CANYON COUNTRY & LAKE TITICACA

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Well, my promise at being more prolific with my blog writing has failed miserably. I am now going to describe events that occurred about 5 weeks ago in Peru while I sit in a hostal at the shore of the very beautiful Lake Tekapo on the South Island of New Zealand! So this is going to be as brief as possible….

The best place to go and see the rare Andean Condor is at a place called Cruz del Condor in the mighty Colca canyon a couple of hours outside of the picturesque city of Arequipa. Peru’s second largest city is surrounded by 3 huge volcanoes which offer amazing scenery wherever you wander in the city as well as some great sites in the city itself such as the monastry and the wonderful main plaza. One day we were in the plaza we stumbled upon what seemed to be a demonstration of military bands all taking it in turns to knock out a tune. There were 4 bands, presumably the army, navy, airforce and some other one, all dressed up in the full army gear.

We stayed in ‘home sweet home’ hostal and were lucky enough to meet up with 7 other people staying there who wanted to do the colca canyon 2 day 1 night trek. So leaving at the ungodly hour of 4 am our multi-national group headed off to canyon country. Once the sun had risen we were treated to some awesome scenery as we drove for about 3 hours to the start of our trek. Be warned: this is a few levels up from a leisurely stroll so be prepared!! Seven arduous hours later we ambled down into the oasis at the bottom of the canyon where we would stay the night. As we laid on the grass staring up into the crystal clear night sky waiting for dinner (there was nothing else to do !) we seen 3 or 4 shooting stars. There’s one thing worse than going to sleep in a straw hut on a joke of a bed after hiking up and down the Andes for 7 hours and that is knowing that you have to wake up at 3.30 am and trek solidly uphill for 4 hours to get out of the canyon (see photo below!)

That uphill trek was possibly the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, it was absolute hell. But, after a severe amount of cursing and whining I made it to the top. After breakfast we headed off to cruz del condor to catch the morning flight of the condors. This made all the trekking worthwhile for me, these huge birds were gliding all around us and one came so close you could nearly jump on its back and go for a ride! On the way home we stopped off at some hot springs which was great. There’s nothing better than soaking in a hot pool to sooth your aching limbs


Arequipa was to be our last major stop in Peru before heading into Bolivia. The main route over the border is along the shores of the famous lake Titicaca which straddles the border of Peru and Bolivia. After a long bus journey to Puno from Arequipa we stayed the night and got onto an international bus that sorted out your stuff at the border crossing and made the whole thing a breeze. While we were in Puno we took the opportunity to see the floating islands which can be accessed most easily from Puno. The islands are man made by the local people using reeds which grow on the lake. The building process is quite interesting but the whole tour was excruciatingly touristy and was just very uncomfortable. There’s an opportunity to get a cool Uros island stamp on your passport for $1 too. We were advised to explore the lake from the Bolivian side as you can see more and its ridiculously cheap in Bolovia. We stayed in the shabby border town of Copacobana and got a double bed private room for £3 a night, crazy cheap!!

From here we hopped on a ferry across to the island of the sun (isla del Sol), the biggest island on the lake. Most ferries arrive at the south of the island and the biggest village is located at this end. After ascending the inca steps up from the dock you’ll come across a small church at the bottom of the village steps. We arrived on a Sunday and luckily for us there was a festival on so we got to see some of their crazy dancing etc. Accommodation is very basic on the island, we were lucky enough to get a nice double bed with a great view of the hills sweeping down into the sapphire blue waters of the lake. The next day we decided to trek up to the north of the island. It was definitely one of the best treks we’ve done, not too strenuous but still there were some hard parts which led to a greater sense of achievement when we reached the north end of the island. The views from the trail are amazing; small isolated beaches with emerald green waters, or stunning views of snow capped mountains in the distance out beyond the lake. Takes about 3-4 hours but well worth it. If you thought the southern part was desolate you’ll be in for a surprise when you get up the other end! There’s very little up there, the place we stayed was nice enough except there was no running water so you had to flush the toilet with a bucket from a well. The ‘restaurant’ we had dinner in was memorable; we were walking along a dark alley when some guy shouted at us from an above balcony saying ‘cena, cena aqui’ so we walked into the door through what looked like a building site complete with cement mixer, up some horrible concrete stairs and arrived in this tiny room with a couple of tables and about 50 chairs. We got a decent enough soup for starter but the spaghetti we got was possibly the worst attempt at Italian cuisine I’ve ever had the displeasure of consuming. Anyway, apart from that disaster of a meal the island experience itself is great for a couple of days of relaxing off the beaten track.

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Photos

Trusted leader Hans Moleman
Our guide for the trek was very excitable but a good guy

Nice
sunset from the top of the hill in copacobana

Home sweet home
our hut at the oasis

the group
taking a well earned rest at cruz del condor

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Thanks for the memory
My husband and I traveled Peru and the Colca Canyon in 2006. A marvelous trip and we loved the Condors! We saw 8 condors the day we were there.