Arequipa and the Colca canyon

Sunday the 7th of November 2010 until Tuesday the 9th of November 2010
After a long night my first stomach issues in South America were almost gone and I felt capable to cope with a 10h bus ride. So, at 8h we were on a bus to Arequipa. We quickly found a hostel there and spent the rest of the evening exploring the center of the city.
The next day we had planned a quiet day. We took our time to visit the "white city". The city has been given this name because of the white color of the volcanic stone that has been used to construct 90% of the historical buildings of the town. We wandered through the streets, visited some of the most important places and arranged everything for the next stage of our trip: the Colca canyon.
The next day we were on a bus to Cabanaconde. The first part of the road brought us through the magnificent South-Peruvian landscape, very desserty with now and then a small, apparently disserted village, large herds of lama's, alpaca's and vicunas (another kind of lama). We even passed some lakes with flamingos. The second part of the road led us along the Colca Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world, second only after the canyon in Cotohuasi, a few 100km further and thus larger than the Grand Canyon. We arrived in Cabanaconde just before dusk and found a place to stay in a beautiful hostel owned by a Belgian-Peruvian couple. They supplied us with the necessary information about trekking in the Colca Canyon while we enjoyed an excellent dinner with a nice couple from New-Zealand. After dinner, Nele however started feeling like I did on the train from Machu Picchu to Cusco, which resulted in a too many visits to the toilet at night.

Wednesday the 10th of November 2010
Nele had spent a horrible night and we decided not to descend into the Canyon on Wednesday. Nele took some more rest in the morning, while I explored the canyon from the top. From where I walked I could make out several of the villages that we would have normally visited that day; Sangalle, also known as the Oasis, all the way down at the Colca River, and Malata and Tapay. I had my first encounter with an Andean Condor. Marvellous animal. Around lunch time I paid a visit to the sick one that by then felt brave enough to go and see the condors at the view point Cruz del Condor in the afternoon. During our short walk along the canyon at this point (that we reached with a 30 eurocent worth bus ride) we were constantly accompanied by 4-5 condors. Not only the presence of the condors pleased us, but also the magnificent views of the canyon were worth the trip. Satisfied we returned to Cabanaconde an hour and half later in a minivan that we stopped along the road. We met 4 nice, retired Frenchies that would go to the Cruz del Condor the next morning. We had a good pizza later on in the hostel, again with the Kiwi's. Luckily the pizza was much too big for our evening stomachs so that we immediately had our lunch for the next day.

Thursday the 11th of November 2010
We were ready for our descent into the canyon. Our goal was Llahuar: a "pueblo" of maybe 10 souls where a side river flows into the Colca. We first followed the trail on the edge of the canyon, than steeply descended the 1200m down into the canyon. At the river we had our pizza lunch. In the meantime a young (18 and 20) French couple had caught up with us and together we admired the geysers next to the bridge we just crossed. We only had one and a half hour to walk to Llahuar after lunch. We passed a real ghost village, if three houses and a barn can be called a village, on our way. At 14h we checked in at the Colca lodge in Llahuar were we warmed ourselves in the thermal bath after a short dip in the river. Lovely to relax in a hot bath at the bottom of one of the deepest canyons of the world after walking for 4h and half.
After beading we decide to make our contribution to dinner. All guests sit together at the dinner table in the Colca lodge. On the menu.. Trout... if, however, the guests catch enough trout in the nearby river. By the time we took the fishing rod in our hands trout dinners was already assured by two French guys that caught a dozen. We relieved another French couple from its duties (Peru seems to be a very popular country for Frenchies and Francophones, you meet them everywhere) and contributed one extra trout to the dinner.

Friday the 12th of November 2010
The next morning we left early after breakfast. By 8h we were walking through the canyon together with Brandon, a Canadian travel writer that was sent down the canyon by a travel magazine to do a story. We were heading for Sorro, a small village, maybe 5 families large, where we would get into a truck to Cabanaconde. The path to Sorro passed, without a doubt, through the nicest part of the canyon that we have seen: steep cliffs, big, round boulders in the river and along the shore, fields of cactus, terraces filled with corn, etc. An Indiana-Jones like bridge brought us to the open spot where the truck brings supplies to the village in the canyon twice a week. Shortly after we made it this place the truck arrived with in its cargo 10-15 locals with what they brought from Cabanaconde. After they all disembarked, we got on the truck, or better in the back of the truck, ready for a beautiful ride up. On our way up we now and then picked up extra passengers with their latest harvest. Man and crops were assigned the same place in the truck and after a while the truck was well filled with people and vegetation. At around 12h30 we made it to Cabanaconde where we were just in time to book a seat on the packed bus to Arequipa that would leave an hour later. We spent one more night in Arequipa and then got on a bus to Puno. Lake Titicaca was waiting for us.

Have a look at the pictures that go with this story.