Category Archives: Arequipa

Waking at the crack of dawn, mule ride up the mountain, hot springs, wild alpacas…we had it all on the last day of our 3-day trek. And to think the whole thing, including meals and accommodation, cost us each a grand total of about $60USD.

Nancy and I knew we were too trashed to make it back up to the top of the canyon rim on the third day so we had booked a couple of mules the night before for less than $20 apiece. Well worth the cost to save us any more pain! Just because we have lost almost 100 pounds between the two of us in the last year doesn’t mean we are in tip-top shape yet. And little did we know that we wouldn’t be able to sit down for another week but that’s another story! Read More

The second day of the trek took us through more awesome mountain scenery as we made our way along the edge of the canyon. The river was not too far below us for most of the walk and apart from the final descent into our camp for the second night, the route was fairly flat.

We passed through several small villages along the way and walked through a couple of ankle-deep streams that flowed across the trail. We were definitely happy that we had bought water-proof boots before we left home! The variety of vegetation was staggering. Everything from cactus to medicinal plants to domestic crops for the local populace. Here and there the landscape actually opened up into large open fields. Read More

Once again, it has been ages since I have had time to write here with all my other projects! Who would have thought “retirement” would keep me so busy?

We love last minute decisions. Last Monday, as Nancy and I sat around the house, we said, “Let’s go to Colca Canyon tomorrow!” This is one of Arequipa’s nearby claims to fame and we have just never got around to going, even after a year of living here.

So we walked into town, bought a couple of pairs of decent hiking boots and booked a three-day trek with Oasis Palmeras Travel. There’s more than a dozen companies here that provide one to three day treks, tours and everything in between. I did a little research on the Internet and just picked one.

More than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon (about 3400m at its deepes point) and over 100km long, Colca Canyon has the distinction of being the second deepest canyon in the world. Unlike the Grand Canyon, it is formed by volcanic formations reaching skyward instead of deep erosion by a river over millennia of time. Read More