Arequipa and the Colca Canyon - 18th August to 24th August

We were up nice and early in Puno for breakfast before checking out of our hotel at 7.15am to make our way to the bus terminal to catch our 6 hour bus ride to Arequipa. We used a different bus company for our journey to Arequipa and the tickets were much cheaper than our tickets to Puno – even though the journey times were fairly similar – so we waited to board with a certain amount of trepidation as to what condition the bus would be in. To our surprise the bus was not too much older and the seats were just as big and comfy as the previous bus – the toilet on the other hand was a different matter!

After some beautiful mountain scenery on some very winding roads, topped off with an ear bashing of the movie “Castaway” dubbed over in Spanish and played at maximum volume, we finally arrived at Arequipa in the late afternoon where we checked into our hostel for the next 3 nights. Notice I say hostel rather than hotel – South America appears to be much more geared up with better quality hostels than Asia so we have managed to save a few £'s without compromising too much on quality – a blessed relief after the overspend in Australia!!

Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru, and is arguably, after Cusco, the most attractive. The city is nestled amongst 3 volcanoes, including the snowcapped dormant Misti at 5,821m which literally towers over the town. The city itself is at an altitude of 2,400m above sea level with a very warm and sunny climate which is really comfortable for sightseeing and enjoying lunch at one of the terraced restaurants overlooking the main square (the Plaza de Armas).

Arequipa boasts some of the most beautiful architecture in Peru which comes mainly from the colonial period and is characterised by white volcanic stone (sillar) and arched interior ceilings. The Plaza de Armas, reputedly one of South America's grandest, comprises a particularly striking array of colonial architecture and is also beautifully landscaped with palms, flowers and gardens making it the focus of social activity in the early evenings and indeed throughout the warm sunny days.

After checking into our hostel we headed out for supper and stumbled across a small pedestrianised alleyway running parallel to the back of the Cathedral which was dotted with a number of small restaurants. We took our place at a table outside where we basked in the sun, enjoyed some good food washed down with a nice crisp bottle of cold Chilean white wine. A very pleasant way to unwind from our bus journey. After the chillier weather higher up in the mountains, it's a treat to be able to sit outside and eat in the warm sunshine.

On route back to our hostel we stopped off at the local supermarket (where we randomly bumped into a couple of girls from our Inca Trail group – Margaret and Sandra) and bought another bottle of wine, a couple of oversized beers and a giant packet of Lays crisps, then settled in for the rest of the evening to watch a movie – just like being at home. The following morning we woke with a hangover.

As breakfast was included at our hostel we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed downstairs for some alcohol absorbing eats but we need not have bothered as breakfast was hollow crispy rolls (the kind that shatter to smithereens on impact) with butter and jam – it seems this is common breakfast fare in Peru! After our feast, and still hungry, we headed back upstairs to bed for another few hours sleep before we finally managed to shower and drag ourselves out for lunch and to organise some activities for the days ahead.

Lunch first, we chose one of the restaurants overlooking the Plaza de Armas and had a spectacular view of the comings and goings of the locals and of the Cathedral. The food on the other hand was fairly unremarkable and my chicken salad turned out to be fried chicken nuggets and chips! It is quite difficult to get anything half resembling a salad here and when your meal is served with vegetables you usually get two slices of carrot and, if you are lucky, a spear of broccoli!

Located 150kms north of Arequipa is the Colca Canyon, which is apparently the deepest Canyon in the world. Our plan whilst in Arequipa was to organise a trekking trip to the Canyon so we spent the afternoon asking around some of the local travel agents to see what trips were available. After gathering some information we decided on a 3 day trek starting the day after next which was perfect timing as we only had the hostel booked for 3 nights. After booking the trek we went back to the hostel to arrange a couple of nights accommodation for after our trek, but unfortunately they had no vacancies so we set off again around town and found another place, much more glamorous than the first, very close by which we booked for a couple of nights on our return. We also used the rest of the day to book our bus tickets to Nazca and investigate flights over the Nazca lines which proved more difficult than we imagined with flights either being full or the emails simply going unanswered.

Anyway, feeling a bit more organised and a bit less hungover, we had some dinner and a very early night.

The following morning we were awake nice and early thanks to the paper thin curtains in our room. We headed down for our crispy roll breakfast then, deciding it was far too early for anyone with any sense to be up....we went back to bed – again! We finally made it out at about noon and headed back to the travel agent to book a hostel for Nazca. Whilst there we also managed to book some Nazca flights for a whopping US$130 each! The flights were much more expensive than we thought they would be, but it turned out that the previous year (after the latest fatal accident flying over the lines) of the 48 planes that were flying daily, 41 have been grounded due to safety concerns! That explains the higher prices and the lack of email responses! The flight over the lines is such a big part of the Nazca experience so we paid up and decided to forget about the fact that we were trying to salvage our budget deficit!!

We spent the rest of the day doing cheap stuff – ie nothing! Only joking, our trek the following day starts with a 3am pick up so we had a quiet day of mooching around town, a visit to the Cathedral, dinner and a very early night. The Cathedral was pretty special and really quite stunning inside – much less gaudy than the Cathedral in Cusco. The views over the city from the rooftop were magnificent and our guide made the whole experience more interesting telling us about the human sacrifices and the mummies found on the volcanoes – something we would learn more about after our trip to the Canyon.

The following morning the alarm went off at 2.30am so we staggered up and into our clothes ready for our 3am pick up. We waited in the hotel lobby where we saw some of the other residents coming back from their nights out!! As is usually the case, we were the first to be picked up and we spent the next 45 minutes driving round town picking up our fellow trekkers and yes – we did pass by our hotel again just before the final couple were picked up! Sweet.

Four hours later, after being thrown around a bit in a freezing cold mini bus, we arrived at the national park where our guide paid the entrance fees and we stopped for breakfast in the coldest restaurant in the world. They are not big on heating in Peru!! At least breakfast was a treat – more crispy triangular rolls but this time with some spam thrown in!! Yum.

After breakfast we drove for another hour then stopped at Cruz del Condor, a viewpoint overlooking a sheer drop into the canyon, where we were lucky enough to spot some huge Condors (the mature birds have a 2m wingspan) using the early morning thermals to soar up from the canyon below and right passed and over our viewpoint. I say lucky as it was a great experience, but the Condors nest here as every so often (once a month I think) someone drops a carcass into the Canyon guaranteeing continual inhabitation of these impressive birds. We bumped into Margaret and Sandra again here, they are beginning to think we are stalking them!

After Cruz del Condor we were another 45 minutes or so in the minibus before we reached the start point of our trek into the Canyon. The Canyon below us was extremely beautiful and appeared to stretch on forever, the river at the bottom looking a long, long way off!! At its deepest point the Canyon is reportedly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the States. Fortunately for us the part we were ascending was a mere 1,200 metres – 100 metres less than the height of Ben Nevis and 200 metres higher than Scafell Pike!!! The Colca Canyon is also fairly unique in that it is still inhabited and our trip would take us through three of the villages located in the Canyon.

The trek down to the river was fairly punishing on the knees. The path was mainly rubble and small rocks and was extremely dusty which added to the hard work! We slipped around a bit but managed to make it down to the river without too many problems. The last 15 minutes or so were fairly excruciating on the knees and I was so pleased when we finally reached the river and started our ascent up the other side to the first village where we would be spending the night.

On reaching the village we treated ourselves to a cold shower before putting our dusty clothes back on again and joining the others for a lunch of soup, rice and vegetables. We spent the afternoon laying on the grass reading our books which was nice and relaxing. As dark set in so did the cold and after dinner we headed off to bed wearing every item of clothing we had carried into the canyon – including the dusty trousers! It was a chilly night but we both slept soundly for about 10 hours until we were called the next morning to start day 2 of our trek.

After breakfast of pancakes (what a treat!) we were on the move by 8.30am heading towards the centre of the village. As we passed through we saw the children at the local school arriving for their days lessons and singing the national anthem in salute to the Peruvian flag. It was quite an experience to see normal life in the Canyon – made even more surreal by the fact that the village only had 3 children of school age!

We walked on for a further 1 ½ hours to the next village where we stopped to visit the local museum which was a tiny little mud hut crammed full of local tools, cooking utensils and dead animals! Very random but very interesting.

There are lots of empty houses dotted around the villages where the locals have left for an easier life outside of the Canyon. It really is a hard life down there with no roads to bring in much needed supplies, everything is done by mules and the locals walk to the nearest village outside the Canyon to buy water, drinks and snacks etc for tourists to purchase. Very humbling.

After a few more hours of walking we caught sight of the “Oasis” below us which was to be our accommodation for the 2nd night. The Oasis is a small cluster of guest houses at the bottom of the Canyon, each with a small swimming pool fed by the natural waterfalls in the Canyon. It really was quite beautiful and the swimming pool was a very welcome sight after a dust filled day of trekking.

First things first, we got into our swimmies and went for a dunk in the pool – heaven. After our dunk we sat in the sun with a couple of beers before our much needed and very tasty pasta lunch. A siesta followed then we joined the group again in the evening for a light dinner before an an early night in preparation for our climb out of the Canyon the following day.

Day 3 – the climb back out. We started at 5.15am which was a cunning plan to avoid the midday heat. The climb out was estimated to take 3 to 3 ½ hours. It was really tough going, a steep, narrow and very dusty climb and made slightly worst by the smug gits who had hired mules which we had to stop to let past whilst eating their dust! We found a good steady pace at the back of the group to start with but it wasn't long before we were overtaking some of the others who had a more stop start approach. Like the Inca Trail (Dead Woman's Pass) we managed to finish a respectable 4th and 5th out of our group and actually managed to surface in just under 2 hours. We were both really pleased to have made it out in such good time and in one piece!!!

Once we reached the top we headed to the nearest village, Cabanaconde, for breakfast before being picked up by our mini bus to take us back to Arequipa. On the road back we stopped at a couple of viewpoints and places of interest, including the hot springs outside of Chivay which were so nice, before arriving back in Arequipa at 5.30pm. A long tiring day.

Back in Arequipa we checked into our hostel only to find that Margaret and Sandra were in the room next door – now we are starting to get worried that they are stalking us!! (Only joking girls!!).

We treated ourselves to hot showers, a much deserved bottle of wine and an early night and reached the conclusion that we are sooo done with trekking for a while. We are both in serious need of some beach time!

The following day, our last in Arequipa, we sorted out our laundry then headed out to visit the Museo Santuarios Andinos de la Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria – quite!! Basically a museum which is home to the immaculately preserved mummy “Juanita” or “Ice Maiden” - a 12 year old girl sacrificed by the Incas to the Apu Ampato (the highest volcano in the area) around 500 years ago.

Juanita was discovered by and named after an American, Johan Rodriguez (Johan = Juan in Spanish; Juanita for a girl), in 1995 after the surrounding volcanoes erupted, melting the ice cap of Ampato. Because Juanita was discovered at the summit with the most decorative and high quality offerings she is believed to be the daughter of an Inca King and likely walked there from Cusco in a processional party for days or weeks. Her death was as a result of a blow to the head which would have been administered after she had received some form of sedative to ensure she was spared pain and suffering. In all, the party found 7 human sacrifices on the mountain. An incomprehensible story in today's society.

We spent the rest of our time in Arequipa enjoying the sunshine and wandering through the lanes before our final meal at our favourite little restaurant tucked away behind the Cathedral. A lovely few days in a beautiful Peruvian city. Next stop Nazca.

Thank you again so much for all your lovely emails and messages. We are having such an amazing time but do miss everyone so much and are looking forward to seeing you all soon. Please keep in touch.

Lots of love,
Sue & Dan xxx