So... Sunday 2nd Nov we headed off for our 3 day trek into the Colca Canyon. The Colca canyon is the 2nd deepest canyon in the world only to the Cotahuasi Canyon which is not far away, but is much less accessible. We were picked up at a ridiculous hour in the morning and hit the road by bus from Arequipa. Our first stop was at the Cruz del Condor. This is a lookout point on the side of the canyon where Condors can usually be spotted. It is the wrong season for them at the moment as they tend to be sitting on their nests this time of year, but we did spot a couple. The place was crammed full of tourists as all the tour companies pass through there in the early morning. With the tourists come the locals selling their various beanies, scarves and jumpers etc.. As we got further into the local townships it was interesting to see the peoples dress changing and particularly the women usually in more traditional dress.
Our next stop was in Cabanaconde, a small town at the top of the canyon where we arrived in time for lunch at a small restaurant. This gave us time to meet a few of our tour mates. They were all around our age or younger and predominantly from Ireland / UK. We were also offered some coca leaves to chew on for the first time by one of the other tourists... omg so bitter!! I can´t say I enjoy chewing on the leaves themselves, however I have enjoyed several cups of coca tea and coca toffees... not sure it´s had any real affect with respect to the altitude, but neither of us have really had any problems with it.
After a carbo loaded lunch we finally got to the trekking. Starting at Cabanaconde we trekked down to the bottom of the canyon. The path winding precariously back and forth along the side of the canyon with amazing views! We reached the bottom after a couple of hours, then we crossed a small suspension bride and through to the cabins that we were staying in for the first night. It was incredible the difference in scenery down on that side of the canyon as opposed to the way we had come down. Everywhere we had been recently was SO dry, dusty and desert-like and then suddenly down in the canyon is there are lush gardens and farming land. The walk up this side to the cavens was along beside stone walls and stone channels carrying the water through lush vegetation... beautiful.
At the cabins for our 1st night in the Colca CanyonThe guide also stopped once or twice to show us some of the plants here. He showed us some strange insects that live in the cacti, which, if you squeeze them, they explode with bright red blood which is what the locals use to dye their wool. He also showed us a particular plant with highly acidic sap that will burn your skin very badly if touched and another that you can rub on your skin and which acts as a natural insect repellant.
The next day we were up relatively early and off trekking again. This time it was down along the river, then up a small side gorge and through a couple of small towns nestled into the side of the canyon. Some of the group stopped off at a small museum in one of the towns while the rest of us decided to trek on to our bas for the next night, ¨the Oasis¨. This was a bizzarly out of place looking incredibly lush area beside the river. People had captured the water coming out of the rocks and piped it into several swimming pools and created an Oasis with palm trees and small thatched huts.
Trekking day 2
We wasted no time jumping in for a swim, but despite the harsh sun the cool breeze through the canyon was enough to deter us for staying in for any length of time. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around, chatting to the others on the tour and playing Uno. We felt a little like we could have fit a lot more into the day, but it was nice to have some relaxing time anyway.
We were awoken from our mud hut and bed made of cane at 4:40 the next morning ready for the trek out of the canyon. This time we took a much more direct path weaving its way straight up the side of the canyon from the Oasis. It took us about 2.5 hrs to climb to the top and it was a tough climb, especially at that altitude (the top was at 3200m). It was a great feeling to reach the top though and we were especially gratefull for the apple we were given by a fellow trekker as we`d run out of our water about 2/3 of the way up... an apple NEVER tasted so sweet!!
The obligatory ¨We Made It!!¨ shot at the top of the canyon
Once everyone had reached the top we walked back to Cabanaconde for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread and jam... oh yeah! Then it was back onto the bus... There may have been a small incident where I left the camera on a seat in the square at Cabanaconde, but luckily realised just in time to stop the bus and run back and grab it... oops.
The gang for our Colca Canyon Trek
Our next stop was the hot springs at Chivay. These had been funnelled into several pools and we were initially taken to the hottest one... OMG!! SO HOT!! I managed to get in for about 10 secs and think I nearly passed out when I went to get out, so we went in search of some slightly cooler ones. After sampling most, I was content to dangle my sore calves in the hottest one for a while, then it was back to the bus and heading back towards Arequipa.
We had a strange sighting on the way back when we spotted a twister coming down from the clouds and hitting the top of a hill maybe 1km from the road... interesting. Içd never seen anything like it before. We also made a short stop at the highest pass of the road (about 4300m from memory) The whole landscape here was covered in little towers of rocks. These are apparently dreams (wishes) of the people who come here to ask the mountain gods to make them come true.
The ¨dreams¨ at the pass
We arrived back to Arequipa late in the afternoon. We had planned to head on to Cusco and four of the girls from the tour were planning on taking a bus that night, so we decided weçd join them. We had some quick and cheap Chinese with the whole gang from the tour, then grabbed our gear and headed for the bus station. Naturally my stomach started playing up just before the overnight bus trip, but we made the journey incident free and arrived in Cusco on the morning of the 5th November.
No comments:
Post a Comment