Colca Canyon

Last Friday morning 6 of us got up at 3 am to get a bus 3.5 hours or so on a mostly potholed road to the little town of Chivay. After a bleary-eyed breakfast we then bundled back onto the bus for a 1.5 hour drive to Cañon de Colca, one of the deepest canyons in the world. At it´s deepest it´s over 3000m. We stopped of at Cruz de Condor apparently expecting to see condors (we did, but only in the distance so they didn´t appear to be that impressive!) Then we drove another 10 minutes down the road to the head of the trail: A 7 km hike switching back and forth down the hillside...a 7 km steep rubbly slide down the cliff-face is what it felt like in parts! I fell over once in the 3.5 hours it took for us to reach the Colca River, over 1000m below where we had started. After chilling out under the bridge for a bit to wait for the rest of our group (and a little wash of our feet in the river) we then crossed a suspension bridge over the fearsomely fast river and scrambled up over the rocky cliff on the other side. 20 minutes later we arrived at a little lodge that was to be our home for the night. It consisted of mud huts with mud floors and 0 electricity. It was good fun though and we all had an enjoyable evening although we dreaded how much we´d ache in the morning!
The next day we got up at 6.30 ready for the next part of our hike. After a filling breakfast of pancakes we set off in a fairly horizontal line this time (although there was a 20 minute hard, ´cling onto rocks so you don´t fall´ climb at one point). We passed by a couple of villages that are nestled in the canyon and then further down the road, all the villagers doing maintenance on the path (even the woman with a baby strapped to her front). We had another short break to pick and eat prickly pears (like in the Jungle Book!) and then finally arrived at was is called the Oasis after about 4.5 hours of walking. After a swim in the natural pool and lunch we then had to set off again to climb out of the canyon. This, we were told, would take us 3 hours, although our guide had done it in 1 hour and 8 minutes once...I have no idea how. It´s one of the most physically challenging things I´ve ever done. We felt that we would never reach the top. We had to wind our way along super narrow paths with sheer drops to the side (make sure you stand next to the cliff face when a mule comes past!) and up ridiculously steep natural steps. Plus we were going up which meant the higher we got the more effect altitude had. It took us 3.5 hours and for the entire last hour it was a case of: walk ten steps, break a minute. But eventually we made it (mostly with smiles on our faces!). 4 of us managed and 2 decided on taking the mule (a scarier option in my opinion!)
After a night in the little town of Cabanaconde, where the women wear fabulous richly embroidered clothes, we set off home the next day...tired and with really dirty hair but contented. We stopped off a couple of times to see the famed Inca style terraces that stretched for miles in a valley, a quick jump in some thermal pools (39 degrees centigrade), and to see llamas, alpacas, and the cutest of them all: vincuñas. We were meant to stop at the highest point on the road (4910m) but unfortunately we were driving through clouds so couldn´t see anything anyway!
We arrived back in Arequipa at 7.30 on the Sunday evening with extremely achy, tired bodies.
It was AMAZING!! I have never seen anything like it in my life. We walked 21km over the two days (it definately felt like more!) I would love to do it again one day.
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