Hiking Canon del Colca

Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Arequipa, Peru
After spending only one night in Lima, following a 12 hour overnight bus ride from Chiclayo, we continued to make our dash southward towards the Gringo Trail and boarded a night bus bound for the colonial city of Arequipa last Wednesday night, Peru's second largest city. This was a whopping 16 ½ hour ride, but on the most luxurious bus that we have ever ridden … a double decker with super wide reclining seats, only 3 per row, with dinner and breakfast service and wi-fi availability most of the way and with a brand new wide screen television, a blanket and a pillow. We discovered that the desert not only continues into Lima, but that it continues south of Lima also, all the way down into Arequipa, with picturesque sand dunes passing us by as we approached Arequipa. Of our first 6 nights in Peru, 3 were spent on a bus, but having now arrived in Arequipa safe and sound, we are set to begin discovery of the Inca treasures that lie along the Gringo Trail.

Arequipa sits at 2,350 meters above sea-level . Since we spent a little over a week at close to sea level before arriving here, after having climbed and acclimatized to increasingly higher altitudes for a couple of months in Colombia and Ecuador, the process of acclimatization, which is the key to being able to function at these heights, had to be re-started all over again. We therefore spent 3 days here before embarking on a 3-day trek in the Colca Canyon.

The Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world, ranging from 1,000 to over 3,000 meters in depth, the deepest surprisingly not being the Grand Canyon but rather neighbouring Cotahuasi Canyon and by just 150 meters. It is surrounded by very high volcanoes, the 2 highest exceeding 6,000 meters in altitude. We left Sunday morning at 3:45 AM in a minibus with 10 other travelers for the 3 hour ride to the village of Chivay on the eastern edge of the canyon. After a rather plain breakfast there, we continued west for a couple of hours along the southern side of the canyon to Cabanaconde from where we caught the trail down into the canyon, a 1,200 meter vertical descent (quite a bit longer when switchbacks are taken into account) which was quite a test on the knees . The diversity of vegetation and the vistas all around were nothing short of spectacular. We made it to the canyon floor in a couple of hours, waited for the rest of the group, crossed the bridge and climbed part way up the other side for 40 minutes or so until we reached the small pueblo of San Juan de Chuccho where we had a late lunch. Five of us, including our comical guide Marcos, spent the night in comfortable, albeit simple, bungalows in San Juan de Chuccho while the others continued on as they were completing the trek in 2 days rather than 3. We awoke to a splendid day the next day and hiked through the canyon for 3 hours, amid lush diversified vegetation and through typical indigenous pueblos with mud adobe style construction, and we arrived at our destination in time for lunch, all the while receiving valuable information from Marcos mostly with respect to the culture of the people and the vegetation of the area. Our destination this time could easily be described as a country club by Peruvian standards, with swimming pool and all the trimmings. On the morning of day 3 we got started at 5:00 AM, hiking up the steep trail back to the top of the canyon, from 2,100 meters to 3,350 meters above sea level, to complete the loop. I refused to let my arthritic left knee succumb to mule transportation and we reached the top some 3 hours later enjoying the satisfaction of having completed it. From the top of the canyon, we hiked along a relatively flat trail to Cabanaconda where we were served breakfast followed by the 2 hour minibus ride back to Chivay. The adventure ended with a one hour soaking in 39 degree sulfur laced hot springs and then a gourmet buffet lunch in Chivay. To top it all off, the 3 hour ride back to Arequipa involved ascending to a high of 4,900 meters above sea level through a natural reserve where we were able to catch glimpses of wild llamas and alpacas.
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Comments

Antonio el Condor
2012-03-07

Bravo! je suis fatigué pour vous! mais continuez votre hiking...thanks for the wonderful pictures, that I collect.

Babluba
2012-03-08

This is the most beautiful spot to date - absolutely breathtaking pictures from the highs and the lows. A most definite travel destination.

2025-02-18

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