Colca Canyon Arequipa

I left Tommy and got on an overnight bus to Arequipa. I arrived in the early morning and checked into Amazing Hostel. The hostel is okay, with comfy beds, and they do have an amazing rooftop. I spent the day on the roof eating Turkish food (random), and rolos (thank you mom!!!) in the city. I ran into a girl I had stayed at the Yoga Park with in …

Up early for our early start and we were off to the Colca Canyon and to hopefully see the Andean Condors. There's never a certainty to see them but we were hopeful of seeing one.

After meeting our travelling companions, 1 NZ, 1 Aussie, 4 Poms (3 ex NZ), 1 Mexican and Helen (Bridget Jones) we commenced our trip.

We stopped to try …

Pour accéder au canyon, il faut d'abord prendre un bus qui va jusqu'à Cabanaconde, le village le plus proche. Le souci, c'est que j'avais complètement oublié que le trajet dure 5h30 aller-simple! Ouh! Heureusement, le paysage est sublime et plus on se rapproche du canyon, plus les villages sont perdus, on est au plein coeur du monde rural où toutes …

Arequipa is the second most important city in Peru. It is also the second most important city on the tourists list (after Cusco). This was no surprise. With mountains surrounding the beautiful architecture it boasts picturesque views from every corner. But Arequipa held a far greater significance for us. It was also provided the perfect setting for …

At 3:30 we were picked up for our day trip to Colca Canyon. We got back at 6:00 pm. It was one long day...but with nice views …

Vous excuserez ma négligence, ma journée visite & photos d'Arequipa s'est soldée par un pluie battante qui a presque inondé la ville, donc pas de photos de la très jolie ville blanche. On dit même que la saison des pluies cette année a été la plus forte depuis 50 ans... Heureusement ma belle étoile m'a protégé 4 jours des intempéries pour …

3AM is a ridiculously early start time so we just slept on the bus. When I woke up we were going over the altiplano at 4900m with ice lagoons on the side of the road which had flamingo's in – a strange sight indeed. We then descended down towards Capaconde at the head of the canyon stopping by at Condor Cross on the way to see the giant …

Just a 3 hour walk today to the Oasis further down the canyon. It looked great as we walked down towards it – all green with palm trees and bright blue swimming pools and waterfalls dotted around. When we got there most of us just dived into the pool and sat around drinking beer and playing volleyball for the rest of the evening. Swita lay …

Woke at 4.30am to begin the arduous climb out of the canyon, the timing was necessary as it would become hard work indeed as the sun began to heat up the canyon. After about 5 hours of rapid climbing the oasis faded into the distance below and we made it out. My bump by now was the size of a big mango sliced in half. We had a quick breakfast in …

First of all I would like to say thanks to everyone for all the emails, (facebook) messages and comments on my blog!
It's great to hear from friends and family at home while on the road. It's also really nice to know you are all enjoying the blog and photo's and I know that many of you are true followers!

When I arrived at the …

... edge of the narrow winding path: 'Turn you fucking donkey, left, left... fuck!'  'Fuck' would reverberate across Colca Canyon - across its tiny, dusty towns clinging to the canyon's face; skimming the tranquil trickle of the annually mighty ...

... new homes of people from neighboring cities, maybe Lima or Puno...where people couldn't find jobs or support families.   Since Arequipa is the most rapidly expanding city in the region, people are drawn here by hope, and if they pick a plot of ...

... during these moments were to blame for the attacks. Tomorrow will be the true test, as we begin hiking a portion of the Colca Canyon. Apparently at times, the surrounding mountains will reach above 4000 m. I will make sure to "coca tea" up for the ...

A ten hour bus ride took me from Cusco to Arequipa, Peru. If you are taller than 5 feet, I highly recommend not taking such a long bus ride with Cromotex. This was by far the most uncomfortable bus ride I have been on during the whole trip. There was ...

... chambers high up on the mountain side which looked like stone bee hives before we arrived at the most popular viewing point of the Colca Canyon, Cruz del Condor, at about 8.30am.  I must say it was already quite busy with tour buses and there were ...

After a few days chilling out in the gorgeous town of Arequipa we decided to get on with the show and go to the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is the second deepest in the world, thought to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA and the home ...

... , four of us (Rich and I with Guillaume and Ole) set about exploring the city and investigating options for a trek in Colca Canyon. A few hours´ legwork later, we´d settled on a three-day, two-night trek with Colca Aventuras along an alternative route ...

... 1970. It is the size of one entire city block and is literally a city within a city. From Arequipa, the coolest place to visit is probably Colca Canyon, once labeled as the world's deepest canyon until they discovered the one nearby is a little deeper. ...

... We buy a fresh round of cheese and bread which is nice albeit it destroys all our hard work this morning! We arrive back in Arequipa at about 4pm and get a shower at our hostel and use the internet and dinner before getting a taxi to the bus ...

... late than never....The city has a nice plaza but on first impressions I prefer Cusco. We have booked onto a 2 day tour of Colca Canyon the deepest in the world for tomorrow....Had a lovely breakfast and dinner, the food is good here but the pisco sours ...