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Arequipa and the Colca Canyon are about 4 hours distance from each other but you access the canyon from Peru´s second City. You may remember Arequipa from a previous blog as it houses the famous Monsatery or Convent that I have already written about.
We booked onto a tour which cost us US$ 55 for 3 days, not bad and that included all our meals and transport too! The only downside was being picked up at 3am in the morning in order for us to be on schedule for the days treking. Everyone on the bus was a nodding dog as the quality of the roads were so poor yet we were all so tired we slept anyway, passing through snow covered routes and finally reaching our first destination, Condor Valley, where it was chilly but sunny. Condor Valley is named due to the amount of condors that can often be seen. A protected bird, they used to be very common in Peru, and it is here you can see the largest species in the world. We were fortunate and in the hour we had to spot them, we saw 2. I even whipped out the pair of binoculars that I am travelling with to the amusement of Mark and Kevin and I was then known as the ´Twitcher´! The pictures you can see of me drinking coffee on the cliff edge are here, i really needed it that morning although it was instant black stuff but beggars can´t be choosers in these remote places!
We then headed to a place called Cabanaconda and started the trek. Colca Canyon did hold the title of deepest canyon in the world however this title has now been claimed by it´s Peruvian counterpart Canyon de Cotahuasi. Saying that, it´s still pretty damn deep and the trek down to the bottom was tough. Incredibly slippery as it was a loose gravel path and I fell and cut my knee! It was bound to happen at some point and i´m lucky it didn´t happen more than once - if it hadn´t been for my geeky walking stick, I´m sure I would have been done for! It took us about 2 hours to get to the bottom. 2 hours of walking very steeply downhill is pretty tiring so we were ready for lunch that was cooked by the hands of our guide Roosevelt! He was a local and a good guy to have around - a good guide and a great cook. After lunch we headed sharply uphill to our place to sleep walking for about an hour. Very primitive lodgings, 4 of us in a large room with a tin roof and when the heavens opened, which they did, the noise was incredible. After about 4 hours hiking though in tough conditions, we all had a pre-dinner nap and then after a couple of games of cards, went to bed to get up early the next morning. This was going to be the tough day....
We woke up and ate pancakes for breakfast made freshly by Roosevelt and then headed to a lovely oasis where we swam in freezing waters. It was fun although we all knew what lay ahead and so tried to make the most of relaxation time until after lunch when we would climb back out of the canyon. The average time for people to reach the top is 3 to 3.5 hours. Bearing in mind it is only just over a mile deep, it´s far from easy and looking up at it just killed me worrying that I may be stuck there forever. Altitude here is about 3,000 metres in addition to the fact we were about to climb an incredibly steep and unforgiving mountain in the the height of summer
Kevin reached the top in 1 hour 40 mins yet was sick 4 times on the way! Mark and Sarah made it in 1 hour 55 or so and I confess to being last in 2 hours 10. I have never felt altitude hit me so much before and with short legs, some of the steps I had to pull myself up on. My walking stick and I bonded during this trip and without it I´m not sure what would have happened but I was happy with the time. The guide was blown away with us despite the fact it felt like it took me 12 hours rather than 2 and he walked with me all the way. That was the hardest physical test I have ever put myself through and therefore also one of the hardest mentally. I had many chats with myself walking that hill and never allowing myself to think that I couldn´t do it. Definitely felt afterwards that I was ready to hang up the walking boots up for a while, at least until Argentina....
Went out for dinner that night and then hit a local bar for some drinks. This town, Capanaconda, is really very small and quiet so the bars were empty and nobody was around. I don´t think they knew what hit them because 5 of us walked in and they showed us the happy hour menus. Happy hour in Capanaconda goes on for 4 hours and so cuba libres (rum and cokes with lime) were flowing freely. Then, Kevin started dancing round the room with the guitar (some guy had a guitar and was singing with us) and then I befriended the stuffed llama in the doorway that was more than life size, and pulled it round the room dancing to Michael Jackson. Then it´s head fell off and i felt really bad and declared probably time for us to leave! That´s what happens when you mix extreme hiking with alcohol. Very drunk people on not much alcohol.
The owner of the bar came to find us the next day to say what a fab night everyone had, turns out they quite liked us gringos taking over and causing trouble. I asked him how the llama was doing and he said it was sleeping and will recover very quickly. Phew!
The next day we went to some thermal baths which were far too hot for me to even put my leg in and went back to Arequipa. A great trip that nearly killed me!
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