Arequipa (Peru) & Colca Canyon

Crossing the border at nightfall wasn't the only required step to get to Arequipa...some of us had to get off the bus in Puno and get on a different one of course...which was quite uncomfortable, but it seemed like I had barely fallen asleep when the bus stopped and there we were, in Arequipa at 3.30! How convenient! To make matters worse, the terminal is over 3km away from the center, so people had no choice but taxi it...unless you wanted to spend the following 2 hours in the terminal till the local buses started running, that is...

I decided to head to Misti House and crash there till the morning...after 2 straight nights on buses, any mattress will feel heaven!

Arequipa is a beautiful, pleasant and modern city! I have to say that Sucre's white colonial architecture impressed me more, but at the same time I wish I had spent more time in Arequipa...people seemed more "modern and sophisticated" than anywhere else in Peru (except Lima), the whole city just had a good vibe all around!
I went to visit the Convento de Santa Catalina, named after Santa Caterina da Siena, which was wonderful on many different levels! Its colors, alleys and courtyards make it look like a city within the city center, and it was well worth the 30 soles! On a side note, I think it had the best bathrooms I've seen in all of Peru, airport included!

I decided, on a whim, to take the 2-day hiking tour of the Cañon del Colca, the world's deepest canyon (although this is disputed with another nearby canyon, Cotahuasi), more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA!
Not planning it beforehand was not such a great idea, as I was not prepared or rested enough to wake up at 3 the next morning and hike 7-8 hours!
Nevertheless, this last minute excursion ended up being one of the highlights of my whole trip!
Our minibus showed up at 3.30 to drive us out of town to the famous Cruz del Condor, a breath-taking spot where we first saw the depth of the canyon, although the main attraction was of course the condor! Considering what my luck had been at MachuPicchu I was definitely not expecting to see any condors, so I was taken aback when as soon as we showed up...there they were, doin their thing in the air, using the various winds to get around...it was beautiful!!! Pictures definitely do not do it any justice, so I also took pictures of the photographs for sale there! haha Unfortunately, the whole scene was ruined by a bunch of dumb tourists who thought it was a good idea to make strange sounds to the condors...ugh!
Later on, our guide told us a bit more about condors in general...very little is known because they're very reserved and do their best to avoid human contact...they're usually about 1m high and their wings can spread to about 3m...there are theories according to which they are "friends" with foxes, who eat other dead animals and then signal to the condors where these are...our guide even said that sometimes the condors get to the corpses when their flesh has already fermented, and that is how condors get drunk...he said he had seen one with his own eyes!!!
We started our hike at the top of the canyon and walked downhill for about 4 hours to the bottom of it, crossed the river and then walked some more to a little town where we stopped for lunch! After lunch we did some more hiking, got wet trying to cross a river, and then continued in the rain till the oasis in the middle of the canyon...it is a green, lush patch of land in the middle of arid, desert-like rocks...its best feature is the amazing number of beautiful pools...that was definitely the best part of the 2 days, together with the views and sighting condors! Once we did make it to the oasis after having crossed yet another bridge, I made a run straight for the pool...what a beauty! The setting already made it extremely special, plus one side was carved out of a natural rock that came up over the pool itself and could be used to dive off of (or at least I did! haha), and then the opposite side had terracotta vases pouring water into the pool!
The rooms were pretty basic houses made of mud, they didn't look like they had bricks...what they did have were plenty of little holes for all sorts of insects and spiders to thrive in...that's why I didn't dare point my flashlight at any wall before going to bed...I just didn't want to know!
The next morning our hike back up to the top of the canyon started at 5.30, and again we were lucky to have gorgeous weather so that we could admire the beauty around us!
After over 3 hours we made it back up, had a rinvigorating breakfast, then parted ways with our guide and got on another minibus to Chivay...where we visited the hot springs, different pools going from 34 C to about 42 C...in the latter I dove in as if it were a normal pool, except it felt like a boiling pot ready for pasta! It felt great though!
The excursion would have already been more than memorable if it had finished that way, but the big cherry on top was the unbelievable sunset we were lucky to witness on our bus ride back to Arequipa...words cannot describe it!

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