Blogs from Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 8

Canyon de Colca The town of Cabanaconde is a 6 hour bus ride from Arequipa. The road winds through barren cactus studded landscape and ascends to nearly 15,500 feet before descending to the warm valley that is the start of the Canyon de Colca. Colca Canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. While the canyon's walls are not as sheer as the Grand its size is formidable. The canyon is also known for its small colonial towns and villages that are home to the colorful Andean people who farm its steep stepped terraces. Cabanaconde is a small town that is on the canyon's south rim and is the launching point for treks headed into the canyon. We stayed the night at a Pachamama Hostel. Pachamam in run by Lui (Lewy) and his ... read more

(Due to technical difficulties, this blog will be picture free. Sorry for the inconvenience. Pictures to be added in future) I know, i know, i know, I'm a little late on my blog schedule, so sue me but it's not easy when you're trekkin' all over the place. Trek. A four letter word that conjures up adventure. A four letter word not for the weak of heart, not for those without a rain slicker, bug spary, an extra pair of socks...toilet paper. Fine and pleasant miseries, that's what trekking is. I survived the Death Road in La Paz, Bolivia and boarded a bus heading for Arequipa, Peru. No scratches, cuts, or bruises, only a handful of sand fly bites from hanging out unprotected in the Bolivian jungle. They're little stealth bomber buggers who apparently like my ... read more

Asi ve 3 rano se opilci rozhodli, ze uz je cas odejit, tak nas jeste jednou probudili a vypadli. Kacenka jeste slysela nekolikrat sustit igelitky, to jak mysi zkoumali obsah naseho odpadkoveho kose... Po 8 jsme odesli, i s Miguelem, ale nezaplatili jsme pani domaci celou sumu kvuli tomu buzeni a ona ani neprotestovala - oba znala a sama jim nalevala ve svoji putice. Sli jsme pres Malatu, smerem do vesnicky Fure - asi 20 chaloupek, ale hned 2 obchody a 2 hostaly. Kousek za ni je vodopad Huaruro, docela veliky, asi 40 metru vysoky. Pak zase zpatky do Fure a protoze jeste nebylo moc hodin, rozhodli jsme se pokracovat dal do vesnice Llatica. Mistni ve Fure nam samozrejme tvrdili, ze tam zadne bydleni neni, ale jak uz vime, mistnim se v tomhle smeru neda moc ... read more

Für Moni startete die Spanischlernzeit recht intensiv. Auf unserem Ausflug ins Canyon de Colca waren wir gleich mit einer primär spanisch-sprachigen Gruppe unterwegs. Die zweitägige tour führte zuerst über einen Pass, de gleich 4900 m hoch ist. Auf dem Weg dahin fuhren wir durch die karge und trockene Landschaft des Altiplano, der Hochebene von Peru und Bolivien. Nach dem Pass mit 4900m und dem Mirador de los Volcanos (Aussichtspunkt der Vulkane) gelangten wir über eine kriminelle Bergstrasse ins rund 1000m tiefer gelegenen Chivay. In Chivay ging’s nach einem Mittagessen ins Thermalbad. Moni musste ein erstes Mal unter der Höhenkrankheit leiden. Bis zum Abend war Moni wieder auf den Beinen – und das musste sie auch, denn ein peruanischer Tanzabend stand an. Als kleine Gruppe von 3 Peruanern, einem Brasilianer und uns ergatterten wir einen guten Tisch ... read more

Our first day in Arequipa we set about trying to book a tour of the Colca Canyon for the next day. We managed to find a cheap tour for 1 night that left the next day. Being tight as we are we opted for the budget accomodation option so were crossing our fingers it woiuld be ok. Tour booked we spent the day taking in Arequipa which we were pleasantly surprised by. Reading that it was Peru´s second largest city we both had visions of another Lima. However, it is much smaller, a lot prettier and less manic. The next mornign we got up and prepared for our Colca trip. We were collected by our guide and boarded the minibus. As we went round collecting the other people on our tour it became apparent that this ... read more