We found a large spare room at Casa de Sillar and were pretty impressed with Arequipa from the start. The Plaza de Armas (main square) was buzzing with life and we treated ourselves to a nice lunch overlooking the plaza in one of the touristy restaurants with great views and live Peruvian music. After a filling lunch, we began our walking tour of Arequipa, admiring the stone work everywhere out of volcanic, white “sillar” rock. We walked past a few churches, a famous nunnery, and then began to plan our trek to Cabanaconde where we wanted to begin the Canyon de Colca Trek. After gaining some good information at Colca Trek, we made our way back to the hostal and I finished making my first scarf! We went out for a one dollar dinner (3 Peruvian Soles) we could not pass up (I had fish and rice, JJ had spaghetti and chicken with hot, sweet tea for dessert). Then we decided to see what else we could get for cheap and we tried a fancy dolce de leche pastry and a yogurt shop where you picked out fresh fruit and they blended it in frozen yogurt for you.
In the morning, we headed out on our 6 hour bus ride to Cabanaconde. The ride was pretty smooth until after the first three hours when we reached the town of Chivay. I have never seen so many people get on a bus before in my life. There were people literally packed on the bus in every way and poor JJ was sitting in the aisle having every body part imagined rubbed all over him. My favorite was when a probably 6 or 7 year old girl standing next to him just completely passed out and fell asleep on his shoulder. In this area of Peru, I have noticed that almost all of the women wear an extremely colorful embroidered hat and dress in traditional clothing. So, people watching is very interesting at the moment. As the bus wound up and down the rim of the Canyon de Colca, we admired all the step farming plots that date back to pre-Incan times. We were excited that the next day we would get to hike on walking trails that have been used for thousands of years. We got a few glimpses of how deep Canyon de Colca actually is (deeper than the Grand Canyon, but not as grand) and tried to determine where we would start the trail and try to spot Andean Condors (with the largest wingspan of any land bird) the next morning. When we arrived in Cabanaconde, we meet Louis, one of the brother owners of Pachamama Hostal. He was really nice and helped us plan our whole hiking trek in Canyon de Colca, and gave us a map. We had a great pasta dinner there and visited with other travelers from around the world!
The next morning, we woke up at 5:45 to get on the local bus to the Cruz de Condor viewpoint. The indigenous ladies boarded the bus also with gigantic bags they tied around their backs and shoulders. These grain sacks are usually as big as they are and probably weigh about the same as them too. These particular sacks were filled with food and crafts to sell at the viewpoint. The Andean Condors supposedly fly right by the viewpoint in the morning as they scan the entire canyon for a meal. Well, we could not see a thing because of the thick and misty clouds. So we hopped back on a bus to Cabanaconde and had breakfast before heading out to Viewpoint San Miguel where we would begin our descent all the way to the canyon floor. Right as we sat down to breakfast, we looked up to the sky where the clouds had parted a bit to see a giant condor in the sky above us! Awesome! We might have to give that viewpoint another try on the way to Arequipa.
When we made it to the trail head, we passed by desert vegetation on the rocky trail and took it easy on the many switchbacks down the canyon. Views of the river and where the trail would take us the next two days were taken into account. The volcanic rock and granite (igneous and metamorphic) that makes up this canyon takes way longer to erode than the sandstone and shale (sedimentary) that make up the Grand Canyon. Canyon de Colca is extremely steep and narrow because of the sturdy rock it has been carved out of. Also, because of the volcanic rocks, there are many cool formations and hexagonal fracturing like a Devil’s Postpile in California! We made our way down to the Colca River just as it began to pour rain. We quickly switched into our rain gear and soon regretted it as we began sweating bullets up the steep route through San Juan de Chucho towards Tapay. We loved the canyon views we got as we climbed up the other side towards Tapay and the trail was not marked, but many rocks were spray painted where to go so we had no trouble. As we passed through the stone archway of Tapay, we admired the stream flowing through the small town and the beautiful church and plaza that sat on a hillside with great views of the canyon. We thought about how incredible it is that in the middle of a canyon with no roads there is a community of people who have been here thousands of years. After almost 5 hours of hiking, we settled into a tiny cabin next to a family’s home, known as “Maruja”. The whole set up was really cute. The bathroom was outside next to where the sheep, pig, ducks, chickens, and guinea pigs were kept (all for eating!). We had an incredible candle lit dinner (the electricity is very spotty here) of alpaca steak for JJ and a Spanish omelet for me and sweet hot tea for dessert. We were in bed by 8pm to get ready for the next full day of hiking!
After breakfast, we hiked out of Tapay and through the small villages of Cosnirhua and Malata. We walked by Pre-Incan terraces that were still being used by the local people to plant the crops they sustain from still to this day! There was not a cloud in the sky and we got incredible canyon views the in both directions. We really enjoyed the mostly level hike for about 2 hours as we walked west through the canyon. The trail then took us down a steep set of switchbacks as we made our way to the “Oasis” of the canyon, known as Sangalle. In Sangalle, natural spring water rushes up through the bottom of the canyon and fills in cool swimming pools that the local indigenous people have placed on their properties. We opted to stop at the beautiful Oasis for the afternoon before making the long haul up to the top of the canyon rim and back to Cabanaconde. We headed to “Eden”, where we had an incredible lunch of avocado salad made from use of the tree above our head, and spaghetti with home-made tomato sauce. Not only were there monstrous avocado trees, but papaya, banana, apple, etc. We had a fantastic swim in the pool and read under a tree. Refreshed, we were ready to hike almost straight up the canyon.
We hiked up and up and up. Literally! I kept seeing these blue flags along the way that I would use as markers, but they just seemed farther and farther! It was over 3 hours of straight uphill, but the views were incredible the whole way. Actually, we lucked out because that very sunny warm weather that allowed us to get in the cold natural swimming pool, clouded over and cooled down the air as we made our way up. We still sweated like crazy, but enjoyed the breeze and occasional rain drops along the way. After climbing up about 1,200 meters (almost 4,000 feet), we finally made it to the top of the Canyon de Colca! We were exhausted when we got back to the Pachamama Hostal, but very happy! We accomplished a lot of great hiking the past two days and felt ready for Machu Picchu. We walked through the town and found a 2 course dinner for 5 soles each (about $1.50 U.S. each), then fell fast asleep.
We woke up early in the morning to try our luck again at viewing the Andean Condors. We got on the same bus with the indigenous ladies and made our way to the Cruz del Condor. It looked like the clouds were going to clear the whole ride and then they didn’t. Not for the first 2 hours we were there at least. But that’s okay, we decided to bargain with the indigenous ladies and bought some of their goods. In the last hour we were there, between 9am and 10am, the clouds actually did burn off and we got stunning views from above the entire canyon! You could even see the snow covered tops of some of the surrounding volcanoes. Finally, about 10 minutes before we had to leave, we spotted huge Andean Condors, male and female, cruising through the sky below us. Even though they were far below us, their 9 to 10 foot wingspans made a lasting impression on us.
We got picked up by a private tour bus we had hired to take us to lunch and the hot springs in Chivay on the way back to Arequipa. We stopped at an impressive viewpoint overlooking more Pre-Incan terraces and then made our way to the hot spring baths with 5 different pools to choose from. The water was not as hot as Baños but the baths were way less crowded and our tired muscles enjoyed the warm water. We felt very relaxed and hungry when we got out of the pools. The tour driver took us to an expensive buffet restaurant, which we promptly left with some other people from the tour to find a cheap, local restaurant where we paid 4 soles ($1.25 U.S.) for a 2 course lunch and a drink. The bus drove us back to Arequipa and we settled back into our hostal. After dinner we had delicious coconut and mango ice cream cones and walked around town a bit.
We head to Cuzco, Peru tonight on a bus-cama (bus of beds). In 2 days we will begin our 3 day trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and we can’t wait! We hope you are all well and would love to hear what you are up to!
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