Cañon de Colca

---

Cañon de Colca

Arequipa is not only Arequipa, it is also really close to the Colca Cañon, the deepest canyon in the world (or so they say - I´ve heard others say that the next cañon is actually deeper). Cabanaconde is only an easy and short busride away from Arequipa (bumpy road all the way in an old bus for 6.5 hours, most of the time either in the altiplano at above 4500m or at the edge of the - really really steep - canyon with not even a fence to keep the bus from going over) - and well worth it! The busride itself is already immensely spectacular, and the hike down into the cañon from Cabanaconde even more so.

Unfortunately it's also quite tiring. I had this great plan laid out, doing an all-day-hike down to the bottom, up on the other side to some little villages, down again, and up up up back to Cabanaconde. It's supposed to be about 10 hours altogether, most people do it in two days, but since I am such an incredibly experienced hiker, I thought I'd just do it in one.

Downhill
So I got up at six (is this called holiday? Afterwards I will need a holiday from the holiday...) and set out together with Josetxo from Spain - eh, the Basque country - whom I had met on the bus and convinced that this is a really good idea.
What I had forgotten is that a) although it is the deepest canyon in the world, the hike starts at a breathtaking 3300m above see-level, meaning the air is quite thin, and then drops straight down for more than a gravelly and dusty kilometer; and b) that I am still running around with a rather unfriendly cold; and c) that I am plainly just not fit. Definitely not fit enough for 10 hours of down down down up up down down up up up. So, once we got to the bottom after about 2.5 hours, my legs were pretty shaky, and the so-called Oasis on the bottom turned out to be a real Oasis worthy of the name: shady palm and avocado trees in the middle of the dust, three swimming pools, cool breezes, food and drink, and fantastic views.

Oasis
Stubborn as I am, I wanted to go on anyway, but fortunately Josetxo argued that it´s a really nice place and that the rest of the day would be pretty gruesome if we decided to actually do the other 37h of dusty hiking. It took me about 15 minutes (relaxing in the shade by one of the pools) to convince myself that pure stubborness should not be the only reason to go on. Luckily.

Uphill
And then, on top of spending the day in and out of the pool instead of struggling along in the dust, I also took a mule-ride back up because I just could´t face the return journey uphill. Fancy that: instead of a 10h down down up up circuit hike, I did a 2.5h downhill hike which left me dead knackered. That's how unfit I am. (Did I mention that on our way down, we met a 70-year old grandmother from a village on the other side, going up to Cabanaconde, with cargo and in sandals?)
The mule-ride was quite enjoyable, and I only felt slightly bad about using an animal. The mule-owners do nothing else but carry tourists up the cañon, so I contributed to the ability of one man to feed his two children. And we had some interesting conversations about peruvian life, politics and the president (Alan Garcia is a president for the rich; but who knows if opposition candidate Ollanta Humala would have been any better had he come into office...)

All in all, the Cañon is a fabulous experience, and don't miss out on stopping at the major tourist trap "Cruz del Condor" - apart from spectacular views, we actually did see some condors.

But when I arrived back in Arequipa, I felt completely shattereed: my cold got worse, my legs hurt from the downhill hike, I was sunburned, and on top of all that I had a Migraine. (Poor Charly, that´s when you called to tell me you were also in Arequipa. There was just no way I could do anything else but go to bed...)

---

Comments

[Erik]

Hi Chrissi. Nice pictures! Hope you're in better shape by now.