21.11. -23.11.10Colca Canyon

On Saturday, 20.11.10 was my last day at the Spanish School EDEAC in Arequipa. After I said "Adios" to my teacher Milli I went straight to the Tour Agency "Colonial Tours" where I booked my 3 day Colca Canyon Trek for the next day.

On Sunday, 21.11.10 the bus of the tour operator picked me up at 3.30am in the morning. Luis and Etina from Berlin were already sitting inside the bus. After we have picked up 7 more people we left Arequipa at around 4am. The bus ride to CHIVAY, the provincial capital at the head of the COLCA CANYON with approx. 4.600 inhabitants took about 3 ½ hours and most of us were sleeping for the entire trip.

In CHIVAY we had breakfast and lots of warm "mate de coca" and coffee as we were all freezing on the way. During breakfast our tour guide Jennifer introduced me to Michel and Inge, a couple from Maastricht/ Holland. Great, I thought only a tiny group of three.

After breakfast we went straight via dirt road to the highest point of then canyon "CRUZ DEL CONDOR". This is an outlook for tourist from where "Andean condors" can mostly be seen gliding effortlessly on thermal air currents.

We arrived at the outlook about 9am in the morning and I was surprised how many people had been already there at that time. I heard from a lot of travellers that they have seen quite a few and huge condors over there so we were all expecting a few good shots. After one hour we were called back to the bus and no one of the hundreds of tourists has seen any condors. What a pity!!!

So we continued our way to CABANACONDE. Just before the tiny town with a population of 1.300 inhabitans we got off the bus. From here (3.300m) we started walking down into the Canyon followed by another group of 7 other national backpackers.

The views were just amazing and we stopped a lot to take photos. Jennifer told us a lot about the tiny villages we passed through and from above she showed us where we would stay for the night. Wow….it just looked soooo far away!

After a decline of 3 ½ hours we finally reached the river COLCA of the canyon. We stopped at the bridge for a quick water break and to cool off our feet. We then continued the track uphill for another 30 Minutes until we finally reached the little village of SAN JUAN DE CHUCCHO at an altitude of 2.600m. We walked to a local family who showed us our rooms for the night. The rooms were simple and basic but really cosy. Check out the photos on my album "3 day Colca Canyon trek"!

When the other group arrived we went straight for lunch which was delicious…..as always in Peru! It was about 3.30pm in the afternoon when I took a shower in the "bamboo shower" and I couldn't believe it but it was warm….yiphii!Afterwards we just walked around the tiny village and took millions of photos and the view down the canyon was just incredible.

The other morning, after a yummy pancake breakfast we left at about 8.30am and walked up to the town COSNIRHUA and then straight to MALATA where we visited the local "museo" and tasted "chicha morrada" an alcoholic drink made from maize. Unfortunately we were too many people and the big jar was gone in a few minutes. A local seniora showed us around the museum which was very, very interesting. Check out the photos on my album!

3 ½ hours later at about 2pm we arrived at the beautiful OASIS in SAN GALLE. The oasis lies on an altitude of 2.100m in the canyon it is just unbelievable beautiful! Check out the photos on my album!

After we had lunch we jumped straight into the pool which was quite refreshing but felt great after the hike. We just relaxed at the pool for another 2 hours and the view up the canyon was absolutely stunning.

For dinner we had "Alpaca meat" which was really tasty. That night Jennifer told us a bit more about the Canyon and at about 9pm we all went to bed as we were told to get up at 4.45am. Puhh…how early!

So on Tuesday, 23.11.10 we started the big climb up to CABANACONDE at 5am in the morning…without breakfast. It was a decline of 1.200m which Michel, Inge and I managed to do in 3 hours and 20 Minutes. The first two hours were ok but for the last hour I was very close to jump on one of the passing mules and give the owner 100 Soles as I was just about to die!!!

In CABANACONDE we had a very good and well deserved breakfast. On the way back to CHIVAY we stopped again at the "CRUZ DEL CONDOR" but again we didn't see any Condors. Damn!

In Chivay we drove to the "Thermal pools" where we could relax in 39 degrees hot pools for an hour. What a great idea after the big climb and how sousing for my muscles. After a very good and huge buffet lunch in Chivay we drove back to Arequipa. On the way back we stopped at a few outlooks and saw lots of Flamingos!

At around 5.30pm we arrived in Arequipa and I went straight back to my homestay family where I could tell a lot about the beautiful trip.