Sloth Journeys

Leaving Paracas we headed to Arequipa, also known as the White City (I can’t tell you why though, we heard at least 3 potential explanations!).

Whilst the city is meant to be the prettiest in Peru (and actually, it is quite a pleasant city to spend a few days in), the main attraction for us was actually to get out of the city and head to Coca Cola Canyon as Richard called it, or Colca Canyon for the rest of us!

The canyon is apparently the second deepest in the world (being around 3,400m at its deepest (but thankfully not that deep where we were trekking!)) and was meant to be a spectacular trek, also offering the opportunity to see condors on the way.

However, before that, we enjoyed a couple of days in Arequipa, taking another free walking tour to see the sights (much better than the Lima tour I’m glad to say) and doing some planning for the next stages of our trip.

We also finally tried our very first Pisco Sour, a drink made from, of all things, Pisco, which originates from the city of the same name, back along the coast of Peru. I know, I know, we’ve been in Peru for almost a month and we’ve not tried it until now – you’d be right to ask what we’ve been playing at! Still we managed to have a few more over the next few days to make up for it!

We also managed to try a couple of other local dishes, including Ajo de Gallina (it tastes a lot like chicken Korma!) and Rocoto Relleno, a pepper stuffed with minced meat and raisins and served drizzled in melted cheese, accompanied by a potato cake of sorts.

After seeing the city’s sights and sampling some of the culinary delights it was time to head off on our trek.

The trek isn’t isn’t hugely long, but does require descending around 1200m into the canyon and of course, climbing back out again at the end! Unless you are a complete nutter this trek is either done as a 1 night, 2 day trek, or a slightly more relaxed 2 night, 3 day trek. With time on our side, and with concerns over our fitness and in particular Richards hip, we obviously decided on the 2 night, 3 day option! This was also to be a guided trek, mainly because the public transport options to get there on your own are a right pain in the back side!

So at 3am (uurgh!) we were picked up from our hostel for a 3 hour drive to the canyon edge and the start of our hike. Before starting, we stopped for a traditional breakfast of, by now, the fairly standard eggs, bread, butter and jam we’ve come to expect, but this time served with Chicha, a corn based drink, which we hadn’t tried to date. I quite enjoyed it, but I don’t think Richard was enamoured with the hot, lumpy concoction! One thing we also got ‘treated’ to which we weren’t expecting, was two Peruvians all dressed up in traditional clobber, who proceeded to put on some traditional music and started dancing! Did I mention it was only 6.45am?!

Anyway, after a swift bit of ‘culture’ we were ready to get going with the hike (after stopping to see the Condors).

The hike started off with a fairly spectacular view over the canyon and began with a fairly easy gradually descending path, which led us to both comment that if it carried on like this, it was going to be a breeze! Of course, having thought this, we were about to get our arses kicked!!

It inevitably got steeper and narrower and more rocky, which by the time we’d finally descended the 1200m had taken a bit of a toll on our knees! However, for me, the bigger thing (and honestly I look back and wonder how it hadn’t occurred to me before we set off) was that descending into a 1200m deep canyon was likely to come with some pretty hefty drops next to said narrow, rocky path, which is not great for someone with a fairly major fear of heights!!

There were a few moments that had me almost paralysed as I lost my nerve, and at least one point where I had to shuffle down on my bum because I was totally sure that if I stood up I would fall off the path to my doom! Of course, in hindsight I think that was pretty unlikely, but it was a very real fear in the moment! I’m also not sure Richard particularly enjoyed me telling him, approximately every 2 seconds, to ‘be careful’ (as if somehow he was purposefully being reckless) or ‘please get back from the edge’ even when he wasn’t close to it!

Thankfully, after around 4 hours we made it safely to our nights accommodation at the bottom of the canyon. And to top it off, we got to try Alpaca for lunch. Yum yum.

The second day was a much easier affair, another 3-4 hour hike, but this one meandering along the canyon floor, following roughly the path of the river.

And our prize for finishng this leg was a little oasis of green and accomodation complete with swimming pool and ice cold beer! I know, it’s a tough life right?!

Unfortunately, what we also knew, whilst enjoying our beer by the pool, was that we were going to have to clamber back out of the canyon, starting at 4.20am! Early bed for us I think! It was possible to hire a mule for ride up, however, we’d got ourselves into this mess and we didn’t consider it fair to expect a poor mule to get us out of it!

So at the ungodly hour prescribed we started our climb. Head torches on we started, very slowly, to plod our way up. And up and up and up! Powered by bananas, cereal bars and large enough quantities of gummy sweets and sugary drinks to make a dentist have a meltdown, we eventually made it out of the top. Such a relief! Richard in particular had had a rough last hour of the walk, with the rocks and steep steps sections very hard going on his hip. In fact, towards the end, he had to physically pull his leg up some of the steps with his hand!

Still, another traditional breakfast filled by a dip in some hot springs to sooth our muscles awaited us. On the journey back we also stopped off at a viewing at 4,800m (the highest we’ve been, and enough to make you huff and puff just strolling gently around) and see one of the volcanoes on the area belching ash into the sky as it apparently does on a regular basis!

Whilst Richard had spent most of the climb out of the canyon swearing ‘never again’ I think we both loved it and would definitely do something similar again given the chance!