The Best of Both Worlds

After leaving Nazca, I took an overnight bus to the lovely town of Arequipa.  It is actually the second biggest city in Peru, but it doesn’t feel much bigger than Oaxaca, or maybe downtown Cleveland.  I spent the first day exploring town while I was getting ready for my trek the next day to the Colca Canyon. 

This is supposedly the second deepest canyon in the world (second only to the Cotahuasi canyon next door), and is firmly on the tourist trail here.  I wanted to see it because the scenery was supposed to be spectacular, but also because I wanted to get out there and practice a bit hiking with all my gear.  I went with a tourist agency, as I didn’t have the time to figure it out myself, and it turned out to be a pretty good decision. 

My bus left Arequipa for the three hour ride through a bleak desert like landscape with snow capped mountains on either side before arriving in the town of Chivay, at the edge of the canyon.  We next had to drive along the road on the southern ridge of the canyon for 10 km to reach the final destination of Cabanoconde.  The drive took over an hour, and the bus was filled to the gills with local people all dressed in their traditional clothing: white blouses and hats decorated with blue, red, and pink lacing.  The ride was quite scary as the bus got precariously close to the edge on numerous occasions, and it was especially nerve wracking with the bus being as crowded as it was.  But I got into town safely and met my contact, Vilma, a local who took me to her house for a cup of tea.  Imagine how shocked I was when the first thing she asked me was if I knew how someone could sneak into the US to work illegally!  Apparently her husband is in Brazil, and is looking to get to Mexico somehow, and then walk over the border at Tijuana.  I explained to her that this isn’t the best time right now in the US to be attempting such things, and she agreed with me thinking it seemed dangerous.  After that the conversation was dropped, and I was introduced to my guide for the next three days, Celesino. 

We walked out to the edge of town, and started on the trail to the bottom of the canyon. It was a steep drop of 1200 meters to the river at the bottom.  Going down a hill can also be very tough on your legs, and by the time we reached the bottom I was thoroughly exhausted, and my legs were aching.  Of course the scenery was gorgeous, and being outside made up for things considerably.  Once we reached bottom, we crossed the river and walked for another kilometer or so until we reached the first rest spot of the trip.  Some family had a house set up, with three or four additional bamboo huts holding 12 beds or so.  They were surprisingly comfortable, and I slept like a rock from 7 p.m. till morning. 

The next day we woke up, had breakfast (bread, butter, jam, and tea), and walked for three hours on a fairly straight path until we reached the next stop, a flat area of lawn with a snack shop, beds, and a swimming pool!  That was a sight for sore eyes!  I dived right in, and lounged about for three hours.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves except for a few other travelers to chat with. 

The rest was needed, because we still had to climb back out of the canyon back to the top where we started, a climb of 1200 meters!  Looking at that stone wall, higher than the Sears Tower was a daunting task.  My only consolation was that people have been doing this for years, so there ought to be no reason I couldn’t.  It wasn’t too tough going at first, but soon I was having to take breaks every 30 feet or so.  At the halfway point I had serious doubts about making it up.  My guide had told me about people who couldn’t make the climb and had to be brought up on the back of a donkey— that was an embarrassment I would not be able to endure.  Finally we reached the top in three hours.  I stumbled back to the house where I was staying the night, and fell into bed with a terrible stomach ache and the chills.  It was all I could manage to eat just a few pieces of bread and some coca tea.  I fell right asleep, and fortunately, felt much better in the morning. 

After waking up I was shuttled down to the famous viewpoint along the ridge where condors congregate to swoop down into the canyon below, while being watched by hundreds of cameras toting tourists.  It all seemed anticlimactic to me, but as it was part of the trip I went along anyway.  I got a few pictures of the condors flying around, but animals really arent my thing, and I cant say I was that impressed by it all.  Finally I came back to town on a six hour bus ride, and decided to spend one more night in Arequipa before heading off to Cuzco on monday.