative. However Mr Belgian took a short break from his occupation of the loo and wowed us with a couple of seriously impressive tricks. Unfortunately he couldn't stay at the table long enough to teach them to us.

The hike on morning 2 was pretty much following the canyon floor for 4 hours, climbing a few hundred metres to pass through a couple of villages en route. I make no apologies for being amazed by the complex irrigation system that the Incas installed in the mountainsides hundreds of years ago which are still used by the local farmers today. Basically mountain springs/streams are directed into man made channels which form an expansive network across the whole mountainside, the channels being used at any one time determined by blocking junctions here and there. Truly amazing.

The destination was an oasis further down the canyon, lying at 2,230m (not quite sure how it is higher than the first night stop). Again a very basic hostel but the oasis setting, complete with a very welcome swimming pool, was perfect. All hiking groups spend the night here and so there were a lot more people to chat to.

Day 3 is the real challenge, climbing 1,050m with kick off at 5am to beat the heat of the sun. It wasn't easy but we did it in a respectable time - must've been the Inca Trail training!

The journey back to Arequipa was broken by a few point of interest stops. The thermal baths complex outside Chivay provided very welcome relief to our aching legs, and the 4 volcano lookout point at 4,910m was stunning (Mirador de los Andes). I managed to stay awake to take in the landscapes we missed on the outbound journey. Breathtaking, complete with endless plains, snowcapped mountains and volcanos, and flocks of llamas, alpaca and endangered vicuñas.

Back in Arequipa, allocated a room with bunk beds in the hostel (!), we slummed it with a shop bought pizza and had yet another early night.