Those damn BusCamas! Great if you can get them, but if you're too late, and have to settle for a SemiCama... Hmmmmm. It was a sleepless night from Ica to Arequipa..
But once we were here! A really beautiful city - locals claim that when the moon left the earth, it left Arequipa (apparently implying it's beauty).. And they're not wrong..
One day was spent exploring the city, and its famous hedonistic (?) monastery, before heading off to the Colca Canyon - the deepest canyon in the world! OK, once again I'm stretching the truth - actually the one next to it is 162m deeper - but seriously, this one is massive, and once its greater that 1km vertical, whats a couple of hundred meters??
Anyway, after a 4.30am start, and adorned with fluffy llama hats, we were at Cruz del Condor at 7.30am to grab prime spots before the tour groups arrived. The condors duly arrived at the appointed hour, and impressed all with their majesty. The life of a condor has to be pretty cool - ascending on thermal currents, before swooping down and attacking the nearest rodent for breakfast..
On advice from locals that it was 6km to Cabanaconde - the nearest village - we hiked. It turned out to be 14km. The final 2km, however, was accompanied by Christina and Claudio - our pint-sized guides - taking us through paddocks, streams, and over walls before arriving to a very welcome Alpaca steak..
Descending to the bottom of said canyon: 7km (horizontal), and over 1km (vertical) later we arrived at "the oasis". An electricity-less paradise with one of the most unique views possible - on all sides near vertical cliffs stretching to the sky.. Having intended to trek back out the next morning, plans had to change as we realized that that would be a physical impossibility. A day of 500 playing, fruit-picking (and getting hit at/by), and general lazing resulted.
The following morning a 4.30am departure was in order to beat the sun's rays, and after 2.5 grueling hours we were back!! Amazingly, almost unanimously the trek down was deemed to be harder, although that could have been due to the 14km warmup..
Somehow the 7hrs of buses back to Arequipa passed in a dream (as most of us were dreaming), excepting a horror 20 minutes early into the trip: an unpaved road, no suspension, and a full bladder were a terrible combination for 3 of the party... an emergency exit, blind panic running to a baño, followed by a re-entry where climbing over the locals back to our miraculously-saved seats was required.
The final day before a very-early-booked BusCama overnight trip to Cuzco was spent exploring the local markets, with cactus and other strange fruit-tastings, and a visit to Juanita - the Inca ice-maiden. A child-sacrifice discovered on the top of a nearby mountain, this was awesome. It gave us some insight into the Inca culture, and customs before heading to the capital of the former empire. If you're in Arequipa, visit her.
More thumbnails ...
1 vote 
