Decided to visit and trek colca canyon independently rather than on a tour. So I caught the bus to cobanaconde around midday which took about 6 hours and checked into a hostel called pachamama which is a really cute and cozy hostel and with the bar very social. Just spent the night chatting and having a few cocktails with an alpacha pizza and playing with the resident kitten! The next day four of us decided to trek up and down colca canyon (one of the deepest canyons in the world) in one day! It took about 2 hours to get down and was really quite steep down so a god work out on the bum! At the bottom we had a swim in one of the pools and a bit of a sunbathe and some lunch. Was glad not to be staying down there over night as there was really not much going on at all! Then we started the mission up and it was most definitely hard work and I am definitely a downwards walker than upwards but it was the perfect excuse to keep stopping and admiring the views of the canyon! That night the four of us just got some bad for you food and a cocktail before passing out completely!
The next day i travelled back to Arequipa for one final night and on the bus journey saw a condor really close which was awesome as they are massive! Another good thing about going independently is I managed to do the trip without buying a tourist ticket- boom!