Colca Canyon

I did a 3-day trek through the Colca Canyon near Arequipa, the deepest canyon in the world (twice as deep an Grand Canyon). It was not one of the hardest treks I have done, but it was beautiful!

First we drove to a place called Cruz del Condor. Here, you have a nice first view into the canyon and, as you can guess from the name, you can watch condors flying through the canyon. We were lucky and saw many condors.

Colca Canyon Trek

Colca Canyon Trek

When we started the trek, it was all downhill for the first 3 hours. We had beautiful views of the canyon when walking down into it.

Colca Canyon Trek

We then stopped for lunch in the first village and afterwards continued to the next village where we stayed the night. During that short walk in the afternoon, our guide explained us a lot about the plants in the canyon and we got try local fruits.

The accommodation the first night was very basic but nicer than I had expected. After our guide had prepared the food (in the kitchen which was full of guinea pigs) we had a nice dinner and spent the evening talking in the dining room till we went to our relatively comfortable beds very early.

The second day was very easy and relaxed. After an amazing pancake breakfast, we started our 2-hour walk, which was mostly downhill again. We stopped in the next village for some explanations and then continued to the oasis at the bottom of the canyon. The rest of the day was spent in the oasis. We lay in the sun, went for a swim in the pool and when the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, walked down to the river for a bit.

Colca Canyon Trek

Colca Canyon Trek

On the third day, we had a very early start. We got up at 4.30am to start hiking up and out of the canyon at 5. It was a 3-hour uphill hike. It was hard, but luckily not quite as steep as I had feared. We were really glad to arrive at the top of the mountain and walk to Cabanaconde where we finally had our breakfast.

Colca Canyon Trek

After breakfast, our bus picked us up and drove us to the hot springs in Chivay. This was the perfect thing to do after that climb in the morning. We lay in the hot water for about 40 minutes and felt much more relaxed afterwards. It was then time for our buffet lunch, where we tried many nice Peruvian dishes, including some really good battered and fried bananas. Two more stops were made on the way back to Arequipa. the first one was at the highest point on the way, where you have a great view of the different volcanoes around. The second stop was to see some alpacas living in these mountains.

Colca Canyon Trek

Colca Canyon Trek

Colca Canyon Trek