Day 1.
Pick up from the house was at 3am, ridiculously early. We drove around picking up the rest of the group before arrive in Chivay 3 hours later for breakfast. There were 10 of us in the group, a Swiss couple, an American couple, 4 young lads from London and me and Emma. Emma is another volunteer at the orphanage, she's from London too and talks like they do in Eastenders. Our guide was a guy called Luis, whose parents were born in the valley, he was an excellent guide.
After breakfast we drove another 2 hours to the Cruz del Condor, a lookout point where Andean condors like to hang out. We saw lots, they're huge, up 1m tall with a 3m wingspan!
Then we continued another hour to Cabanaconde, the starting point of our trek. We saw some files that live in holes they burrow in the earth, and then we set off in the burning sun, for a 3 hour down hill hike to the bottom of the canyon. We went at a fairly fast pace and by the time we got to the bottom we were all grateful of the chance to cool off in the Colca river that ran down the mountain from glaciers up the mountains.
The problem with reaching the bottom was that we now had to start climb the other side, across the river and up a very steep rocky path. We continued for another hour then stopped for lunch in a beautiful little village consisting of about half a dozen buildings. After chilling out in the restaurants gardens for a while we carried on up hill to the next village where we would stay the night. Our accomodation was a small family run hostel in a tiny village, there were a few outhouses (converted into rooms) around a dusty courtyard and a kitchen with chickens and guinea pigs running wild (both were livestock, not pets.) The room was 4 stone walls, a tin roof and a few beds, the view was fantastic, overlooking all the mountains and the valley.
Day 2.
We set off after breakfast at about 9.30 and the walk was easy, 2 hours mainly flat across the mountainside. We stopped and tasted cactus fruit, it was really sour, like eating a lime, and a fruit called tuna fruit, which fortunately did not taste like tuna. Luis kept stopping to show us plants and stuff, we saw a killer tree that had acid inside the bark and burns you if you touch it, scary, we saw a cactus which is used to make tequilla, and some aloe vera plants. Our destination was an "oasis" down by the river; it was stunning, tropical flowers, hammocks, crystal clear swimming pools, palm trees, and of course- a bar. It was great, we swam, sunbathed, drank, played cards, went and explored the river, and basically just chilled there all afternoon. There was no electricty at the oasis so by 7pm it was pitch black, we ate tea by candle light and then stumbled to our rooms with our torches.
Day 3.
We were up by 5am to start the biggest challenge of the trek, the almost verticle 1200m trek back up the mountain. It was dark for the first 45 minutes and it was really hard. The first half an hour was probably the worst, I was still half asleep and it was really tired. But after that my body pretty much got used to the pain and the lack of oxygen and I set myself a steady, albeit slow, pace. Imagine walking constantly upstairs several hours. Thats what it felt like. It got harder the higher we got because the oxygen in the air got thinner and the sun was coming up, but I even surprised myself - I didnt stop other than to drink water. I even took over people who had set off before us! The average time from bottom to top is 3hours, I did it in 2 and a half. I'm immensely proud of myself because it was really difficult, and compared to how much I suffered on the Lares trek I did much better. Inspite of this I finished last in my group, but then again I was up against a bunch of 19 year rugby players who ran up the damn mountain. On a personal level, I did my best. Exhausted and sweaty we continued on back to the town of Cabanaconde where we had breakfast and the chance to look around. Its a small place that clearly survives on the trade of passing trekkers, but nonetheless was a pretty little place, with a nice centre square and an old church. The hard work was over - no more walking - we got back on our bus and headed back towards Chivay, the capital of the Colca Valley.
By this point our lovely guide Luis had left us in the hands of his colleague, Marco. Marco was an idiot, a cross-eyed fool with the greasiest hair I´ve ever seen covering his entire face. He made Emma get on a separate bus to the rest of the group, inspite of the fact that there was a spare seat on our bus. This lead to me having a huge argument with him. For half an hour we argued, in Spanish, and he failed to give me one good reason why he wouldn´t let Emma on our bus. Eventually when I told him I would be complaining about him, he conceded and agreed to pick up Emma in the next town. This was the first argument I´ve had, and won, in Spanish and I was rather pleased with myself and my linguistic abilities. Looks like my degree has paid off for something afterall.
Arguing aside, we stopped at a view point which overlooked pre-Inca terraces in the valley, they´re over 1000 years old and are still used for farming by the people living in the valley. We then stopped in the town of Maca, a purely tourist town where I paid 20p for an eagle to sit on my head. After that we went back to Chivay, for a dip in the natural hot springs. It was lovely, hot volcanic water and a waitress brought drinks over while we were in the pool.
Lunch was an all you can eat buffet for 20 soles (less than a fiver), the food was excellent, the Londoners and I had a jelly eating marathon, getting through about 25 jellies between 4 of us! And best of all - they didn´t charge me! I sat there with my money out and everything, waiting to pay and they didn´t come round to me. An honest person would have owned up... I am not an honest person.
On the drive home we stopped to look at llamas, alpacas, volcanoes and glaciers. And finally arrived back in Arequipa at about 6pm.
Brilliant weekend.
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