Asian backpacker

 

The obvious destination after visiting Arequipa would be vising the Colca Canyon. To be honest, I have no idea how I came up with the idea of going to Colca Canyon since I didn’t even mention it during my research. But I’m glad I did though. After seeing what Cuzco and Machu Picchu had to offer, I was ready for another adventurous hike and outdoor activity! Besides, Colca Canyon is one of the top tourist destinations too. Since it’s a top destination, there are plenty of travel agencies offering tours to visit the site. But it is perfectly possible to do the hike through the canyon by yourself too, you just need to be a little prepared and look up information on how to get there and all that. Since it’s been so long and the names are bit confusing I’m just going to give a small itinerary here of where you should/could start.Most people start the hike from the little town of Cabanaconde, which is also the closest to the Cruz del Condor where you can view the condors. I didn’t see the condors because it wasn’t exactly the season to see them and the weather was pretty shit. But this is apparently one of the things most people come to check out. Personally, it didn’t interest me that much to see a couple of condors swirling up there. People who did see it, please correct me and tell me it’s awesome.

Oh before I forget, the bus ride from Arequipa to Cabanaconde on the public bus was just superb. It will make a stop at Chivay where you have to buy a tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico), you’ll need this pass in order to actually enter the canyon. If you missed this chance to buy it, you can still buy it at one of the checkpoints. That’s what I did. When I forgot to buy the ticket in Chivay, I started to worry a bit but when I looked out the window, the view along the road was just so amazing that I totally forgot about the ticket. I can’t exactly describe it but on the way back, we managed to hook up with a tourist bus that actually stopped at the sights. So be sure to check that out when you get the chance. Most tours only offer 1 night in the canyon, Sangalle to be more precise. This little place is called the oasis at the bottom of the canyon with several guesthouses with their own pool and green grass in between the stone cold rocks of the canyon. When going down yourself, you can decide how many days and how much time you can spend in the canyon itself. I personally wanted to spend more time and do a slightly more difficult hike.

Anyway to start with the hike, they do not advice you to go down the canyon all by yourself eventhough you don’t have to take a tour. What I did was meet up with some other people from the hostel and went down with them. At least that’s what I thought, but since it was low season, there weren’t that many people in the hostel and some have already left a few days earlier. In the morning I did manage to bump into a Alexandra, an English speaking woman from another country in Latin-America (sorry can’t remember what country it was though :[ ). Half-way through the first day, we decided to go our own ways though and I joined another group of hikers. A Peruvian sibling pair, forgot the sisters name but still managed to keep in contact with the brother William. Very friendly, helpful and welcoming person.

Well, I don’t really feel like explaining the whole trip, so I’ll just post the pictures for you guys.