Well that was an interesting weekend trip. We traveled to Arequipa, Peru which is 10 hours from Cusco, in a bus that we initially thought was amazing. When we got on the bus, we found that our seats were front row on the 2nd floor of the bus which meant that we had an incredible view, and the seats even reclined a little! After the bus started to take off though, things begin to change. It began with a woman singing to us in spanish and she had the highest an nasaliest voice I have ever heard. She sounded like the chipmunk version of Britney Spears. After her song ended 15 minutes later, we began to rest, but they turned on some violent foreign film which started with 100s of people trying to climb a tree and fighting eachother. I had no idea what was going on! After we were finally so tired that it couldnt keep us up anylonger we fell asleep... to wake up to a 1/4 inch thick layer of ice covering all the windows on the bus. It was insane! We pushed through it though, and when we got to the bus station, we made sure to book a nicer bus (which ended up being amazing).
We spent the whole next day in Arequipa. We visited some incredible spanish churches as well as a Famous Monestary in which nuns hosted parties and had slaves, which the pope was not happy about when he found out what was going on there. For lunch we went to a little resturaunt called Crepisimo which had 100s of different Crepe sandwiches and was delicious. We will definitely be learning how to make these crepe sandwiches when we get back.
the next morning, we woke up at 2:30 am and got on our van to head to Colca Canyon. Lucky us, Ash and I got the back seats that dont recline even though the seats in front of us did. It was crammed but we were tired so it didnt even matter. Our first stop was in Chevay for breakfast. In this town there is a Tourist tax that you have to pay to enter. Its about $30 and is only for people from outside of the country, which is pretty ridiculous but I guess it doubles as the entry cost to Colca Canyon. after Chivay we stopped at the Condor Lookout where you can see these huge majestic birds in flight in the canyon. They have a wing span of 3.5 feet! They were really cool to see and it got us even more excited to visit the canyon. When we finally arrived at Colca canyon we met our guide Omar who explained to us that we would be hiking down 3,000 feet to a small town for lunch, then up the other side of the canyon an finally we woul descend again to the oasis at which we would be staying. the side of the canyon that we went down was fully of cliffs and everything was dead (looked alot like new mexico) but the other side was full of vegetation and was an incredible view. It took us about 2 and a half hours to reach Colca river which sits at the base of the canyon, and then we hiked for another 40 minutes up to the first town. Alpaca stir fry was included in the hike cost and our hose picked some really spicey yellow peppers off of a tree nearby for us to try. It was Spicy! haha. after our lunch break, we began our hike up the other side of the canyon. on one side of the trail was a 4 foot terrace and on the other was a 4 foot rock wall as well. the Peruvians love building rock walls whenever they can. next to our small trail was a man made irrigation ditch that was only about a foot deep, but the water was moving extremely fast. As we climbed we passed through a few villages an Omar introduced to some of the natural wildlife. there is a very common tree there with very thin windy branches that, if broken, the inside of the branch is full of acid and will burn you on contact. They use these to mark their mules and many tourist accidently get burned by them. luckily, we did not. He also introduced us to a bush that cures stomach aches, one that cures headaches, and a fruit that is in the same family as the kiwi except is much much more sour. Ashlee was a big fan and we ended up getting some more later and putting sugar on it. Its really good!
When we finally began to descend into the oasis we were in awe by its beauty. Surrounded by dead plants, the green vedgetation all grows around a 100 ft water fall that crashes into the colcoa river right by the bridge to get in. When we arrived we felt like we were at a resort. There were 6 pools, and tons of little cabanas. We made sure to take a dip in the pool but it was so cold that we didnt stay in long. The cabana that we stayed at was made of stucko and had a thatch roof with no electricity. It was amazing. Unfortionately this is about when I began to feel a little sick so I made sure to go to bed early. We woke up at 4:30 the next morning to begin the 3 hour hike up the 3,000 ft canyon side. I had a pretty epic hike up. for the first hour I threw up about 4 times about every 15 minutes. It was painful but I took some medicine after that and it made me feel alot better. When we we finally climbed out of the canyon, we hiked for about 30 minutes to the nearby town Cabanaconde where they were celebrating a virgin? I dunno, Peruvians are always celebrating something. After that we hopped in a BRAND NEW VAN that the driver covered in confetti and beer and headed to some hot springs in Chevay. It was so relaxing and felt amazing! after that we made a few stops to see some incan terraces, some mountains, and some endagered species of Llama and Alpaca. Once we got back to Arequipa we played some card games at the Crepisimo place and then hopped on our amazing bus that had foot rests and dinner and dessert and arrived back in Cusco monday morning at 6:30 am. Unfortionately I was sick the whole next day so I spent it in bed but Im doing great now and Ash no longer has to deal with me being sick so im sure she is pretty happy. Time for week 4!
the next morning, we woke up at 2:30 am and got on our van to head to Colca Canyon. Lucky us, Ash and I got the back seats that dont recline even though the seats in front of us did. It was crammed but we were tired so it didnt even matter. Our first stop was in Chevay for breakfast. In this town there is a Tourist tax that you have to pay to enter. Its about $30 and is only for people from outside of the country, which is pretty ridiculous but I guess it doubles as the entry cost to Colca Canyon. after Chivay we stopped at the Condor Lookout where you can see these huge majestic birds in flight in the canyon. They have a wing span of 3.5 feet! They were really cool to see and it got us even more excited to visit the canyon. When we finally arrived at Colca canyon we met our guide Omar who explained to us that we would be hiking down 3,000 feet to a small town for lunch, then up the other side of the canyon an finally we woul descend again to the oasis at which we would be staying. the side of the canyon that we went down was fully of cliffs and everything was dead (looked alot like new mexico) but the other side was full of vegetation and was an incredible view. It took us about 2 and a half hours to reach Colca river which sits at the base of the canyon, and then we hiked for another 40 minutes up to the first town. Alpaca stir fry was included in the hike cost and our hose picked some really spicey yellow peppers off of a tree nearby for us to try. It was Spicy! haha. after our lunch break, we began our hike up the other side of the canyon. on one side of the trail was a 4 foot terrace and on the other was a 4 foot rock wall as well. the Peruvians love building rock walls whenever they can. next to our small trail was a man made irrigation ditch that was only about a foot deep, but the water was moving extremely fast. As we climbed we passed through a few villages an Omar introduced to some of the natural wildlife. there is a very common tree there with very thin windy branches that, if broken, the inside of the branch is full of acid and will burn you on contact. They use these to mark their mules and many tourist accidently get burned by them. luckily, we did not. He also introduced us to a bush that cures stomach aches, one that cures headaches, and a fruit that is in the same family as the kiwi except is much much more sour. Ashlee was a big fan and we ended up getting some more later and putting sugar on it. Its really good!
When we finally began to descend into the oasis we were in awe by its beauty. Surrounded by dead plants, the green vedgetation all grows around a 100 ft water fall that crashes into the colcoa river right by the bridge to get in. When we arrived we felt like we were at a resort. There were 6 pools, and tons of little cabanas. We made sure to take a dip in the pool but it was so cold that we didnt stay in long. The cabana that we stayed at was made of stucko and had a thatch roof with no electricity. It was amazing. Unfortionately this is about when I began to feel a little sick so I made sure to go to bed early. We woke up at 4:30 the next morning to begin the 3 hour hike up the 3,000 ft canyon side. I had a pretty epic hike up. for the first hour I threw up about 4 times about every 15 minutes. It was painful but I took some medicine after that and it made me feel alot better. When we we finally climbed out of the canyon, we hiked for about 30 minutes to the nearby town Cabanaconde where they were celebrating a virgin? I dunno, Peruvians are always celebrating something. After that we hopped in a BRAND NEW VAN that the driver covered in confetti and beer and headed to some hot springs in Chevay. It was so relaxing and felt amazing! after that we made a few stops to see some incan terraces, some mountains, and some endagered species of Llama and Alpaca. Once we got back to Arequipa we played some card games at the Crepisimo place and then hopped on our amazing bus that had foot rests and dinner and dessert and arrived back in Cusco monday morning at 6:30 am. Unfortionately I was sick the whole next day so I spent it in bed but Im doing great now and Ash no longer has to deal with me being sick so im sure she is pretty happy. Time for week 4!
Greetings Ash and Mike. As always we look forward to reading your blog! The trip to cocola canyon sounds like an extraordinary adventure. We can hardly wait to see the pictures. Sounds like the hike was pretty intense. Glad you guys enjoyed it and are safe back in cuzco. All is well back home and we miss you.
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