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After arriving in Arequipa a city of 1 million we found ourselves a nice hotel for around 8 pounds a night - fully equipped with Cable TV and excellent shower. First point of call was coffee and black jungle cake sitting in a cafe overlooking the central plaza. Life is relaxing at the moment. Some nice Italian food followed by a comfy bed.
Volcanoes and Valleys
James and Anne Walkington2006-09-11 11:37:11
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After about 20 mins or so on top we began the long descent - only intersected by a short excursion into the crater. Surrounded by noxious gases we stood at the top of a 1200m scree slope. Despite taking nearly 6 hours to reach the top we would be down to the tents in a little over 25 mins. A fantastic scree run was negotiated safely by all - even Anne enjoyed it who normally hates scree.
An hour rest at the tents and we were ready to be off on the next 1200m down to the waiting 4X4 vehicle. Although slightly slower going we still did the descent in a little over 1 hours - James had managed to get his boots full of sand much of which ended up in the hotel room.
A couple of days followed in Arequipa chilling out visiting a huge convent, drinking coffee, cinema and watching Cable TV. We finally booked onto a 6am bus to take us to Cabanaconde, a small village clinging to the top of the Cañon del Colca. This is the second deepest canyon in the world only beaten by 143m by a canyon around 200km to the north. It is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and has lots of condors flying around.
Found a nice hostel and then set off on a short walk which was cut even shorter by a sudden cloud burst of heavy rain. This was the first rain we had witnessed since Puerto Iguazu in Argentina over 2 months ago.
The following morning we again got a packed early bus to Cruz del Condor a rocky outcrop overlooking the deepest part of the canyon and where condors are a daily spectacle soaring on the early morning thermals. After watching the condors below us we walked back the 3 hours to Cabanaconde which was hot and not very interesting. We spent the rest of the day sorting out food for our 5 day walk and walked the first hour or so of the next days route.
Another early start and we had left the hotel by 6am - first light. An easy trek through terraced fields led to the start of the descent down towards the Rio Colca. Dusty and
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See photographs from:
Peru Gallery
