Deep deep down
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
23
147
Trip End
May 01, 2009
Colca Canyon,
Peru
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The Colca Caņon, Peru. Famed to be the deepest Caņon in the whole wide world, but hold on a minute, did anyone bother to have a look at the canyon right next to it...? Mmmm ?? No ? Oh you silly things yes right next to the Colca IS the worlds deepest caņon. Caņon del Cotahuasi. The Caņon de Colca is pretty deep at 3191 meters, you have to give it credit for that but those boffins got their tape measures out and did their sums and concluded that Canņon del Cotahuasi is a full 163 meters deeper! Hey size isn't everything..... is it?
Journeying to the Caņon de Colca involved a lovely 3 hour manic bus ride form Arequipa at 4am. (Sorry thats bus ride with a manic driver) Our first stop was a place called (just a note, I am in an internet cafe in Copacabana Bolivia writing this and listing to a muzak version of the Pink Panther theme tune with some singing over the top, v
Cruz del Condor
. strange) Cruz de Condor wher the condors nest nearby and fly up and down on the thermals created by the canyon and just kind of float right next to the side of the top of the canyon. Well, there weren't that many there when we arrived but I managed a few pics, more tourists than condors. Of course the condor being one of the sacred creatures of the Inca, along with the serpent and the puma, making this an especially visited place.Moving on in the crazy bus we arrive at a small village called Cabanaconde at the edge of the Canyon de Colca. After a spot of much needed lunch, our group myself and Joe a couple from Bristol a couple from Columbia and our guide set off on our 3 day trek down into the Colca Canyon.
Unlike the previous 4 day trek I did from Huarez in the Cordellia Blanca, this time, Dena, we didn't have the benefit of strangulņated donkeys to carry all our gear.Knowingg this beforehand I had slimmed down my backpack to what I thought Id need for three days and left thesurpluss at the hostel in Arequipa. However, about 5minutess into the trek I soon realised that even thebasicss Id brought along were going to be too much and the future looked bad me my backpack and this trek.
3 hours we walked down the pathway into the Canyon, jeeezzz when will we ever reach the bottom? I could see the bridge across the river at the foot of the valley gradually getting larger as wedescendedd down the pathzigz zagging down into the Canyon
Swoosh
. Finally we reached the bridge, it was real not just a figment of my imagination. It was like if your in the desert and see amiragee, can it be real...? We had, by the way, stated off at probably the hottest part of the day at around noon time and the suns heat wasstiflingg. Thankfully the bridge was real, on the other side was a steep climb, only for about 20 minuets our guide reassured us.. Well 20 mins of sheer hell and only a taste of what was to come on day 3 was the pleasing antidote to my arrival at the top, sweating from everyconceivablee pore and gasping for air from the altitude. Err yeah and I had paid good money for this... Onto our first stop for the night and a welcome shower. Not camping this time but in a small village in some mud huts. Evening meal, soup to start and then a main very filling and warming in the cooling evening. Of course a few beers had to be consumed before bed even though we were to start walking again at 8am with breakfast at 7.Pleasantlyy warm in the night, but I did have my long Johns on expecting the worst..
Day 2. UUggg maybe a few too many beers in the end and a bit of a late night. The couple from Bristol, Sam and Hannah were a good laugh anddidn'tt help in discouraging the beer intake. Bit of brecky, pack up and off on the trail once more
Still
. Today wasrelativelyy flat in comparison to day one with the steep descent in to the canyon. We passed through a few small villages and visited a smallmuseumm showing how the people still live and survive in this difficult terrain. No roads here nomotorr vehicles nomodernn farming equipment either. Everything is done by hand, or with the Ox and Donkey. Stop over for day 2 was a very welcoming site in the bottom of the canyon with swimming pools and a place to lounge in thedyingg afternoon sun. An easy day today only 4 hours walking with lots of time to relax by the pools and to prepare for the big climb out of the canyon on day 3. Day 3. Its an early one, starting on the trail at 5am. This is to avoid having toclimbb in the hotmorningg sun. It was a good choice to, as even in the shade of the side of the canyon and the coolness of the morning, in no time I was up to maximum sweat capacity... Weweren'tt in the deepest part of the canyon but the climb to the top was about 1000 meters up. Our guide said the usual time for the climb is 2 and half hours, so by starting at 5 we would reach the top before the sun started beaming down into the canyon. One group he had had, had taken 5 hours toclimbe out..!! I think we all hoped weweren'tt going to take that long... Have a look at the pics, see how your hero got on..
