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Published: November 5th 2007
The trailhead
I wonder why this cross is here? Hope its not a memorial. Trevor and I feel like we were either mauled by wild donkeys or just finished a marathon with an obscenely steep route. Don´t worry, we´re okay. We just climbed out of the world´s deepest canyon yesterday.
Cañon del Colca is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. It´s about 11,000 feet deep with steep switchbacks that hug the baked canyon walls all the way to the Colca River that trickles through it. Trev and I set out from the dusty, little town of Cabanaconde without a guide and slid downhill for a few hours with our eyes on the prize: we could see paradise or our stopping point from the top, where in the middle of the dry canyon, lies an emerald green oasis.
Once we hit the bottom, we crossed over a huge, white bridge and through a cluster of casas. Then we went through an entire town, complete with cement soccer field and town plaza (we wondered how they transport building materials thousands of feet down). Luckily the trail runs along the water supply, so we ran into a few friendly locals along the way who either kept us on track, or at least turned
us back when we took a wrong turn.
After four hours of tough hiking, we reached our hotel spot, Paradaiso. And was it ever! We soaked our feet in their sweet pool with waterfall, stopped to smell the flowers, and enjoyed a beer beneath the southern hemisphere stars. We also had dinner and a friendly debate about conspiracy theories and foreign policy with a weaselly German, and then slept in a hut with cots covered in alpaca blankets.
The next day, Trevor charmed another new friend, a fuzzy, little donkey, and hypnotized a llama. All in a day´s work in Peru. We searched the skies for flying condors that are supposed to fly through the canyon, but didn´t spot one. We settled for the statue of one in the town above and Trev dreamed about one, so that was almost just as good. We may have solved the building materials transportation mystery when we really were almost run off the cliff and mauled by donkeys strapped to the max with two-by-fours. Pobrecitos. It took us two hours to climb out of the canyon that took our German friend four. We kept this to ourselves when we saw the
Volcan El Misti
Misti sits on the edge of town quietly sleeping. goon on the bus, and returned to Arequipa.
Arequipa is the second-largest city in Peru, and the launching point for the canyon trek. It´s yet another little colonial town, but this one is surrounded by snowy volcanoes and the buildiings are built with sillar, a frosty white volcanic material. The stuff doesn´t hold up well in earthquakes, but makes the town look like a frosted cake collection with a shimmery sand castle of a cathedral. It also has one of the most lively plazas we´ve seen (and believe you me, we´ve seen a lot of plazas). The place is always packed and has pigeons - these filthy, flying rats are all the rage with the kids who throw seeds in their faces to feed them, and then chase them around the fountain for fun.
The kids were the highlight of Arequipa for us. In addition to Dia de los Muertos on November 2 (the locals party one day for themselves, another day for their dead loved ones, and in grand Latin tradition, the entire weekend just because), they also celebrate Halloween. We love Halloween, but had no costumes (we dressed as traveling gringos) and no house to receive
trick-or-treaters. So we bought a big bag of candy on the day, and passed out treats to kids in costume in the plaza. Instead of ¨Trick-or-treat¨, they say ¨Caramalos!¨ demanding that candy be put in their little pumpkins with lids. Among our favorites were the 12 Spidermen, a mini Zorro, and a tiny, green caterpillar. ¡Que mono (how cute)!
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Aunt Nora and the boys
non-member comment
WOW
You 2 are ROCKSTARS - just looking at that trail made my hands start to sweat!!! Lots of love to you from colorful Colorado!!