Colca Caynon
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2007
1
18
26
Trip End
Sep 03, 2007
Colca Canyon,
Peru
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Our day started with a four hour bus ride along a paved road from Arequipa to Chivay, followed by another two hours on a dirt road. We passed many articultural areas and most of the locals on our bus were either going to their farms or heading into town to sell things.
At Cabanaconde, we ate lunch and then started the trek out of town into the canyon. In our trekking group, we had a local guide, two girls from Essex (both named Sam) and a French girl named Fabienne, currently living in Toronto.
The first day of trekking was 3.5 hrs, involving a 1200 m descent into the canyon. We had some stunning views into the canyon and could see what we'd be in for over the next two days. Once we were at the bottom, we only had to cross a bridge and trek for another half an hour before arriving at San Juan do Chucco (population = 40). We were pleasantly surprised by the accomodation premises. Our room was made of stone (floor and walls), with a thatched roof. The showers were solar powered, and the view from the toilet was amazing! We had alpaca for dinner, washed down with a cold cerveza.
On the second day, we began our trek at 730am. At the first village we stopped in, we came across the San Pedro Cactus, which has medicinal properties. Inca boys drink this at the age of 14 to show that they are men (apparently, this drink has halocugenic properties). We learned that the Incas used many local plants for medicinal purposes, and that many of the locals in the area still do so today.
Bottom of Colca Canyon 1 - Day 1
We also saw the oldest church in the area, which was built by the Spanish conquerors on the site of a previous Inca temple. It was interesting to see how the locals in the area combine Inca and Catholic practices. For example, they bring offerings to Pachamama (mother earth) on the 2nd of February (summer solstace) and attend mass at church afterwards.
We visiting a local museum, run by one of the locals from her house, which showed us the culture of the area. We also tasted chicha (fermented corn drink), but the non-alcoholic version.
We continued our trek further into the canyon, and made it to the oasis by lunch time, where we had time to relax by the pool, sourced from a natural spring. After lunch, we started our 1200m ascent back up the canyon. The guide gave us coca leaves to chew on, which is what the locals use to keep their energy levels high in the mountains, as well as help combat altitude sickness. We found it quite bitter and similar to chewing tobacco.
While we were hiking up the canyon (1,200m in total), it was awesome to see our progress uphill and finally the entire route at the end.
We settled into our hostel in Cabanaconde and had dinner at a local restaurant (which actually played a music dvd with music from the last decade), so we stayed for a while, singing along to the songs.
On day 3, we took a bus to Cruz del Condor Observation Point to see the flight of the condor. It was pretty cool, but found the bus ride to be more entertaining. The bus was completely stuffed, but more locals wanted to get on (either to get into town to sell stuff or to get to their farm). At one point, since the drivers refused to let people on (there really was no more room), the locals caused a road blockage and wouldn't let us pass until the driver let them on. In the end, a agreement was met where by they could go in the luggage area under the bus! We don't think this would be legal in any of our countries, but hey, this is Peru.
We stopped for lunch in Chivay, which was very tasty. It was eat-as-mucho-as-you-can buffet for only 15 soles (US$5), featuring all the local dishes. we ate alpaca burgers, rocota relleno (stuffed spicy peppers), tasty stir fries, etc. Fraser particularly enjoyed the deep-fried bananas (he ate about 7 in total). After lunch, we visited hot thermal pools to relax our muscles before heading back home.
Comments
earthquake
Hi you two... good to catch up with you again. Love the sound of deep fried bananas.
just heard about the earthquake - are you are ok?