Down and Ups in the Colca Canyon

About a six hour bus ride to the north east of Arequipa lies the Colca Canyon: probably the second deepest canyon in the world (the deepest being the next canyon along).

Cabanaconde

I spent a night in Cabanaconde and then headed down into the canyon for a 2 day round trip.

I didn't find it particularly exciting to begin with (just another big canyon... once youve seen a couple they don't differ that much) but the place definitely grew on me, starting when I scrambled down to the river below Sangalle Oasis (a genuinely green oasis in the brown canyon and the most touristy spot here). Had a delightfully cool swim after the descent into the heat of the canyon, followed by a good early lunch of an alpaca steak sandwich.

I then had a four hour hike, with a hard steep ascent directly out the Oasis, up the other side of the canyon, to get to Lluhar. Not much at Lluhar except a place to stay and hot springs. Nice hot, hot springs too, with the pool built right next to the river so you can cool off when you need to. I arrived just before it got dark and joined the others in the pool to relax under the stars with a beer. A nice social environment, with some pleasant chat in the pool and a few beers to follow with dinner. Inevitably the group was dominated by the french but there were some Germans, Americans and another English guy to keep it interesting.

Looking back down at Sangalle Oasis

Had a deadline to get the bus back to Arequipa at 2pm the next day, and the hike should have only been about four hours so I had plenty of time. There is a big volcanic geezer on the way, right next to the river with some pools of vigorously boiling water. It was fun being able to paddle where the hot water was bubbling up through the cool river bed.

The path out the valley led away from the track soon after that, but it's not obvious and I (and a couple in front of me) missed the turn off. I got a long way up the road before I finally concluded I must have definitely missed the path and headed back. That little detour didn't leave me much time to make the long climb back out the canyon, to get my bus at 2. I powered up though, through the heat of the day, and made the 1100m ascent and 10 odd km in less than 3 hours - probably a record. I made the bus with a few minutes to spare, exhausted.