Canyon de Colca y puke and rally

After getting off the boat from Puno to Arequipa the gentleman we bought our bus tickets from met us on the dock and informed us that there was a strike that evening and we had to take a different bus, one not as nice, an hour earlier. We quickly packed up back at the hostel and then headed to the bus station. At this point it became extremely evident that we had no bus tickets and our tourism agent, so to speak, was off to negotiate with the bus driver. Good news was that he had five seats available, however there were six of us! This meant that one of use has to sit up front with the driver which I volunteered to do. At first I thought great, the driver and I sitting up front together jamming out to some Peruvian flute band music, however, that changed quick. We stopped not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times to pick up hitch hikers and they all sat up front with us... lovely!

Either the deepest or 2nd deepest canyon in the world depending on who you ask is Colca Canyon. Located around 3 hours outside the beautiful old Spanish city Arequipa, Colca Canyon is a phenomenal scene.


First stop on out trip was condor pass, where condors came so close to us it seemed as if they may land on our heads. Their ability to glide so effortlessly was astounding and beautiful to watch.




Word of advice to people who want to go hiking, do not go out drinking the night before and bring beer onto the van on the way, because this was a mistake we made. With little sleep, we hiked all the way down the canyon and dove into the river for a shower before crossing a bridge and hiking up another half an hour to our bungalows for the evening. The following day we hiked up to what was known as the capital of the canyon, but aside from a decent sized church and about 50 families the city was very empty. We found a number of fascinating plants including some reminiscent of cocaine which turned out to be used for lip stick and not for Saturday nights. After passing a waterfall we met some traveling nurses on the path. Fortunately for comic relief a Frenchman from our group had a rash on his leg from a plant on the path. The nurse took one look at it, went into her bag and pulled out a needle. She gave him the shot right in his ass, he gave her cash and that ended the greatest transaction I have ever seen in my life. A few moments later we arrived at "Paradise" or as I would describe it, a place with a fairly small pool, no electricity, and mud floors (I did love the place though)! Having tuna later for dinner did not turn out in my favor. We were to be woken up at 430 AM and wouldn't you know, just prior to that time I woke up and instantly puked on my roommate Matthew! I proceeded to puke a few more times before gathering in the group and taking off. On this 3rd and final day of hiking we had to go straight up the canyon, brilliant considering the tuna effect I was feeling. We were following another Frenchman who I liked to refer to as "El corona de Francia" or the crown of France, because of his ability to smoke copious amounts of cigarettes and consume irregular amounts of alcohol in between and during these hikes. About ten minutes into the hike he looked exhausted, leaned to the side of the path onto some rocks, waved us on, and proceeded to smoke a cigarette. Sheer brilliance. I was so impressed I wanted to cry and clap standing up like I did during the royal wedding.

After puking 4-6 more times throughout the hike we finally reached the top. After a grueling trip in the van back to Arequipa, we then boarded our 12 hour bus back to Cusco..........