....because to trek the deepest in the world (located right beside the Colca Canyon) would just be TOO ridiculous!
Pia and Johannes were super keen to do a 3 day trek in the Colca Canyon just outside Arequipa and I got caught up in their excitement and decided to join them. They had just done the 4 day Inca Trail so were well prepared…. I on the other hand, was not.
Tired of tour groups, Pia and Johannes had decided to do the trip on their own. This meant that at 3.30am we boarded a local bus bound for the canyon. 6.5 bumpy hours later we got off…thank god!
(Cobanaconde, our starting point)
The first day involved going downhill into the canyon. We probably dropped more than 1000m in altitude that day down a slippery gravel track. But the scenery was spectacular.
We spent the night in San Juan, which can’t really be described as a town, rather a place where 3 guest houses are located in the same vicinity. However, it was very pretty and the home cooked meal (soup and alpaca with vegetables) was amazing!
Day 2 was my favourite of the three days. After we finally found the correct track (nothing is marked!) we walked through villages and along a beautiful stream…though we later found out that was the wrong way. In addition to the lack of signage, safety standards seem to be lacking in the canyon. We had to work through a number of landslips on our track – something that would NEVER happen in Australia!
(In case you can’t see it, it says ‘NO’… Very helpful!)
(The first landslide – yes we crossed this and yes it is a big drop down…)
(More landslide crossings)
(Walking through villages)
(Making mud bricks)
We made it to the infamous ‘oasis’ for our second night. Situated right at the base of the canyon, this little piece of land had managed to transform itself from the rest of there landscape. The grass was green, there were palm trees and the guesthouses had pools and a happy hour!
(The view from above)
(Pia and Johannes checking out the pool)
(The view towards the bar)
And then it was time…time for the day from hell. What goes down must come up, right? So, at 5am we started our ascent up the canyon. Our destination was more than 1km in the air above us. Sounds easy, 1km, but let me tell you that while it may be 1km in the air it was more like 3km zigzagging up the side of a cliff. It was never ending. We took our time and let the groups pass us. I have never been more thankful for not being on a tour. Finally, after 4 hours we reached the top.
(Johannes was usually in the lead, hence he is in the most photos! Here he is trying to motivate us…and losing)
(The view from less than halfway up)
(Cactus flower)
(Pia swearing at the top…)
The day wasn’t over. We still had to get back on that damned bus. The aisle was crammed with locals until we got to Chivay where as we were leaving, transport police got on and made everyone put their seatbelts on and everyone in the aisle go to another bus. Seems reasonable? Except that they didn’t give a shit that my seatbelt didn’t work, or that we had just driven 3 hours along the side of a mountains with more than double the buses capacity. The piece de resistance came when we left and drove 5kms out of town, only to reboard all the additional passengers who had been bused to our location. Ridiculous!
