Day 1

We got up extremely early and had to wait at the hostel to be picked up . They told us to be waiting at 3.30am. We were there, but the bus didn't come until 3.45am. We were waiting outside and a van pulled up and a small little guy got out to check and confirm our names and he said his name was Miguel. We were the last ones to be picked up, so that's why they were late. As it was so early, nobody was very lively at this time of the morning and most people were going to sleep. However, our guide Miguel was up and ready to party. I remember the radio being on, and a Michael Jackson song was playing, and he got up and started dancing like MJ right at the front of the bus. He was hilarious, and I could tell we were going to have a good time on our Colca Canyon trip. Nobody else was as enthusiastic about dancing as he was! So after a while of trying to nod off while it was still dark, we didn't really get back to sleep, then the sun came up, it was impossible to get back to sleep. Once it was light and you could see the scenery, you wouldn't have wanted to go back to sleep anyway. There were beautiful views most of the journey .

After travelling for a few hours, we reached the national park, so we all had to stop to pay our park entrance fees, which was made aware to us. Once we were inside the park, we stopped for breakfast in a local cafe. The breakfast was included in our fees, but it wasn't anything much more than bread and jam. People from all different groups and buses were all thrown together, so we didn't know who was actually in our group. Not many people made any effort to speak to the other groups here either. After breakfast we set off to get to the condor lookout. John started to fee unwell at this point, so he was keeping quiet, trying to sleep, I was just looking out the window at the views. I noticed a crash helmet on the floor in the bus and wondered what that would be for, but didn't think anything else of it.

Cruz del condor lookout point

So after driving for a few hours, John still wasn't feeling too good, but we had to keep going as we were miles away from the hostel . We stopped at the condor look out point, called Cruz del Condor. There are a few miradors here, and the condors fly over the Colca canyon here, so if you're lucky, you get to see them flying over you. I wanted to try and spot some condors, but as John wasn't feeling too good, he needed to go and find the loo. While he was gone, I was exploring the miradors and everyone was saying 'condor', so we looked up, and that is the point when two condors were soaring above us over the Colca canyon. It was amazing to see those birds in real life, although they were flying high above us, they still looked huge. Their wingspan alone is over 2 metres long. These are one of the biggest in-flight bird in the world. Here in Peru, these birds are sacred and the highland people look up to them like they are gods. When John came out, I told him that we'd seen the condors, he was a bit gutted. When we were walking back towards the van, a few more condors flew over us, but this time they were a lot higher. John got to see them this time, so he was pleased about that . Once we'd all seen some condors, it was time to get back in the bus to get to the Colca canyon.

The skateboarding guide...

We were the last ones to get back on the bus and Miguel was waiting around to find us, I noticed that he was now wearing the crash helmet, but I didn't think to ask him what that was for. He didn't get back on that bus, so I thought it was strange, perhaps he wasn't our guide after all. We all left him behind, but then when we were on the bus, the driver and other guides were all looking out of the window and laughing. This was because Miguel was actually on a skateboard, travelling downhill at speed. He was skating down towards the Colca canyon. He looked so cool there just snaking around the corners and he must have been travelling at over 30mph on his board. There were sharp corners, but he managed control the board well. When he was just going downhill in a straight line, he would crouch down on his knees, making the board go much faster . He was a need for speed junkie! It was good fun watching him skate downhill effortlessly tho. He was always ahead of the bus, so he was going really fast. When we got down the bottom, he got back on the bus and everyone was asking him about the boarding. He's a really cool guy, and is one to really get a party started! He certainly put everyone in a good mood, except John, who was still feeling bad.

Colca canyon

Once we arrived at the starting point, the driver dropped everyone off, so we had to get out and sort into our groups. I was hoping that Miguel was our guide, as the other guide didn't look like any fun. When they were calling out our names, they did confirm we were with Miguel, so that was good. Once we'd all grouped up, we got introduced to everyone in the group. We had a group of French speaking people, and one Indian guy, and a local Peruvian guy, so a mixture of people. We started our hike, although we had been travelling downhill, we were still at the top of the canyon, so we were still at higher altitudes . We started our hike through the surrounding mountains and canyon. The scenery was stunning right from the start. John couldn't really appreciate it, as he still had a bad stomach, and it was getting worse. There wasn't a toilet he could use until we finished the hike. So John wanted to walk quickly, but I couldn't because it was a steep canyon, and we were literally on the edge of a cliff, so I had to take my time, or i'd have fallen over the edge of the canyon. It was a burning hot day, and it was intensified for John, so it wasn't much fun for him. It took us most of the day to hike to the bottom of the canyon, and when we got down to the bottom, we had to hike up a small hill. As I wasn't prepared for it, I thought it was so difficult as we were in direct sunlight in the hottest part of the day. We were all in need of a cold refreshing drink. Once we got to the accommodation, we were given our own room and lunch was ready. The food wasn't the best we'd had on a tour, but still, we had to eat. John felt a bit better after being able to go to a proper loo as well . After we'd eaten, most people went for a nap as we were all shattered. After a few hours recovery sleep, it was dinner time. Again, not great food, and the French speakers amongst our group were all sat in the middle talking French, so everyone else felt awkward sat around the dinner table. Afterwards, we went into the room, which had no power, so went to bed ready for another early start tomorrow.

Day 2

We were lucky enough to not have such an early start today, only having to be ready for about 7.30am. We had breakfast and set off hiking. Miguel said the terrain wasn't too bad today as it was mostly flat with some smaller uphill sections. In the morning, we walked along a flat path, and managed to take a look back on the scenery that we had travelled through already. They were beautiful surroundings, and the colours of the mountains around the canyon were so vivid. We stopped along the way so Miguel could tell us about different plant species . There are some deadly plants here, and I mean deadly, enough to make you blind if part of the plant comes into contact with your eyes. He told us someone was blinded by one of these plants, although I can't remember the name of it. He showed us what it looked like, however. After this, we carried on hiking and had to go uphill in the sweltering heat, which wasn't much fun. I was really overheating and kept stopping for water often. John was feeling much better today, so he was able to be more sociable again. We chatted to Obadir and Jesus, the guys from India and Peru, who were really nice. The French, and French-Canadian group all stuck together, which didn't bother me too much. We stopped through one of the only Andean communities to live in the Colca Canyon. It's so remote here, and they said that if they are born here, most will spend their whole lives here. Some of the children will have to go to secondary school in the city, but probably will return after school. It's crazy to think some of the older people will have never left this area . We also passed an old church building. The place looked deserted, but families do live here apparently. Afterwards, we did we signs of life, and there is one road which has been built recently for access so that the locals can drive in and out without taking the really long 3 hour journey they used to take. Further along the trail, there was a landslide. It was quite scary actually as it had happened just where the path was, so there wasn't a safe path to get across. Miguel went to the landslide rocks and tried to step in a path with his feet, making it safe for us to cross. He said if you die, I die, so he helped us all across by taking one of us at a time and holding our hands to get over to the other side of the path. I was scared to cross, but got over safely. John was fine crossing by himself anyway.

After a long day trekking, we made it to an oasis at the bottom of the canyon, which is where we are to stay tonight. We'll have lunch and dinner here too. Miguel had told us that when we got to the oasis, we could take a swim in the natural spring water, so we were all looking forward to that . As soon as we arrived, the French and Canadians stripped down to their pants and jumped straight in. We got shown to our room, so I got changed into my bikini and then we went in the oasis. John jumped straight in, the water was actually cold. I went in at the side, but as i'm a bit of a wimp, it was a bit chilly for me. I stayed in there for as long as I could then got out to dry. John was happy as they have beer here, I was because there was chocolate! Once we'd all had a swim, it was now time for lunch. They have quite a few animals here, it's like a little farm. They had horses, donkeys, dogs, a cat, and a chicken which was nearly bald as half of its feather were missing. It was like it had been half plucked ready for roasting! Miguel joked that the chicken running around was going to be dinner! It had it's own little hutch in the garden, so I was hoping it was a family pet! When lunch was served, it was spaghetti bolognese, minus the meat, I liked it and so did the chicken to my amazement. I gave the chicken some of the pasta strands and it kept eating them . It was funny to watch this nearly bald chicken eating spaghetti. After lunch, we played fuse ball, as they had a table here. Then we sat and chilled out for a while, the sun was starting to go down, so it was getting cooler, so we went inside until later when we were to have dinner. We got called to dinner a few hours later, I was hoping that dinner wasn't the chicken that I had fed earlier. Luckily, when it was served, it wasn't chicken, so our little friend was safe. I still made a point of going to check if the chicken was in the hutch, and it was, so I could relax. When we'd all finished dinner, Miguel turned the music up and was getting the party started. He jumped up on the bar and started dancing, which was so funny to watch. Then some other people decided to also get up and dance on the floor and clap. It was certainly some entertainment for the evening, which we all enjoyed. Miguel is the coolest guide we've had on any tours so far, and he's made our time hiking the canyon so fun. I'll always remember the skateboarding and dancing guide! We all had to be prised away from the night as we have an early start hiking up out of the canyon tomorrow .

Day 3

We had to get up at 5am, ready to leave at 5.30am. The reason for getting up so early was because we are going to see the sun rise over the canyon. The colour of the rocks at sunrise are supposed to be lovely. I knew today was going to be the hardest day, as we are hiking from the bottom of the canyon at the oasis, to the very top of the canyon. For those very reasons, I mentally prepared myself to be hiking up, out of the canyon. The one good thing about today was that because the sun hadn't risen yet, we would be hiking up in the shade, so it wouldn't be as hot as it has already been. I found this much easier to deal with today. Our first section was actually hiking down to a bridge across the river, and after that it was all uphill from there. Once over the other side of the bridge, we started to climb up the canyon snaking around the mountains. We were basically repeating each section over and over again, as it all looked the same to me . The sun was also starting to rise, so it was nice to take our time to admire the views behind us as we started climbing and check out the colours of the rocks. We didn't have any breakfast before we set out either, so it made it harder as we didn't have much energy. I brought some cereal bars with us, so we did have a couple of those along the way. After a couple of hours hiking up, we stopped in purposely built shop. They had drinks and snacks, so at least we could re-energise before we reached the top for breakfast. Once we got moving again, we started to see all the mules passing us by. I could have done with being on one of those right now as I was getting so knackered, but we had to keep moving. We just walked at a slow, steady pace and we eventually got near the top. I kept thinking that around every corner was the top, but it was not. Eventually we made it to the top after walking uphill for about 3 hours. By now the sun was coming out, so we just moved quickly to avoid hiking in the direct sunlight. Most of the way up we were shaded in the shadows of the rocks, luckily .

We sat at the top of the canyon admiring the views and to wait for the rest of our group to finish, as surprisingly, we were not the last ones in our group. When the last person was up, we gave him a big clap on his achievement and all got a group photo. By now, we were starving, so we all set off to have breakfast. We had to walk for another half an hour to get to the little village where the breakfast was to be taken. That felt like forever to walk there, but it was worth the wait just to have breakfast. While walking there, we got a view right across the whole canyon, which was excellent. We went in the cafe and they had prepared everyone either fried or scrambled eggs and bread. I had a fried egg, but I don't think it was cooked properly, as after breakfast, I didn't feel too good anymore, and John was also not feeling right. When we finished in the restaurant, it was time to get the minibus to the hot springs, which was the part I was looking forward to. There were about 6 pools all varying in temperature, from cool, to really hot at about 40 degrees c . It took a few hours to drive there, and most people were tired, so we mostly fell asleep. When we arrived, we had to cross a rickety rope bridge, which kept swaying about while people walked across it. We had to pay extra for the entrance fees, as they weren't included either. We got changed in the changing room, and then went outside to the natural thermal pools. They were much nicer than any of the ones we've been to before. We got straight into one of the hotter pools. When you first get in, it feels too hot, but when your body adjusts to the temperature, it's actually really nice. I could have stayed there for ages, but then you get too hot, so we decided to get into a cooler pool. We stayed there for a while, so tried out all 6 pools. One was so hot, you could only stay in for a few minutes.

When everyone had spent enough time as they could bare, it was time to travel home. Along the way, we stopped at a place where the mummy girl "Juanita" was found at volcano Ampato. There were a few volcanos around the area, and we were at 5000 metres, so it was really windy and cold, we didn't hang around for long . There were some local artisan women who were selling alpaca hats and clothing, I felt sorry for them, as it's so windy and cold up here, so I doubt many people would buy stuff from them up here. There were lots of cairns in respect for the gods, as Inca people looked to the mountains as a holy place and worshipped the them. It was amazing to think that only 15 years ago, this little girl was found on the top of the frozen ice on the volcano. After this, we were on our way back home. We saw many llamas, alpacas and vicunas along the way, so we stopped a few times to take pictures. I still didn't feel good, so just wanted to get back to Arequipa to rest. We fell asleep on the way back and once we were back, we wished everyone farewell and waved them off. We really enjoyed our Colca Canyon hike, and because we had such a fun guide, he enhanced the experience we all had. When we returned to the hostel we'd been staying in Arequipa, because we were both feeling so ill, we ended up being bedridden with travellers bug for a few days. We couldn't continue with the trip until we felt a bit better. We wasted 2 extra days there because of this, but the state we were in, we couldn't continue travelling anywhere else yet. Next stop when we are better is Puno- home to Lake Titicaca.