Arequipa, Colca Canyon and Puno

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We took an overnight bus from Cusco to Arequipa where we were firstly surprised at how modern this city is. The city centre is like any Eurpoean city and it was a big change from Cusco.
We checked out a few tour companies and booked a 3 day tour of the Colca Canyon starting the following day. So at 3 am we set off on our trip. First stop was Cruz del Condor where we watched the condors flying. I have to say, this was much more impressive than the bird watching in the jungle. They are massive birds with a wing span of up to 4 metres!

Then we went onto the town of Cabanaconde which was the starting point for our trek into the canyon. We stocked up on some lunch and headed off on our 5 hour trek downhill. The views were so impressive along this trek and we saw numerous mules carrying loads up and down the canyon. This is the only mode of transport that the locals have. That night we stayed with a local family which was really nice. The villages in the canyon just got electricity within the last 2 years so you can imagine how this is now changing their lives. They are just starting to use it for things like lights and maybe a fridge to store meat. We had a really nice dinner that night cooked over a fire by the lady of the house.

During the whole tour, our tour guide was giving us information on how the locals lived which was very interesting. Most of the people living in the canyon are farmers and they really have a tough time. They might have a couple of animals, or collect cactus insects which are used for dyes or grow some type of corn. Its all very primitive and tough work!

The following day was the tough part of the trek! We walked for about 2 or 3 hours to get to the oasis at the very bottom of the canyon where we got to cool off in the pool which was really nice and relaxing. We then had a huge lunch which we now know why we needed! The climb out of the canyon was quite tough and was made harder by the 30 degrees heat! Anyway, we all made it to the top just before dark and we headed back to the village of Cabanaconde where we got to enjoy a nice hot shower and dinner!

The next day we just went for a short walk where we got another really impressive viewpoint of the canyon before we started our journey back to Arequipa. We stopped in Chivay where we could have tried out the hot springs but decided to give them a miss because it was so hot outside already!

Peter did some white water rafting the next day in the Chili river just outside Arequipa. It was good fun despite the one fall into the river which left him with a few bumps and bruises as he bounced along the rocks on the river bed! We just relaxed in Arequipa for a couple of days then before heading on to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Lake Titicaca is on the border of Peru and Bolivia and is one of the highest lakes in the world at 3,800m above sea level and is also the largest lake in South America. From Puno, we just did a quick tour of the floating islands which was really cool to see. We got a demonstration on how the islands are built and just chatted with the locals for a while.

The next day, it was time to say goodbye to Peru and we caught a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia.
Peru is definitely one of the most interesting places we´ve ever been and there is so much more to discover here. Maybe we´ll return some day!

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Photos

Condor
They´re huge!

Here´s one I prepared earlier!
Demonstration of how islands are built

Comments

[Bríd]

Hello
Hi Col, Greetings from a wet Britain. I am so delighted you loved Peru! Hope Bolivia is going well. I love the blog. It keeps me going in work!! Where do you go after Bolivia? I will email you.