Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

The week had us sleeping in the shadows of volcanoes, descending part of the deepest canyon on earth, and hanging in a tiny desert oasis surrounded by enormous sand dunes. Our flight to Arequipa put us in town about 9:30 Friday night. Exhausted and slightly hung over, we looked up a crepe spot, did a little wandering, then slept.

 

Arequipa is a beautiful city situated in the Andes at 2335 meters. The first thing one notices when having breakfast on the hostel rooftop is a presence of three enormous volcanoes - Misti, Pikchu Pikchu, and Chachani - dominating the skyline. A gorgeous breakfast view indeed. While still hot during the day, it is a more mild climate than Lima. Definitely less humid.

 

Pikchu Pikchu and Chachani

 

El Misti

 

We spent a bit of time (let's say 2 days) doing our usual wandering and eating, exploring the Spanish colonial buildings that filled the central part of town, and hanging at the dankest spot in Arequipa, Chaqchao. Chaqchao serves some excellent coffee and chocolate, teaches chocolate making courses, and has the best beer selection in Arequipa. We hung out there more than the hostel.

 

Friends were made and plans were laid out. The friends were Oz from Wales, Rachael of England, and a Dutch couple with non English names that I forget. The destination was Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon on Earth. Though I'll admit our trek did not take us to the depths.

 

 

At it's deepest, Colca canyon is about twice as deep as the grand canyon at 4160m. At the point of our descent the depth is 1200m. The descent led us to the 'town' of San Juan de Chuccha on the canyon floor on day one, an 'oasis' (commercial term, though they do have a sweet pool) on day 2, and struggling back up the canyon wall on day 3. We out of shape, I'll tell you what. Or at least we were until the hike up that canyon wall - 4km with 1.2km vertical. Not terrible but it hurt.

 

Back in Arequipa we treated ourselves to a slightly more expensive room to guarantee access to hot water. Definitely worth it. After another day in town we hopped a night bus to Nasca, then on to Huacachina, the hippy oasis in the sand. More on that later.

 



 

San Pedro for everyone!