Colca Canyon - Day 3

---

Today was a very difficult day! Last day of the Colca Canyon trek and definitely the hardest. Uphill for over 3 hours to get out of the canyon. We started at 5 a.m. to avoid some of the heat and sun, but it was still quite warm and still very difficult. It didn't help that we didn't really get a real breakfast before starting. I had a leftover granola bar and Maria had apples for us, but that was it as we were supposed to have breakfast in Cabanaconde after we hiked out of the canyon. Maria and Kelsey were going at a pace that I just couldn't keep up with so I just held back and went at my pace. I felt kind of lightheaded the whole way and it took every ounce of concentration I had at some points to even put one foot in front of the other.

After the hike up to Cabanaconde, we had breakfast there before taking the 10:00 a.m. bus to Chivay - a 2 and a half hour ride along incredibly bumpy, steep and narrow roads! Not for the faint of heart! In Chivay, I got lunch at a nice lunch buffet and then we got in a tourist van with other day-trippers again at 1:30 to head back to Arequipa. We got back to our hotel around 5:30 and showered up before getting dinner at Los Lenos down the street, a pizza place recommended by my guidebook. Wood-fired pizzas and lemondae freshly squeezed. Pretty good.

---