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South America » Peru » Arequipa » Colca Canyon
April 18th 2007
Published: April 18th 2007
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Arequipa is the second largest and supposedly second most important city in Peru with a brilliant night life. It is called the white city due to the white stone buildings and the number of European inhabitants. That’s was the tourist spiel anyway. The buildings were grey from pigeon poo, the nightlife was on a par with Whitstable’s and the only real highlights were that the internet access was .70 soles / hour (10p an hour) & we met a woman in the street trying to entice us into her restaurant called Gypo. Her sales pitch was ‘tell them Gypo sent you’ (no word of a lie). Luckily we were only in Arequipa for an afternoon and evening before traveling to the Colca Canyon the next day.

The Colca Canyon is the biggest canyon in the world which stretches 180km’s and has a depth of 4150 meters. Unlike the Grand Canyon in America, its colour is a lush green rather than red and it was formed from earthquakes rather than glaciers. We spent two days in the Canyon and we found the experience to be awe inspiring. The landscape is imposing and makes you feel very small in comparison. The
GAP group GAP group GAP group

few beers and some pool, from right Sonya, Rod, Sam, Adnan, Dan, Nadia, Elaine and Tom (we weren´t the eldest! just)
Inca’s have built many terraces into the side of the canyon for farming and from a distance they look like steps. Close up they are 6-7 foot tall and 10-15 feet deep. The view from our hotel room was spectacular as it looked down the Canyon to the snow capped Volcano called Misty. In the morning as the sun rose you could see the shadow of the walls of the canyon race along the canyon itself. None of our photos did the canyon justice.

We visited the Condor pass in the morning of our second day. Condors are the second largest bird with a wing span of 3.5metres and stand at a height of 1metre tall. Every morning hundreds of tourists get up at the crack of dawn to see these magnificent animals glide pass them on their way to the Pacific Ocean (160 kms away). We were luckily (!!) enough to be one of those tourists who were woken at 5am to see the event. Now while these are magnificent creatures, with the backdrop of the Canyon behind them they just look like sparrows.

We took the option to mountain bike down from the Condor pass (at
Colca CanyonColca CanyonColca Canyon

This is just one perspective of canyon, views were amazing!
4100 meters above sea level) to the nearest town 18km away. The road descends over 2000 meters in this time and there was no real need to peddle!!! The only skill needed was braking as the mountain road had deadly sheer drops to its right and the road was made up of loose gravel and littered with big rocks. Despite the dangers Gemma, being her over enthusiastic self, decided she would try to beat the local guide and ignored Tom’s advice to take it easy. Despite her valor, Gemma fell off her bike 100 meters shy of the end and had to plead with the guide to be allowed to finish the course given her injuries. Tom won!!! bastard!!!!

After the Canyon, we were off to Cusco. But not before some of the most amusing dancing we’ve seen to date. Every time we have stopped for lunch or dinner in Peru, since leaving Lima, we have had to put up with some dodgy pan pipe band that play the same tunes as the last one and then expect us to tip for the privilege. After spending an evening at some hot springs we stopped for some dinner in Chivay (boy) in the Colca Canyon. Again the pan pipe band was dragged out, however this time we were also entertained by some “traditional” Peruvian dancing.

A traditionally dressed lady and man performed two rather lame dance routines which show pieced the four left feet they shared between them. Eager to go we were persuaded by our guide to stay for the last dance. Now this was something to remember, it started with the pair taking it in turns to pretend to eat an apple before dying, again quite tame. However it quickly descended into some S&M sex show with the pair taking it in turns to dance provocatively on the floor before whipping each other very hard with a rope with a knot on the end. Motivated by the crowd’s belated satisfaction both dancers got into the whipping and had a second go, but this time it got vicious. The routine was very strange and we suspect a little ad-hoc. It finished when the lady put the man over her shoulder, a feat the man could not manage a minute earlier, much to the crowd’s amusement. Girl power!!

Cusco was the old Inca capital and is now a major tourist town (trap). The centre of town is geared to tourists with an abundance of travel centers, gift shops, restaurants and very pushy street sellers. The focus on the visiting tourists though did mean that Tom could get a full English breakfast and an Indian on his first day in town!!! Both were disappointing though and did little to make up for the TWO flights we had to take to get from Arequipa to Cusco.

After one day in Cusco we left for the Sacred Valley and the start of the Inca Trail. We spent a day traveling to Piskakuchu, the starting point for the trail, visiting archeological sights on route called Pisac & Ollantaytambo. Despite the guide Victor’s enthusiasm for the quality of the Inca’s work, Tom was unimpressed when he realised that the buildings were constructed and completed at the same time as Canterbury Cathedral and in comparison looked a bit low rent.

On the first day we trekked the 18km from Piskakuchu to Yunkachimpa passing many Inca ruins on route (but no Pokeman). The scenery, like the Colca Canyon, was dramatic and imposing. Victor our guide gave us talks at each of the Inca complexes that we passed and explained how the Inca’s culture and ideals were formed around the number three. Whether it be the three lives (present, spiritual and future), the three main gods (Mountains, Moon and Sun) or the three spiritual guides (Condor, Puma and Snake).

The first day was quite easy going for the first 15km with only one large incline. However the last 3km was painful as we rose 500m in the last 3km to reach an altitude of 3200m. We had the advantage that the porters carried most of our supplies and tents. By the time we reached our camp they had set up our tents and prepared our dinner. Each porter had to carry around 25kg but still managed to jog pass us with ease throughout the trek.

The second day is traditionally the toughest with the route taking us over Dead Woman’s Pass, 4200 meters (13800 feet) above sea level. It took about 3.5hours to reach the pass and the lack of oxygen at that height makes your lungs burn. The first hour was the hardest as you knew you still had another 3hours of pain to go. Everyone in the group (except Gemma who got the nickname ‘Bionic Woman’ by Sam & Daniel due to her never stopping) would take between 5 & 20 steps and then stop to get their breath back. Meanwhile the porters would jog pass loaded up. Surprisingly Tom was not the last to reach the summit and came a respectable 5th out of 11. RoboGem was of course first and moaning she was cold even before the second person in our group had reached the summit. This was the shortest day of the trek as we made camp an hour’s walk further down the other side of the pass at Paqaymayo.

The third day was the longest as we walked for nearly 8 hours. The majority of this was down hill but by no means easy. We descended 1000m in the last hour down some scarily steep and wet steps and through dark tunnels. It was also the hottest day and quite tiring as our bodies (except RoboGem) were finally feeling the effects of trekking nearly 40km in 3 days. The girls in our group were happy because after 3 days they could finally have a hot shower and some chocolate at the campsites facilities. Tom was happy as he finally managed to pick up the BBC World Service on his short band radio just in time for the Champions League Semi Final Results. The view from our tent at this campsite (Winaywayna) was breathtaking although with only a meter of ground in front of our tent before the cliff edge it was slightly precarious.

On the last day we rose at 4am to start the final 1hour trek to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu Mountain is part of the cloud forest and as we snaked around its edge looking into the valley beneath, it looked as if there were many deep blue lagoons. It was only when the sun rose a little more that we realised that the blue lagoons were in fact the moon light reflecting off the rising morning clouds.

We arrived at the Sun Gate, the entrance to Machu Picchu, just in time to see a large cloud cover the view of Machu Picchu ruining Gemma’s photo opportunity. It was another 30minutes until we reached the main sight and we were greeted with a torrential downpour and poor visibility. So much for the sun rising over Machu Picchu that we had been
Spot The LamaSpot The LamaSpot The Lama

Our guide Victor told us how in Inca Tradition the most beautiful women in a town were sacrificed as offerings to the Gods. After bumping into a few locals in Cusco we have no reason to disagree with him.
promised!! As the morning went on the cloud and rainfall cleared and we had a tour of the famous sight. By late morning the sun was out and it gave us a better chance to take some photos. The only problem at this time though was the amount of American tourists getting in the way and repeating “Oh My God, Oh My God!!”

Machu Picchu unlike the previous Inca ruins we had seen was a truly remarkable place that even impressed Tom. Its location on a steep and inaccessible mountain top makes the size and complexity of the settlement remarkable and well worth the 4 day hike. The only real question we had from the experience was how the Inca’s were ever conquered by 300 Spaniards. They lived in some of the most imposing, inhospitable and remote terrain which must have been of strategic advantage, while the Spanish are a nation that have a kip in the afternoon!!!



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Looking down from  Dead Woman's PassLooking down from  Dead Woman's Pass
Looking down from Dead Woman's Pass

Gemma who was already at top, was awaiting the others arrival at Dead womans pass !! The blue shapes are the porters carrying our stuff, not ants.
Our group at the top of dead womans passOur group at the top of dead womans pass
Our group at the top of dead womans pass

Its called deads womans pass due to the contours of the mountain!
We made itWe made it
We made it

wet, moody and tired! But nevertheless here!


28th April 2007

Is this a geography lesson?
Loving the blog, but when am I gonna hear about the boom ting sessions. It is South America after all. Nothing but good shit, Coops loves you dudes.
29th April 2007

Alright Tom and Gem, looks like you are having a mental time, was just thinking how knackered you must be getting walking up mountains with all that bluster in your ears - then you get the top and you see your bed for the night !!! What a great experience all the same, very envious of you for doing what you're doing, no doubt the best thing you'll ever do! Wishing you all the best from sunny Herne Bay, mind how you go and look after yourselves people! p.s not over til the fat lady does you know what mate - West Ham fans still blowing bubbles ( for now at least ..... ) ! Take care Delo
30th April 2007

oi oi saveloys.....
ha ha loving the blogs but most of all loving the severe look of dissaproval on toms face everytime he ends up at the top of a mountain! Ita int like the mound is it bruvva...ha ha he looks happiest when hes got a lama under his arm and two peruvian lap dancers either side! keep up the good work breadbins!!!!! big love from banana ville
30th April 2007

Alarm Bells Are Ringing..
Gem, are you not a little concerned that of all the photos you have posted up, the one in which Tom has the largest grin is also the one in which with one arm, it looks like he’s never going to let go of a llama, while the other appears to be somewhere in the region of an Inca lady’s backside, who, far from looking comfortable with the situation, appears to be looking for confirmation from accomplice that Chav Inca in background has relieved unsuspecting English tourist of his wallet? No, I don’t ever get bored of not having a job. Hope all continues well for you guys. Please send the llama my condolences.

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