Advertisement
Published: July 26th 2006
Edit Blog Post
I reached the top!
after a climb of more than 4 hours, which started at 6.30, we reached the end of the canyon! I was really happy, as you can see... With the help of a Belgian couple that we had met some days before on our trip to the ballestas islands, we planned a trip into the Cañon de Colca.
For years there was raging controversy over whether or not this was the world´s deepest canyon about 3191 meter, but it has recently drawn in a close second to the neighbouring Canyon. the local people are known for their painstackingly decorated traditional clothing, especially the women´s clothes.Lonely planet
We started our trip by shopping around in all the touragencies in Arequipa. Trips into the canyon is a big business and lots of tourist pay really amazingly a lot. We wanted to save a few bucks ( euhm, like 30 or 40) for the experience... We copied a topographic map of the area and we bought another touristic map, some proviand for the trip and made our back, with only two days in mind.
That morning we took a bus to the canyon, which left Arequipa around 7am. A breath-taking trip with the most wonderfull landscapes was waiting for us! After 5 hours we reached the village of Cabanaconde, from where we would start our trip. From Cabanaconde
we descended for a four hours into the canyon till we reached the bottom. Aiai, a really bad job for our knees!This sight of the canyon is made of stones and looks dusty and stony... From the moment we passed the bridge to cross the river, Río Majes, we arrive in a oasis of vegeteblas and fruits, freshness and colors... By the time we arrived in San Juan, the sun had already left the canyon and the colt felt down on us. We met a girl who was the owner of a "guesthouse" and for 5 soles each we could stay for the night. For me it was a horrible night, cause a suffered a lot from the altitude, as they call it Altitude sickness...
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast for only 5 soles each ( like 2 dolars) we made our way up to the highest village in this region, named Tapay. From the altitude of 2800 meter, we had a spectacular vieuw over the valley. Our plan was to reach the well known Oasis that same day, so we didn´t spend too much time in the village. When we were more or less reloaded, we
hiked through the valley and passed a couple of villages before we went down to the bottom to find some rest in a place with two natural pools. We spent two days in a hostel with swimming pool and a breath taking view from our hut for only 13 soles breakfast included! It was amazing and the water was a good refreshment cause when the sun is shining the temperature are climbing up very quickly till 30 degrees...
The last day of our stay in the canyon was the hardest. We left our hut and survived a really steep hike from 4 hours up till the village of Cabanaconde. Because of the heat, we had te leave around 7 in the morning. It was really hard and for me, almost impossible without the help of Marco. It was too steep, too high and too hot... but also really beautiful, a great experience and a test for my condition(aiai). The first two hours were the best, because that was before the sun started to shine on us. From the first sunlight, everything heated up imediately... After 4 hours of " are we almost there" " can you look at the
our shower with HOT water(!) in San Juan
We made our first stop in San Juan, at almost 2500 meter above sealevel. map to see how far still" " it seems that the top is always moving away from us"... We reached the village! (euhm, I´m really prouod of ,myself and my travelpartner)
We didn´t take the time to reload, cause the last bus out of the canyon was at 1pm. But luckily there was still some time to enjoy a delicious traditional vegetarian plate for a couple of soles.In the way to the town of Chivay, where we had to change bus, we decided in one single second to stay in a untouristic and real typical canyon village for the night. I will never regret the experience, though at that time we were regretting it a lot cause of the freezing cold! I could´t even warm up with three blankets of llama wool and all my clothes...Warm water was not available and a heater neither. Never felt a shower so cold. We spent like half a hour at the main plaza of the village to make contact with the locals. That was at the time that the sun went down. We couldn´t stay longer than half an hour there! All the locals have a leather skin and many have burning
schoolkids walking back home
Every day this kids walk a couple of kilometers to the next village to attend classes.. wounds on their hands and faces...
We finished our adventure the next day with a trip to the hot springs in Chivay, but that was not really spectacular.( although the bible says that you really can´t miss it.) Only a couple of very modern looking swimmingpools filled up with natural warm water and some fat Peruvians on holiday and ...
After four days we drove back to Arequipa where the lady of the hostal almost had called the police to give us up as "missing". We picked up our stuff and hurried to the busstation to make a trip to the Titicaca Lake...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.387s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 13; qc: 67; dbt: 0.1316s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb