Arequipa - Canyon Hiking

The second night in Arequipa we sat on the roof top patio at our hostel “La Posada del Virrey" discussing a trek we planned to take the next day. The trek was a two dayand one night venture into Colca Canyon and then back to Arequipa by van. We should have clarified the specifics when they said trek as what they really meant was mountain climbing. The first day we got up at 3 am and travelled by van for 5 hours. We started our “trek” at 8:00 am at 3200 meters high. We then spent the next four hours descending 1000 meters down the mountain side. The trail was mostly rocks and very steep and so it was at times very hard to avoid tripping. We then hiked 20 minutes across a bridge and up to where we had lunch. We then trekked 400 meters straight up the other mountain where we came to three small mountain communities. We then decended about 600 meters straight down and across the river to the side we had previously started on. That day we travelled 16 km’s. At the bottom there was some small basic cabins with beds and a pool. We were all so beat we used the cold pool only to cool off and clean up before supper. As we were so tired we barely ate supper but had some good conversations with our group, which consisted of some Germans, Columbians, an America and a Brit. We crashed at 8pm as we had to get up at 4:45. The next day was a 1000 meter trek straight up the mountain (4km in length), which I was not up for. The previous day I was having difficulty catching my breath during the up parts and was very nervous. The altitude had gotten to many of us. Good for us they offered anyone who wanted a mule ride up the mountain for 60 soles ($20). Out of about 3 groups there were 10 of us that decided to take the mule (3 boys and 7 girls). Mules are amazing animals they just persevered up this never ending mountain. The mule group left an hour after the trekkers and so they were already on their way up. About half way we met Scott and our group leader. Scott was pooched and so he hopped on the extra mule they had. A few minutes up one of the guys from Columbia was also struggling. It took us about an hour and a half to get up the mountain by mule. The trekking group took between 2-3 hours. On the way back by van we stopped at a hot springs, which felt incredible! We also stopped alongside the road to take pictures of wild flamingos, Lamas and Alpaca. It was an exhausting two days and Scott and I are now very sore. We were so grateful to our trek leader Salome who was the most patient and encouraging women ever. At this moment we are getting more information on the Inca trail to make sure we won’t hold others back. If you look at the picture with the wide view of both mountains you will see that we decended the mountain on the right from top to bottom. We then climbed up the mountain on the left walked across it and then descended again to the bottom (if you look closely you can see the trail we took on the left zig zaggin down). In the picture you can see the pool we stayed at. It is at the very bottom.