Colca Canyon

I just returned from the three day trek to the Colca Canyon. The first day we started early, as the bus ride to the start of the trek takes five hours, once we got there we got some launch, and starting to descend into the Canyon. The region in general has an arid climate, with desert like landscapes, but what is interesting about this desert is that it lies at an altitude of 3000 meters. The Colca canyon is one of the deepest in the world if not the deepest, 1300 meters deep (If I recall correctly). We walked for 5 hours in the first day and stopped for the night in a small village, were our host was also the mayor of the town! Apparently he runs a kind of a hostel at the same time. The village is not connected to civilization by a road, so everything has to be brought on mules. The mayors family was very friendly, and he had a nice child girl, who was helping here mother with house chores and serving the guests. They had a few genie pigs running around the kitchen, apparently they will be eaten in some coming festival. After dinner we played a card game called Shithead, drank some rum, and went to bed.

We were a group of five plus the guide , Australian girl, an Israeli girl, French guy, a fellow from Hong Kong and me. The guy from Hong Kong was very weird.

The second day we did not do much walking, we had a tour in the family´s farm, to see the plants and fruit they grow. They grow grain, which is used to feed the animals, but as well to make a horrible alcohol called Chicha. We also got a tour into the town, and an explanation about the customs and traditions of the people living there . Then we descended more, until we reached this nice lodge in the middle of the valley, where were going to stay for the night. This was the nicest part of the trip, as the place is quite beautiful, and located in the middle of no where, and although it was created specially for tourists , it was not crowded, which retained the feeling of being in a wild place. They had a nice swimming pool , created from one of the natural streams running close by. After dinner we went straight to bed.

The third day was the toughest, as we needed to wake up at o'clock early morning, to climb up the valley, a 100 meter climb. We started early so that we make it up before the sun rises, as the sun there is very strong. The guide bet that the Chinese guy will be first, and he though I would do it in 2 hours 20 minutes, anyway I was first to the top , and I made in 2 hours and 4 minutes, beating the Chinese guy by 2 minutes. According to the guide the record by a tourist was 1 hour 25 minutes, while local porters can do it in even less time. At the top it was quite cold, so I had a few sips of that bottle of rum I still had with me, which helped me fall a sleep once I got on the bus later.

After we reached the top , we walked to the town, had breakfast and then took the bus to the ¨Cruz del Sur¨, to watch the condors. We saw less condors than I was expecting, but some of them flow relatively close and they were quite beautiful to watch.