Colca Canyon: A Spectacle Indeed, But Not Grand!

After Machu Picchu we stopped back in Ollantaytambo for a night before taking a two-hour ride on a colectivo (basically a mini-van that acts as public transport) back to Cusco. From there we hopped in a taxi and went to the bus station, where we bought tickets for an evening bus ride to Arequipa. The ride would leave at 9:30pm, which saved us the cost of a hostel, so we sprung for the fancier, fully-reclining seats. We chose not to go with Cruz Del Sur, because they are so damn expensive, and this alternative, CIAL, seemed competitive: dinner, bathrooms, fully-reclining seats and en-route films. So, we bought the tickets and killed 6 hours walking around Cusco, doing the internet thing and looking at souvenirs.

As the bus loaded I stood outside, ensuring our bags would be loaded on the bus, going as far as to tell the 10-year-old luggage boy not to overlook our gear. We hopped on and the bus rumbled away from the terminal. It became clear shortly thereafter that this was no comparison to the quite ritzy Cruz Del Sur. Although the bus was similarly equipped we had no trays for our food, the meal was pretty nasty, and there were no jacks for earphones...so everyone got to listen to Clash of the Titans in Spanish, like it or not. Well, I watched the movie (with English subtitles) before falling asleep...for about three hours. Around 4am both Heidi and I were brought back from our slumber due to the frigid temperatures on board the bus! It was darn near freezing. I could, quite literally, see my breath. (In fact, Heidi got annoyed that I kept showing her that I could make my exhalations visible.) Unlike Cruz Del Sur (which gave some pretty pluch coverings), we were all given very thin fleece blankets for the ride. I was in short sleeves and even my toes were cold. Eventually, Heidi and I rounded up two extra blankets from empty seats and did our best to stay warm. Apparently, some of our fellow passengers had been through this before, having brought heavy jackets and thick blankets. Even so I heard one (presumably) Peruvian woman complaining that she, too, was frozen. As we arrived at the bus station the following morning the sun has risen and the heat of the day was beginning to return.

We checked in to our hostels and just got some shut-eye, beneath thick blankets, for a number of hours. Afterwards, we got up, got our fill of meat at an Argentine steakhouse and started looking for Colca Canyon tours. (Colca Canyon is the second deepest and longest in the world. There is a deeper one in Peru and the Grand Canyon is longer. It is also about 4 hours from Arequipa and you, pretty much, need to be on a tour to get there.) We consulted our Rough Guide on South America for suggestions of some tour operators and checked them out. The "basic" tour was typically two days and one night and consisted of numerous stops while on a tourist bus. We found one operator we both really liked, offering a 4-day tour that was very environmentally concious and seemed great...to the tune of $400/pp. We ended up going with the standard tour with an outfit called Wasi, which we just happened upon. They quoted a price of 65 soles/pp (or $23), about half of the next closest quote.

The day before we were to leave Heidi got pretty sick and spent the day in bed. I went out, had a burger, and got some bread and bananas to try and settle her stomach. The next morning she wasn´t 100% but agreed to go to on the tour, more than likely because she didn´t want to hear me complain if she asked to stay in bed (leaving us out 130 soles for the tour). The bus ride took us to nearly 15,000 feet above sea level, and did a number on Heidi´s already ailing body, despite sucking on coca candies along the way. The tour was going to some hot springs after a short rest in our hotels, but we decided to forego that, in the hopes Heidi would be better in time for the dinner and show put on for touristas later in the night. Well, she was still sick and insisted I go anyways. So, I went to the restaurant in Chivay solo. I took a seat at the group table and felt a bit like an ass, all alone. Eventually, a Spanish family (as in from Spain) started chatting with me a bit, asking about Heidi, and making me feel a little less awkward. The dinner was very overpriced (which I expected) and the show seemed a little contrived. That all said, I had an okay time. I did do a little dancing (as did everyone else) and tasted alpaca for the first time (nothing to write home about).

Heidi wasn´t sure if she would be well enough for the next day, which consisted of being in the bus for 12 hours, more or less, with stops at certain viewpoints along the canyon, and at "indigenous" villages along the route. (The "indigenous" villages were little more than contrived tourist traps, rife with souvenirs and animals willing to pose for pictures..for a price, of course.) But, the next morning she said she felt much better and agreed to go. Unfortunately, I had come down with some intestinal issues, but I wasn´t going to let that stop me from going on something I already paid for. A little after 6am the bus arrived to pick us up and we were off.

After stops at a number of little towns for 15 minutes at a time we arrived at the highlight of the tour: The Cruz Del Condor viewpoint of the canyon. From about 4,000 feet above the canyon floor hordes of tourists take endless snapshots, in an attempt to capture photos of the Andean Condor, which has the largest wingspan of all land birds, stretching up to 3.2 meters (or about 10.5 feet). Well, Heidi & I were certainly no exception. After hanging out at the viewpoint for a while, we all hopped on the bus and drove for a couple of minutes before disembarking once again, this time for a 40 minute walk (which Heidi declined). The endpoint of the walk was a viewpoint which was renamed for a young woman who got a little too close to the edge and took a fatal 4,000 foot plunge. After that we headed back to Chivay for lunch, where Heidi and I snuck off to a restaurant other than the one the touristas were herded into, saving about 50% on our bill.

On the 4-hour drive back to Arequipa we simply retraced our trail, stopping only twice: once for the toilet and once at Patapampa, a viewpoint nearly 3 miles above sea level. There we had a view of numerous volcanoes and Mismi Mountain, where the great Amazon River starts as a little trickle. We were surrounded by the obligatory ladies peddling souvenirs, as well as thousands of little rock formations which act as offerings to the mountains, from both the travellers and indigenous peoples alike.

When we got back Heidi was not up to another long bus ride to Puno that day, so we returned to our hostel, checked in, and then headed out for some drugs (for soroche/altitude sickness and motion sickness) and dinner. We had some grub at a nice little cafe which seemed very western, in comparison to most of the joints which offer the standard fare of rice, french fries and chicken.

Arequipa seems like a much cleaner town than most other metropolitan areas we´ve visited in Peru, and I wish we would have been able to check out the town a bit more. I even scoped out a few Radio Shack stores in town! That all being said, the town was crawling with tourists and I think Heidi and I are ready to get away from all of the fellow backpackers for a spell. That will happen in about a week, when we head to a wildlife refuge in Bolivia in order to volunteer for a couple of weeks and get VERY close to some wild beasts. (Quite frankly, the whole idea is both intimidating and exhilarating.) But first, we´re taking a two-day tour of the Peru side of Lake Titicaca, where we´ll visit the manmade Uros islands (which have been inhabited for hundreds of years) and spend the night with a family on another island. Then to La Paz, and finally big cats and hard work!