Canyons and condors

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- FOOD: Home cooked alpaca lunch, good food throughout the 3 days.

- AREA: Very steep but stunning, colourful canyon. Killer 3am start on final day to climb UP it. Basic but sweet accommodation made of bamboo and thatch. Mirador Cruz del Condor - such graceful creatures. And HUGE.

- PEOPLE: Jam packed onto the bus, stubborn as hell. Nice guide and lovely tour group.

- WEATHER: Cold at night but luckily lots of blankets. Warm enough to sun bathe one day.


Sun 12th June: Got up early to go on a 3 day tour to the Colca Canyon. The Turkish Canadian couple joining me were chatty for so early in the morning so we all hit it off straight away.

After hours on the manky local bus to Cabanaconde where they jam pack as many people on as possible we had to change buses half way in Chivay for reasons known only to the driver.
Therefore 2 jam packed bus loads of people were wedged onto 1 even more jam packed bus!
Jesus, we only just managed to squeeze on by holding our breath and getting our ribs crushed. The bus wouldn't move until everyone was on and the locals wouldn't move to let them on. NIGHTMARE. After 10 hours we got moving.

Thank god when we arrived, the guide took us to his house where his wife cooked us a lovely alpaca meal and we could leave all our backpacks behind.
I packed the smallest, lightest bag I have ever carried to take with me for 3 days. Quite proud of myself.

Here we met the 4th member of our tour - Ethan from Texas (not sure why I feel the need to mention where everyone's from all the time - fascinating to look back on the variation I guess).

We started on the 4 hour trek down into the Canyon to the tiny village of San Pedro. The route was steep, narrow and a killer on the legs but WOW, the Canyon is STUNNING. Such beautiful formations and colour.

After reaching the bottom, we crossed a small rickety bridge and walked up a bit to San Pedro. Our accommodation for the night was incredibly basic huts with bamboo walls, thatch roof and dirt floor. The beds were on big stones and the baño was tiny (I had problems squeezing into it) but I loved the place.
It was so sweet and actually better than I'd been expecting! Ethan and I discovered a better way to the kitchen than going down the ladder, across and back up - a very narrow ledge leading past our room. Well, we'd already risked our lives climbing down into the canyon so why not add to the excitement?!

We had trout for dinner (a Peruvian dish) and then a very early night to what turned out to be a warm and comfortable bed.


Mon 13th: Woke up to discover our huts were located in the most magnificent scenery. We chose to do the 'easy' route up and down the canyon today which took nearly 4 hours. Couldn't decide if I preferred going up or down - both are tough on the old legs.
But the views were stunning, the terraces built into the canyon very impressive and the joy to arrive at an oasis area of greenery and swimming pools.

We jumped straight in the pool expecting it to be freezing but it wasn't too bad and then relaxed in the sun all afternoon. Well, I say ALL afternoon - it was actually only until 3pm when the sun went behind the mountains and left us all jumping from bikinis into fleeces.

We didn't have meat for lunch or dinner but instead they packed us full of carbs in preparation for the next day's tough trek. The huts we stayed in were even more basic than last nights (less bamboo making up the walls and 100 miles away from the toilets - thank god I have a strong bladder).


Tue 14th: A nice 3am start to the day to begin the trek back up the canyon. It was such a hard, steep climb and is supposedly tougher than the Inca Trail. We only had 2 lights between the 4 of us and climbing up narrow, steep, winding ledges in the dark with loose stones making you slide back every now and again and huge rocks to climb up was quite a scary experience (we paid money for this?)!
We made a good encouraging team though and after only 2 hours 45 we were at the top (just when we about to collapse and give up). WHAT a relief to be at the top just in time for sun rise.

After breakfast at Eduardo's house we caught the bus to the Mirador Cruz del Condor (packed on again but at least we got seats this time). There were no condors in sight and it was FREEZING.
Lots of sellers decided one pound was a reasonable amount to ask for a Twix. After getting a touch impatient, the condors appeared.
They are so very graceful and huge - their wing span can go up to 6 feet. They came very close and hovered above us - magical to watch, practically impossible to capture on camera.

We decided to be ruthless and demand our seats on the way back that we'd paid for. Sod's law that our seats were taken by 2 little old ladies who we couldn't possibly kick out. Luckily the views were good enough to distract me from the fact I was standing on a cramped bus. The condors flew alongside the bus sometimes and the Pre Inca terraces built into the mountains were a lovely sight.

On my return to Arequipa, I had 3 hours to kill before getting on yet another bus to Cusco. Ate some crap food and tried to avoid talking to the local lad that took a shine to me but failed. I was glad to have the double seat to myself on the bus and even happier when the incredibly caring steward brought me a blanket and served me food (which I wasn't expecting).

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