Trekking Colca Canyon

What a nice trip! 4 days and 3 nights, we bussed out of Arequipa to Chivay to stay the first night. The scenery was amazing as we rose in altitude to 4000, 4300, and finally 4910 meters high, where we were able to see the Andean snowcaps that are the birthplace of the Amazon River. The air gets thin up there, so the first stop was a teahouse for Mate de Coca (Coca Tea), the ancient remedy for altitude sickness.

Note: there is an expression in Peru: El mate de coca no es la coca que le mate. "Coca tea is not the coca that kills you." Coca leaf is the source from which coca base, and finally cocaine are manufactured. Peruvians realize that cocaine is bad, and do not use it, but drug traffickers send the drug north to dumb, indulgent Americans. In its natural form, the leaf is a mild tonic, and gives energy. It is much gentler than coffee, which can overtax a tired body. Coca leaf, cookies and candies are available everywhere here, even at my hotel, and the tea is available in every restaurant. It's a very nice beverage, and helpful to deal with the altitude. It is like comparing half an aspirin to a shot of heroin, or something like that. It is the national beverage, so when in Peru, do as they do.

In Chivay, we soaked in the local hot springs, and we were treated to an Alpaca steak and quinoa dinner, with live music (Andean music with guitars and pan pipes) and the performance of several traditional Peruvian dances. Diners were coaxed away from the tables one by one to try out each dance, and it was really a lot of fun for everyone.

In the morning we began the drive into Colca Canyon. Deeper than the Grand Canyon, it is its opposite in many ways, being at high altitude, but verdant and green with Incan and pre-Incan terraces planted with potatoes, corn, onions, et al. We ascended to the Cruz del Condor to catch a glimpse of the Andean Condor, the heaviest flying animal in the world, and with a wingspan of up to 3.25 meters. Unfortunately, it is their mating season right now, so they are nesting, and were not soaring the canyon like usual. We saw a couple of them only, and very far off, but the viewpoint from the Cruz was spectacular in every direction. Andean ladies selling Alpaca wool products and hot home-cooked food, and young girls dressed up with their most photogenic llamas (hoping for tips from photo-junkies like me) added to the unique "you're in Peru, now" atmosphere.

From here, I boarded a different bus, and met my local guide for the trek down into the Canyon. I was surprised there were not more people going for the trek, but it wasn't an easy climb either, but hey, I'm glad I did it. It gave me a good excuse (i.e. survival) to quit smoking cigarettes again for the umpteenth time in my life; I had started again in Costa Rica, and they become so bothersome and smelly after awhile....

Our guide was an 18 year old girl from the town at the top, Cabanaconde. Friendly and enthusiastic, and legs of iron, apparently. We descended the canyon along with a German couple, and were also joined by her uncle, who would be my guide the following days. It was a very steep set of switchbacks, and looking back up the hill from the bottom, it seems impossible that there was a trail on that slope. The scenery was awesome.

The couple split off with Neldi to the Oasis in the canyon, while uncle Flavio and I began ascending (!) the other side of the canyon to a little pueblo called Tapay, where we stayed the night in a family guesthouse. Very traditional: dirt floors, only recently have received electricity, most people without shoes other than the simple peruvian huarache sandal. Wow, talk about some banged up feet, it's hard for a Northerner to really comprehend how simply these people are living until you get there and spend a couple days with them. It kind of blows you away. I gave the family a few extra dollars for the stay, which gave me a lot of pleasure, because it was going to help them so much more than it would ever help me.

The following morning we set out hiking across the slope through Malata and another valley pueblo, and ascended into the Oasis. Lush, green folliage, with natural spring pools, palms, and tropical fruits. I know Paradise is somewhere close by. Grass hut-style cabanas and lack of any electricity, dirt floors again...you know you've found the simple life. Neldi showed up in the afternoon. She had taken the Germans up the trail to Cabanaconde at 3:30 am, rested an hour, and re-descended immediately with a Brazilian fellow. If she ever enters the Boston Marathon, I'm putting money down on her.

Enjoyed the scenery and quiet reflection at the oasis, swam in the pool, took photos, and invited the guide for a beer. All supplies are packed down the canyon by mule, so the 20 oz beer was $2.70, a lot of money around here! A simple dinner, rested what we could, and ascended the canyon at 3:30, by moonlight, it took about 2 1/2 hours to climb 3400 feet back to Cabanaconde. I can't imagine going all the way from the deepest part of the canyon to the snowfield peaks, but the trails do exist. The scenery was mystical in the early morning, with low, foggy clouds drifting along the canyon, changing perspective. Passed the occasional, sandaled locals with supply mules heading downtrail.

Uncle Flavio took me to his small home for breakfast--again, dirt floors, but they did have a tv going. We had ascended on empty stomachs, and I got dizzy a couple of times, probably not feeling well due to recovering from smoking. Over the four day trip, the meals were mostly small portions, and not much protein to go around in the valley--it's too expensive--other than quinoa. I threw down some money for his wife to get us some eggs, and I ate 5 of them without taking a breath, and all the bread in sight. Again I left them with extra money because it gave me so much pleasure to do so. We went back to Chivay on the bus, and I paid his $3 entrance to the hot springs for the much needed recovery soak, and then a $5 all you can eat buffet at a tourist restaurant. Alpaca, trout, chicken, pork, stuffed peppers, vegetables, shrimp soup and everything you could want, all fresh produce. I ate 4 plates of food, probably more than I had eaten the previous 3 days put together, and my guide ate happily like a king.

He told me that he had never seen a buffet before, (and it was certainly out of his price range). I felt bad a little somewhere inside, I think guilt for how thankless I am for the lifestyle I am able to live. It is amazing how much Northerners waste or throw away. We buy frivolous things that we later don't need, and take for granted the ability to have shoes, electricity and indoor plumbing. It is just eye opening to have the chance to get out into the country a little and hang out with the locals. They are not unhappy by any means, but by Northern standards, they are absolutely impoverished. The paradox of poverty and of laughter and smiling local faces just kind of blows the Western mind. I feel so lucky to have spent time here. Maybe the world would be a better place if we all travelled a little, and walked a mile in another man's sandals. An average Peruvian (or Costa Rican for that matter) would have to save their whole life to afford a trip like this, and would still never make it. It's a little uncomfortable at times to ponder how lucky we are, and how unable we are to really appreciate, to really SEE what we have. I'm very thankful for this trip.

And as always, thanks for your interest. JJ