4 Days in Colca Canyon

The Colca Canyon

When we got to Colca Canyon I was sick with a cold and we had originally planned on just seeing the canyon and the Condor viewing location and then heading to Puno. This all changed the moment we talked to the bartender who was describing a 4 day hike through two canyons and seeing a waterfall and how it was just the most amazing hike. Well that was that and we left a day later on a four day hike with only a cartoon map as a guide.



Resting by the river

 The first day there was a guided group in front of us so we followed them when our map failed us and yes this was in the first 15 min of the trek. Luckily the trail was pretty easily to follow once you found it and we passed the group right away. The girl was wearing KEDS that is all you need to know about how there trek was going to go. Anyway we had a steep dusty descent and the sun was blazing. I think Michelle had a sunburn with in the first hour. Right before the first town on the trek, after about 3 hours of walking, there is a river so we sat with our feet in the water and rinsed the dust from our faces. At this point we assessed the severity of our burns and we reapplied sun lotion. While we were sitting there a woman ran up to us in tradition garb and told us to stay at her hostel and that all we had to do was follow the signs up the path. When we were ready to move again we walked up the path and found the hostel she was talking about and it was really beautiful. It looked great and we would have stayed if the next town was not just an hour and a half away. It was just to close not to go ahead and walk there to save us the time for tomorrow. The next town was Malata which Michelle continually confused with Matala (kill her in Spanish).  The hostel there was run by a little couple and they were so cute. The man was trying so hard to make sure we had a good time. It was a very basic place with an outhouse and just a tub to wash our faces in. The dinner though was one of the best dinners we had in a long time. It was all vegetarian because it is too hard to get meat in the canyon, but no problem we had pastel de papa, layers of potato with cheese in the middle cooked in the oven with tomatoes in lemon juice with basil and rice. It all looked so beautiful served on plates made there in the town. We enjoyed our food while sitting at a table out on the patio. It was just a great meal all around.     

Our Resort in Malata

                



The Bathroom at our resort

 The next day we woke up and had a lovely breakfast with them as well and then they pointed us in the right direction but not until after he informed us that he also had a museum and that we should take a second to look through it. Had he informed us any time other than right as we were leaving we would have enjoyed finding out what he had in his museum. It was kind of humorous because there were only about 30 families that lived in this village and even there they have a museum, what an entrepreneur.
Oh I almost forgot the night before as we were walking to the town square a small chiwawa like dog started barking a Michelle and she freaked out and did this little girl like dance were she screamed jumped and kicked her leg out at the same time. It was great and I wish I could have captured this moment on camera it was that good.
So we were on our way to the next town which was Fure. The hike was easy at the beginning but at the end it was steep up hills and slippery downhills with a cliff on one side. It only took us about 3 hours and 20 minutes to do a hike that normally takes a good 4 hours. The town which was smaller than Malata had four hostels. We ended up staying with an 18 year old girl who did all the cooking and ran the hostel and a store. Talk about making you feel lazy and useless.

The mighty condor... this picture is not actual size

Close to Fure there is a waterfall that is supposed to be amazing so we headed out with some help from the hostel owner. The hike was nice and very beautiful. There was a river rushing below us with these giant boulders in it and every few feet a small waterfall. Unfortunately we should have gotten a guide because we got confused with all the trails and ended up on a donkey trail and unable to see the front of the main waterfall. The donkey trail did lead us to a lower section where we found two large birds hoping around on some rocks. After some thinking we realized that they were juvenile condors that were trying to fly. Above us were about 6 condors flying around and all of the sudden Michelle starts screaming and falls to the ground when I look back where she was looking I see a condor flying straight toward us about 2 meters overhead. I don’t know if it was trying to scare us off but it did a fly by several times. This was the second time Michelle freaked out and it was almost as good as the first time. She was the only one with a camera and she was too scared to look up and take a picture. I tried to reassure her that condors only eat dead things but that did not help. She kept clutching on to her hat saying the condors were trying to take it. On the way back we walked down to the water and had some cookies and put our feet in the ice cold water. We had planned on swimming until we touched the water.
The hike back was cool and easy and we were back in no time. We had dinner at the hostel a meal of some sort of pumpkin dish with rice. It was okay but not my favorite. There we met a French couple and their local guide. Luckily Michelle speaks French so she was able to communicate with them. The guide told us about a short cut for the hike tomorrow.

The Cruz Del Condor

The sun is killer in the canyon so the earlier you start the better. We got up early ate a quick breakfast of eggs and toast and headed out. It was a pretty uneventful hike but by the end of the hike we were all worn out. Three days of hiking with killer sun and no showers has really taken it out of us. Luckily we were arriving to the place that we have been waiting for the entire hike. They are supposed to have thermal baths and great trout caught that day by the owner of the hostel.

A cool view of the canyon

We got there at about 12 and the owner was super nice. He showed us around the place and we immediately changed into our swimsuits and got into the baths. It was so nice to lie in the sun and relax. After about 3 hours I needed to get my poor skin out of the sun so Christina and I went back up to the hostel. Unfortunatly we left the key down the 10 flights of stairs with Michelle so we just sat in the dining room and read for 5 hours. Yes 5 hours. Michelle came back and she was so crispy. I am surprised that her skin did not just crack off of her.
It was almost time for dinner and we were so excited for trout. We had been waiting for this for three days. When it came out I was in shock. It was the size of a sardine. I did not believe that this was what I was eating for dinner. I was expecting a big nice piece of fish and all I got was a bait fish. Let’s just say that we were all disappointed.
Oh and by the way we had only taken out money in the town before for a couple of days thinking that we were not going to be hiking this long. By the third day we were really nervous about the fact that we may run out of money and not be able to make it to Puno, our next stop. We counted every sole we had and found out that we would not be able to eat breakfast or really anything until we got to Puno.

Waiting for the cattle truck with the locals

Ridding in the back of a cattle truck

Because of our lack of food we decided that we would do a short hike and then take a bus the rest of the way back to town, instead of a four hour hike in direct sun straight up the side of a mountain. Well the short hike was not bad although we were passed by a 87 year old man (sad). When we got there people were waiting for the bus and we took a cue from them and sat down in the shade. After about an hour we saw this cattle truck coming up the road and we thought oh the bus must be right behind it. That was the bus. We piled in the back with all sorts of goods for market. We were so crammed in that people were sitting on the top of the truck too. The top was open so dust was gushing over the top making everything look tan. After about 3 hours we made it to town and tried to buy a bus ticket. Unfortunately they do not sell seats for our stop outside of Chivay and the bus was packed. Yes that meant that we had to stand the whole way. When we got to our stop, a junction of two roads, we got off and went to the nearest police officer and asked him about getting a bus to Puno. We had heard that it was possible to catch a bus at this junction so we decided we would take our chances. The officer said that the bus usually cost double what we had budgeted. Um not a good sign. What the hell were we going to do if we could not get a bus? Well we waited and they flagged a bus down for us and we asked the driver if he would take 30 soles for the three of us and he paused and then said yes. THANK GOD!