Blogs from Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 4

So we were off on a 6 hour bus journey to begin our next trekking escapade. The journey in itself was an experience. This was truly a local bus. We stopped every few minutes to pick up people on the roadside. We had a comedian performing, a one man band of panpipes, singing and guitar (John bought his CD he he), the well-dressed local ladies with a new fashion of handmade embroidered skirts and waistcoats or sequined hats, every seat taken and every aisle space taken up even more and a smelly duck! At this stage 6 hours feels like nothing to us but the constant madness did feel a bit much today for some reason! We arrived as darkness fell on the town of Cabanaconde. This was to be our home for the night. A ... read more

After extricating myself from the clutches of La Paz, I made my way to Colca Canyon in an effort to purify myself by trekking in the wild environs of southern Peru. This canyon is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon and only plays second fiddle to one other canyon which also slithers its way through a nearby region in Peru, albeit a little more remotely located. Joining me on this trekking endeavour were some great people that I ran into whilst walking around the streets of Arequipa, recognising them as members of the bar staff from my hostel in La Paz. After a brief discussion, we all realised that we had the same aim of escaping party central in La Paz and restoring a healthy balance to our lives by going trekking. After having a conversation ... read more

So 27 hours after we set off from Huaraz we arrived an hour ahead of schedule into Arequipa... These Cruz del Sur buses rock!!!! A short taxi ride later and we were being shown around our new home for the evening Arequipa Backpackers..... After seeing the upstairs roof terrace, downstairs garden complete with hammocks and gas heater for keeping the chill off in the evenings, huge kitchen, 2 DVD Rooms, Pool Room, Play Station Room, 3 PCs...... All for the bargain price of £5.50 per night.... Oh and to quote... 'we're sorry we don't provide breakfast but we do offer fresh bread daily, which is complimentary'.....it didn't take much thinking about.... We booked for another night! By 1pm we were heading out to explore.... Arequipa's a really pretty place, surrounded by volcanos and snow topped mountains, ... read more

We've had some early starts on this trip, but this one really takes the biscuit. 2.30am, the alarm goes off and it feels like we've barely had time to fall asleep. Which might be because we barely have had time to fall asleep. Lying awake in the dark, I wonder why do we do this to ourselves. Wanting to make the most of our few days in Peru before we continue north to Colombia, we've arranged to go on a three day trip to Arequipa province's famous canyon country. I certainly hope it's worth it - I don't get out of bed at 2.30 in the morning for just anyone. Three in the morning and the streets of Arequipa are dark and deserted. Out of absolutely nowhere a minibus appears. We get on and sit down ... read more

As it's understood we did not have access to the Internet or even phone because we were up in a canyon. The Colca canyon, which is even bigger than the Grand Canyon in the States. It's a really long way to reach it, imagine that we started at 8 in the morning and we reached the main town at 2 . Arequipa Arequipa andthe surrounding towns are build from volcanic ash, and it's needless to say that theyexploit it as. Est they can, the have their volcanic springs and even more they have a cementfactory that uses the white volcanic ash to produce their cement. This Factory is in Yura. Another interesting fact about Arequipa is that it was divided into 3 sub cities Arequipa and 2 others that were divided by Stradivari , namesakes are ... read more