Blogs from Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 115

MORE KAYAKING no pictures for this one cos your intrepid reporter learned well from his last camera/water encounter and left it at the hostel. After our fantastic expedition in Tenna, Jen and I decided to take up the offer of two days of class 2 and three, with a Peruvian agency. We thought they had a lot to live up to after River Rafting People, and we were right. In terms of organisation and general administrative competence, they were arse. THe guide was good though, as were the rapids themselves-the river was more densely rapided (terrible english but i dont care), and the equipment was good too; good kayaks and Carbon Fibre paddles. Overall, it was made more apparant than ever that rocks arent friendly and the roll is difficult when you need it. On day ... read more

i apologise for the name, im scraping the barrel here Rich again, and this time weve been on a fantastic three day trek through Colca Canyon. At 1300 metres, this is the second deepest canyon in the world and twice as deep as the grand canyon. Suddenly that doesnt seem so grand! We started the trek with a descent into the canyon floor, where we spent out first night in a local hovel. The second day was a trek through the canyon floor to an oasis, which has been developed and features pools fed constantly by fresh spring water. Very cool. On the way through we visited an ancient, and almost totally unvisited judging by the overgrown nature of the trail (I chose this as a good moment to try and fling myself over a precipice, ... read more

יום רביעי 13/7 היום התאוששנו אחרי הנסיעה לאריקיפה שהיתה די קשה , לא לקחנו מחלקה ראשונה הדבר היחיד שעשינו היום זה לפגוש מומיה חמודה בשם חואניטה אין תמונות, נאצים, לא מרשים לצלם יום חמישי 14/7 היום יצאנו לטיול של יומיים שמטרתו העיקרית לראות את הקונדורים בקולקה קניון יצאנו באיזה ארבע בבוקר בגלל שהסוכנות התריעה על סכנת שביתות היה קר מאוד, במיוחד כשיצאנו מהרכב בשבע בבוקר לאכול ארוחת בוקר אח"כ הגענו לנקודת תצפית בגובה של 5000 מטר ותצפתנו על הרים מעט יותר גבוהים גם שם היה מאוד קר חוץ מלעצור בנקודות תצפית יפות קפצנו למעינות חמים בטרוף ולא טבעיים ובעיקר ישנו בערב ראינו הופעת פולקלור מוזרה כשהשיא שלה היה ריקוד מחלת הפרקינסון קשה להסביר את המשפט האחרון יום שישי 15/7 קמנו מוקדם, אכלנו ארוחת בוקר טיפוסית - לחם ותה ויצאנו לדרך עצרנו במקום מסויים שמירי מצאה ... read more

We woke up at 6 am to begin he 2 hour drive west towards the view point of the condor. Colca canyon is by definition the the words second deepest canyon at 3400 meters or so (the first is the Colthuasi Canyon(sp?) 75 km to north which beats it by 40 meters or so). Colca canyon was formed by a combination of river erosion and the massive fault line created by two volcanoes on either side of the canyon. Though Colca Canyon is impressive in its own, I felt the grand canyon is more photogenic. We arrived at the flight of the condor viewing point, we were not disappointed, at approximately 8:30 we saw the first of the condors ride the thermals created by the sun striking the western canyon cliffs. These birds are huge, some ... read more

At 10 PM yesterday we boarded a Cruz del Sol bud destined for the 12 hour trip to Arequipa. We opted for the Cruzero class... which basically means you get a foot rest and the seat reclines to about 15 degrees...curiously the bus had its own stewardess and we got dinner and breakfast on board. Though it was dark.. I could tell the trip was one hell of a drive through various valleys and multiple switch backs, thankfully the road was paved the full way. We arrived a half hour early. Alessandra did not travel well and seems to have caught a bug of some sort... probably from the questionable street food we ate the day before. We grabbed a cab to our Hotel Lluvia del Oro. Older than God, but nice accommodations... no complaints ... read more