Colca Canyon - The hike that made the Inka Trail a walk in the park

Our recent adventure began from the Arequipa bus terminal. Upon arriving our plans were to catch a bus to Cabanaconde where we would hike into the deep Colca Canyon. Without much planning, we arrived at the bus terminal at 11:30 am thinking buses would regularly leave for our destination. After hustling the aisles of bus companies with clerks screaming out destinations, we finally found one that left at 11:45, in approximately 4 minutes!! After huffing into our seats, we were subjected to corny Peruvian pop songs blaring from the speakers. 5 hours later…we arrived in Chivay and upon returning to the bus after a quick bathroom break we found 50+ locals of all shapes and sizes shoving into the bus door, and several llamas and baby lambs being shoved into the under-storage of the bus. Luckily, a nice gentlemen we conversed with earlier saved us two seats!! For the next two hours, we smelled all the local flavors as well as constant clouds of white chalky road dust. It was an authentic experience as well as a 1/3 the price of the tourist buses. The other gringos totally missed out, suckers!

Although the bus ride was somewhat hilarious, we were driving along the upper, southern side of the beautiful and picturesque Canyon. Also interesting were the agricultural terraces that followed and shaped the hillsides. The very organically shaped plots were separated by piled rock walls (1 meter high). Some plots had rows of corn, others grazing animals, but most were fallow and waiting for the rainy season. We saw both mechanized plows and steers straining with wooden plows in tow. It was a nice change from the bustling city of Arequipa to the genuine happiness and humility of the people who labored on the harsh landscapes.

Once in Cabanaconde (the end of the road), we settled into our hostel, which has definitely been one of the better backpacker hostels. After a long day of traveling we dined on lomo de alpaca con papas fritas y verduras. YUM!!! By far one of the most delicious meals, and Kristin tried her best not to think of the thousands of wild, grazing brothers, sisters and cousin alpacas we passed on our drive to the Canyon.

After a hardy breakfast, we received interesting directions on how to navigate the canyon on foot. (as an aside, we later discovered that the unionized travel agencies of Arequipa paid off the local mayor to not post signs and markers on the trail but also make the routes as confusing as possible. The travel agencies were hoping to make the Canyon intimidating to the soloing backpackers and therefore make guides a seeming necessity).

Walking down the trails of the Canyon was more difficult than expected. The extremely steep, zig-zagging switch backs were somewhat treacherous, but every turn afforded a stunning view of the vast Canyon. As we approached the Rio Colca at the bottom of the Canyon, Ivan already formed two blisters on his swollen toes and yet again had the privilege of carrying Kristin’s daypack for the last hour of the decent. A true gentleman and hero (AKA Kristin’s burro).

After an energizing and revitalizing snack next to the Rio, Kristin regained the strength to schlep her pack the rest of the way. The Llaguar hot springs and lodge was a welcome sight after 5.5 hours of hiking in the intense dry sun.

Luckily for us we had the entire hot spring and riverside lodge to ourselves. A very romantic and pastoral scene. We groaned down the path to the hot springs, and gratefully submerged into the warm spring water. After 2 hours of thoroughly pruning our achy muscles, we climbed back up the hill in time for a sunset dinner. A dinner of freshly caught pan seared trout, rice, fresh vegetables and hot tea was the perfect treat for growling bellies. Shortly after dinner, we conked out in our dirt-floor, cozy, bamboo hut.

Our Hut!

Our sunset dinner

The next day we woke up at 5:30 am, wolfed down a pancake breakfast and hit the trails to race the encroaching and powerful sun that was steadily moving down the Canyon walls. Along the way a black dog, who we affectionately named Rufus, plodded up the steep northern slope with us. He turned out to be a bit of a pain, especially when we encountered a large steer equipped with impressive horns and tied to a dried out tree. Trying to stop the brazen dog from provoking the steer, we watched in horror as the tree was easily ripped from the ground and the steer made ready to charge the taunting dog. Fortunately a local rancher appeared from seemingly out of nowhere with a young calf, and was able to placate the large animal before it gored or flung us or our retarded Rufus down the mountainside. The rest of the hike was fortunately uneventful, and we reached the Mirador Apacheta with the sun in full force. This was definitely the best view of our entire hike, since we could see down a large length of the canyon. We noticed that the canyon looked much like a zipper with large mountainsides alternating down the canyon from either side. From here, the hike was a fairly gradual walk down to the “oasis” through abandoned terraces and more switchbacks.

Notice all the faint switch backs in the distance...

At the top of Mirador Apacheta lookout

The oasis was interesting in that almost everyone there (including employees) were incredibly hung over. The young boy at the dirty bar/restaurant could barely answer our questions, so we decided to go to the homey “Casa de Eden” next door. Fortunately people were clothed with more than just fig leaves, and the apple tree was replaced by a delicious papaya tree (it was quite fun thwacking a fresh fruit of with a long stick and eating the sun-warmed fruit 15 second later!!). Lunch was a delicious vegetable soup with a side of rice and mashed potatoes. We were supposed to have a tortilla or omelets, but “Adam” hadn’t returned with the laden donkeys…haha

We relaxed by the pool for a couple of hours until the sun mellowed out a bit, and then headed back up the canyon (6 km, or 1.2 km vertical!!). This last 3 hour hike was truly a test of mind over matter, since every step became increasing harder with the altitude and our growing fatigue (4400m high!). Once we reached the top, our sunlight was almost gone and we got lost for 45 minutes in the labyrinth of terraces and creek beds. Needless to say, when we reached town, we had dinner with 2 new friends and Ivan patented a new spaghetti dish at the restaurant and had other patrons jealously eyeing his creation. “Por favor, una espaghetti a la Ivan!”

Kristin is pointing to the Mirador Apachet, where we were earlier that morning on the opposite side of the canyon! Wowzers!

sooo strong from all the hiking...

We repeated out bus ride in reverse, except this time we picked up a very enthusiastic 18 year old born again evangelist who ‘preached’ for the last 2.5 hours of the bus ride. After many typical remarks about everyone being equal in the eyes of God (except the maricones and moros, of course) we decided that some of his profane remarks didn’t didn’t deserve any of our money. His rationale for our opt-out was that we were both “juice.” Oh, you mean “Jews?” Wow. Our first encounter with fire and brimstone in Peru, and definitely an eye opener!

Out of Arequipa and on our way for an adventure in Puno and Lake Titicaca..!