After a great day in the Sacred Valley with my main man Elvis, Julie, Holly and I decided we hadn’t had enough hiking so we geared up and left Cusco for Arequipa with plans on hiking the famous Colca Canyon. I was particularly excited about this hike because it would be the first time I’d finally be able to use all of my new camping stuff. Anyways, we were still a little burnt out after Salkantay so we took it easy at our hostel, I practiced setting up my totally awesome Hexamid Twin shelter from zpacks, ate at a picanteria that reminded my of Outback Steakhouse in the best of ways, and we took a bus tour. I have words for the bus tour, but first the picanteria. Oh my the picanteria. We started off with a pitcher of purple chica and some fried cheese balls like glorified mozzarella sticks with a house spicy tomato dipping sauce. For a main we got a massive sampler plate with lots of delicious mystery meats and salads and things. Pictures do better than words.

The bus tour was fine but kind of laughable. The weather was naturally very overcast but we had some time to kill so we opted for the extended tour which was supposed to be an extra two hours of sight seeing and totally sweet city touring in the ITT (International Topless Transportation). Instead, it went to all of two extra sites where entry was not included; the extra fair went to pay for more time on the bus without any extra included info. Radical! This turned out to be alright because, well, ok I guess it really wasn’t alright but we did wind up having a couple cups of coffee and Holly got to hold a falcon. Otherwise the tour was a joke and I would avoid the bus tours in Arequipa unless you like being nickle-and-dimed and having things sold to you.

After our bus tour, we headed back to our hostel and decided we needed more adventure. THE thing to do in Arequipa is to hike Colca Canyon and to see the condors. Colca Canyon is over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is littered with indigenous folk still farming the pre-incan terraces their ancestors left them. The area is beautiful and the hiking was first rate.Anyways, usually people hire guides to take them into the canyon but I personally feel like this is a ripoff. The canyon is incredibly accessible and well marked, and if you do manage to get lost, you are pretty much hiking through farmlands so there are plenty of indigenous to help you out. We managed to leech onto a tour group like a remora and used them only for transport. This worked out nice because it stopped at all the places to see the condors and terracing but then we were free to do what we wanted once we got to the canyon. This was a great option for us and saved us decent dough.

After a 3 hour van ride, dozing in and out of scenes of rain and snow, we finally arrived to the drop off point and then we were on our own. We took our time, enjoyed the sights, and decided to tack on a couple extra hours to go to a more out-of-the-way campsite in Tapay. The extra two hours turned out to be a bit of a grinder, but I would recommend it to anyone looking to hike more than 2 hours/day.  It was still definitely rainy season, but much more predictable (nice mornings with PM showers) than the constant deluge of Salkantay. The first day was gorgeous, a little physical, and rewarding. We snacked on some hard boiled eggs, stared in awe, and enjoyed the sun. We got into a soaked camp pretty late after a decent PM shower towards the end of our hike so we decided to lodge up instead of camp. Julie was intent on sleeping in her tent so sleep in it she did.

The next day we woke up to beautiful skies and a downhill hike all day. Glorious. We checked out a church at the end of the valley before starting our hike down to The Oasis.

The downhill to the spot know as The Oasis was very easy. After about 1.5 hours, we had covered the 6 km and found ourselves surrounded by blue pools, tiki bars, and fellow hikers. It was almost unfair how nice it was to finish a short but fast paced downhill hike with a laid out backflip off a fountain into a refreshingly cool pool. The views, company, and cold beer weren’t bad either. This also marked the first time we would sleep in our new Hexamid. It was also a bit of a harsh introduction to how my shelter was going to handle in the rain. More on gear and my opinions of my choices coming soon.

The final day started around 4:30 AM with some coffee and oatmeal before breaking down camp and starting back up and out of the canyon by 5:15 to meet our return bus. The hike up took about 2.5 hours and we gained a little over 1100 meters of altitude. Needless to say it was punctuated by a lot of water and snack breaks. About half way through we punched through a cloud layer, and soon after the sun popped up and started burning off the rest. By the time we got to the top, the weather was clearing nicely and we finished to sunshine and blue skies in Cabanaconde. This woman was selling fruit and drinks to hikers coming out of the canyon. As we left, she packed up what remained, along with her child, in her blanket and finished the trek with us.

Arriving into Cabanaconde, we waited for the guided groups to have breakfast while we sat outside and I had me ear chatted off by a local telling me all about politics and Peru. Fascinating stuff. I also took a picture of a dog and a lady.

If you come to Peru, I would recommend hiking in Colca Canyon. Definitely a highlight.