La Casa De Mama Yacchi Colca Canyon

Went to the Colca Canyon today which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and yes we felt the altitude. The highest point was 4800 metre and we all felt very lightheaded. Just a small 2 hour walk through the mountains powered us out, what will we do at the Inca trail ???
Well had Coca Tea (Kokain is made of leafs ) which should help :-) but not sure if it made a difference. Our hotel was based in a little valley in a middle of no-where such beautiful views.
Went to the Crus del Condor t...

Left Arequipa (Alt. 2500m) feeling seedy, no appetite, passed thru 4500m and on arrival at Corporaque near Chivay(Alt. 3800m), at the hotel for the night, guess who was the ONLY one to need oxygen! Symptoms you donīt want to know about, but when I passed out, had everyone running! Seems our so-called "travel doctor" stuffed it up & gave us far too few Altitude pills to manage the amount of towns at high altitude. And she's the "expert". Hotel Mama Yacchi is an eco-resort and just beautifu...

Since the last time I wrote I spent a couple of days in Colca Canyon, supposedly the deepest canyon in the world at 3600m and again surrounded by gorgeous scenery and plenty of llamas, alpacas and vicunas. The first day we hiked to the top of a mountain, legs still a bit sore form Inca trail and (really through with steps at the moment!) Our guide, a tanned leather version of Mick Jagger with a prosthetic nose who rather impressively managed to revert every conversation back to neo-colonialis...

26th June 2009

Departing Arequipa at 8.30am, we got up at 7.30am, kicked Lila out, showered
and then packed our small bags for the next 2 days. We left by mini
bus for the Colca Canyon – one of the deepest canyons in the world,
at 9am, traveling a rough, rutted road through high plains flanked by
extensive Inca and pre-Inca terracing that goes on for Kilometers.

We stopped the night at Chivay, a picturesque village near the canyon.
When we arrived at 1.30pm...

We finally decided to get up after a bad night's sleep and as I opened the curtains I was stunned to see two mountains that had not been visible in yesterday's low cloud. As in Ecuador, it tends to be bright and clear in a morning with the cloud building by mid day. We found out that one was an active volcano, locally named 'Misty' or translated as 'Lord' and a taller range called 'Chachani' at 6075 metres. We were lucky to see them both in a seasonal covering of snow. Setting off in a north ...

Paa grund af nationalstrejken skulle vi koere mod Colca Canyon allerede kl 4, men vi havde heldigvis bussen for os selv saa vi kunne bare sove, mens guiden Grace og chauffoeren Fernando Rrrrrrraul, pokkers til fedt navn, fik os sikkert afsted. Flere gange koerte vi forbi steder hvor der var lagt sten som blokerede den ene vejbane men der stod heldigvis ingen folk til ligesom at goere blokaden effektiv. Vi koerte igennem et smukt landskab med vulkaner og bjerge afloest af pampas og mere knolde...

I dag gik turen til Cruz de Condor, hvor vi skulle se om de store fugle var paa vingerne. Vi gik en tur paa 45 min langs med kloeften og det var virkeligt et spektakulart landskab. Guiden pegede paa et tidspunkt og raabte kondor men ingen af os naaede at se noget som helst inden hun sagde at nu havde den sat sig ned igen dybt nede i kloeften. Hmmmm. Da vi saa naaede Cruz de Condor hvor der stod mange mennesker paa tre forskellige plateauer skulle vi dog ikke vente laenge inden Joan fik oeje p...

There are several photo stops along the way, and Luis knows them all, including a curious frozen waterfall. After Patapampa, we descent rapidly to the Colca Valley , back to 3,600 mts (11,800 ft.). At the village of Chivay , we enjoy a succulent lunch at the Urinsaya Buffet, an immense spread of typical fare at the very acceptable price of S/. 15.00. There was even a plate of cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca steaks. At this point we enter the Colca Canyon National Park . It's S/. 35.00 for my ent...

Hi guys! After a brief stop in Arequipa and a load up of decent coffee we travelled for a day through the Andean highlands on the way to a town called Chivay and the Colca Canyon. The highlands are amazing. We're talking an alitude of over 5000m here. We're all feeling a bit sick, lightheaded and wobbly. No matter, nothing that a good chew of coca leaves won't fix! These leaves are sold everywhere for about 3 soles for 100gms. The idea is to grab 2 or 3 leaves, roll them into a wad and stick ...