http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Peru , Arequipa , Colca Canyon en-us Sun, 06 Dec 09 16:22:46 +0000 Sun, 06 Dec 09 16:22:46 +0000 This entry is mainly for Kirsty who has an unhealthy obsession with alpacas P After getting an overnight bus from Nazca finally I arrived in Arequipa on Monday at 7am. I had managed to catch up by email with a Canadian girl called Tanya I met in Lima and she was also in Arequipa so I headed straight to her hostel. I arrived and found she had managed to book me onto the same bus as her to go i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-457833.html Que tal chicosSo while Irsquom sure that all of you were watching the Badger game this past Saturday I was enduring quite a rivalry myselfhellip..between mehellip..and the deepest canyon in the world the Colca Canyon. It was quite a tough adventure and I have lots of blisters and sore muscles to prove it pero se vale la pena but it was worth it.Desiree who is another exchange studen http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-446537.html It was about 1.00 am when I woke up and decided that I really needed to go and water the plants if I was ever going to get back to sleep. This wasnrsquot easy though our ldquorustic bungalowrdquo had no electricity and locating my torch in the dark wasnrsquot the easiest thing in the world but I managed to find it in the end. So there I go outside to a quiet corner to go about my busin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-446168.html Our target for the day today was to reach the village of Sangalle. This was a four hour trek away from San Juan de Chuccho but a trek that was mostly on level ground. So my calf muscles that were currently on fire from yesterdayrsquos mammoth descent would at least be given a small break today.The first hour of the trek was all uphill around 300 metres and this was pretty hard going. We man http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-446166.html Late evening lying star shaped on a bed staring out of the window of our ldquorustic bungalowrdquo tour agency speak for ldquofarm out buildingrdquo I canrsquot quite believe where we actually are in the world. We are in fact about to sleep at the bottom of the deepest canyon on the planet. Irsquoll say that again wersquore at the bottom of the deepest canyon on the planet a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-446165.html This is probably one of the most memorable and tough experiences Ive had here so far We descended into the deepest canyon in the world on day one taking us 4 hours. We reached a tiny village nestled in this canyon called San Juan Chuccho and stayed the night there. It was insane to be sleeping in such a tiny village with a secondary school that has a mere 3 students in what looked like a barn. R http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-446085.html Amigos I must be honest. The first blog entry was quite a bit out of date. In fact Irsquom starting this second entry before the first is even posted. The main issue was the pictures. Letrsquos face it yoursquore not going to read these twice and if I post an entry before the pictures are ready well then yoursquoll never see the pictures. And the pictures tell most of the storym http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-445938.html The 3 of us set off for Chivay on our tour of Colca Canyon. We stopped at various tacky places on the way where the locals sell you tat and give you Coca Tea to help with altitude not sure about that it tastes awful tho......Saw a lot of variety of Llama on the way and finally made it to Chivay by 1pm. We checked into our hotel and headed straight for the Thermal Springs. Loads of indoor out http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-445067.html Our last stop in Peru was Arequipa in order for us to do the Colca Canyon trek. We travelled down with some Aussie friends we met on the Inka Jungle and decided to book on a tour with them for the next day.Day 1. Despite the lack of sleep due to the loud music in the hostel bar and the early 3am wake up we were raring to go and were whisked off in a bus for a couple of hours to the canyon. Our http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-442448.html Matt and I left Bolivia for Peru. Our first stop was in Arequipa the second largest city in Peru. We booked a hiking tour through the Colca Canyon. We watched giant condors gliding on the thermals of the deepest part of the canyon. We walked to the bottom of the canyon and stayed in a local village where I got to try on a traditional andean dress. On the last day we visited an oasis and did some http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-441594.html At the bottom of the worlds second deepest canyon the first being the neighboring Cotahuasi Canyon breakfast is nothing more than stale bread and Nescafe. The fact that Im being served breakfast at all is a bit of an improbability. A few hearty families spending the better part of a decade chased the tourist dollar nearly a mile below the canyons rim and the agricultural outpost of Cabaa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-440241.html Rimaniamo io e Fiam e ci spostiamo verso il profondissmo Canyon del Colca.Tra condor terrazze coltivate e montagne aride... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-439419.html We spent 1 day in Arequipa and 2 days on a Colca Canyon tour. Arequipa was pretty nice it helped that the hostal we stayed in was helpful and cozy. The only bad thing was that the shower pressure was low and water was only lukewarm. We took it easy in Arequipa and only visited the Cathedral and Santa Catalina convent. The convent was really pretty ... we took our time walking around the comp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-436643.html This was not a planned hike. We met a lovely couple Tim and Nancy when we were doing Salkantay and they suggested that we would like Colca Canyon. We organised the trip from Arequipa and went for the twonight and threeday hike option. We also decided to do the off the track i.e. harder hike which is called Llahuar.It was another 3.30 a.m. start. On the way to the start of the hike we s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-434071.html Having woken up early and with a sudden burst of enthusiasm I decided to see if I could make it to Arequipa Peru from where I was staying in Sorata Bolivia that same day 14 hours 5 buses a rather uneventful border crossing later and we finally rounded a corner to see the lights of Arequipa brightening up the dark sky ahead. Of course we arrived late just the 3 hours mind not pulling into http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-433876.html The road from Arequipa to Cabanaconde climbs up to 4800m before descending about 1500m to Chivay then it runs along the edge of the Canyon del Colca to Cabanaconde. It's a dusty rough and bumpy journey on a bus with no leg room not much fun but as always the destination makes up for the journey. We are really lucky with our timing it's the Fiesta Virgen del Carmen which lasts 4 days so e http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-419801.html Vylet do kanonu jsme zacali autobusem na mirador de Condor. Tam jsme nahodou potkali dve dvojice cechu a s Ondrejem a Kacou jsme pak sli Nekolik dni. Dolu to bylo celkem vklidu. Vzdycky jsme nasli nejake misto na spani v kempu nebo nejaky placek. v nejhorsim jsme zabrali nocleharnu oslikovi Par dni jsme chodili nahoru a dolu a pripravovaly se na posledni vyslap celeho kanonu nahoru. 6 hodin doko http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-417211.html Like a crack on a worn pavement the Colca Canyon is a crack on the earths surface. It is the second deepest in the world at 3191 meters the deepest is just next door.The road from Arequipa to Chivay crosses a high Andean plateau. It is a bleak place up there like driving across the moon. After Chivay we took the road to Cabanaconde a boneshaking three hours. Between Chivay and Cabanaconde http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-416929.html First off it is essential to say We survivedOur excursion to the Colca Canyon started very early in the morning with a 3am pick up. We drove until 6am when we took a break and then continued on until we reached the Canyon of the Condors Huge birds. We saw some of the amazing creatures and then got back in the van.When we arrived at the Colca Canyon we started walking. None of us had any http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-414064.html Nous nous sommes fait rveills 5h du matin pour aller djeuner 5h30. Le rveil a t difficile parce que j'avais enfin russi rchauffer mon lit Nous avons pris l'autobus pour arrter 2 villages en chemin. Nous sommes finalement arriv au canon del colca pour regarder les condors. Nous avons eu beaucoup de chance parce qu'il y avait beaucoup de condors and ils sont descendus trs proche. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-412808.html