Trekking Colca Canyon

If you’ve read the Arequipa page, you would know that we trekked Colca Canyon in preparation of our Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu.  While we were looking forward to trekking a canyon that is TWICE as deep as Arizona’s Grand Canyon, the main reason for doing this was “training.”  The Inca Trail was our priority, so we really didn’t put much thought into doing Colca.

What Company to go With

We never initially planned on going to Arequipa, so Colca wasn’t even on our radar.  We did minimal research when making the decision to trek the second deepest canyon in the world, and we did even less research when choosing a company to go with.  We ultimately decided to go with the company affiliated with our hostel, Home Sweet Home, which ended up being a wise and lucky decision, as our guide, Victor, was fantastic, and the itinerary was great.

Cost

The cost about $140US total for both of us, which included transport to the canyon, fee to get in, lunch and dinner the first day, breakfast, lunch and dinner the second day, breakfast the third day, accommodations for both nights, and entrance into the hot springs the third day after we were done hiking (which was incredible).

How to Prepare

We are in no way hard-core trekkers, so Colca can be hiked with little experience.  Being in decent shape always makes it easier, and if you’re a bit nervous about doing a multi-day trek like this, I suggest reading my guide to trekking for those of us who like to eat and drink a lot.  It should calm your fears.  Also, there are tips at the bottom of this article written specifically for hiking Colca Canyon, so be sure to read those.

Recap

Here is a recap of our three day Colca Canyon trek, which is a condensed and slightly edited version taken from the two blog posts (days 1 and 2 recap, and day 3 recap) we wrote while on our RTW trip (Day one and part of day three of the recap was written by my wife, Megan-@wanderyearmeg on twitter)  Click on the above links for the full recap.:

Day One (written by Megan)

We were picked up at our hostel a little bit after 4:00 am. Our group of eight piled into a comfortable tourist bus and proceeded to zig zag through Arequipa picking up other tour groups and guides. By 5:00, we were on our way out of Arequipa, headed to Chivay, the main gateway village to Colca Canyon.  At Chivay, we purchased tickets for our first stop, Cruz del Condor, the primary viewing location for Andean Condors. The condor is an impressive bird with a wingspan of up to 10 feet and the ability to fly at altitudes of up to 16,000 feet. (Adam’s editorial note:  I was less than thrilled about going Condor-watching.  Not to crap on anyone else’s good time, but I just dislike being herded on a bus to a spot with hundreds of other tourists to maybe see a bird.  We were going to be hiking in the canyon for three days, surely we would see a condor or two.  As my pessimistic self suspected, no condors were around at Cruz del Condor, but we saw several within the first hour of hiking).

We then took off to Cabanoconde, the village where we would begin our hike.  Once we arrived in Cabanaconde, we met the rest of our group and our guide, Victor, a native of Chivay. After we ate lunch together, we began our hike for the first day– it was about five miles long, descending about 3300 feet into the canyon. The trail was steep and mostly made of gravel, so despite being downhill, it was a tough hike. Reaching the village of San Juan de Chucho at the bottom of the Canyon was a relief. We were excited when we reached our destination for the evening, the home of the Rivelino family.

Our accommodations were certainly rustic, but thoroughly impressive given that the only way to get to the village is to hike or ride a mule! Our candlelit dinner was cooked and served by our guide and the Rivelino family. After dinner, we had an exciting night that consisted of going to sleep at 7:45. We were beat!

Day Two

We were supposed to be awake by 7:30 the next morning for breakfast, and we were a little worried since we didn’t have an alarm clock, but the Rivelino family rooster took care of that for us. The loud little guy started cock-a-doodle-doo’ing at about 3:30am. He kept it up off and on throughout the morning until we got up around 6:30. Even though I was less than thrilled about our new alarm clock, once we went outside our hut, I was quite happy about being awake to watch the sun come up from the bottom of the canyon.

After getting up and having some pancakes for breakfast, cooked again by our host family and our guide, we set off for the day (Editorial note: Most of the food our group of 8 ate was carried by Victor-impressive). We were on the trail by about 8am, and it was supposed to be about a 3-4 hour hike, ascending and descending across the bottom of the canyon until we reached “The Oasis,” our accommodations for night two.

The hike started off going straight up a steep trail for about a half hour. Unfortunately, Megan and I were right behind our guide, Victor, and since he does this once or twice a week, he moves at a pretty quick pace. Before Megan knew it, she was out of breath and couldn’t get it back. Since we were going up a really steep part, and we were at about 8000 feet above sea level, the altitude was really getting to her. Next came a headache and feeling of nausea.

Luckily for her, the rest of that day’s hike wasn’t too grueling. It was mostly flat, with a descent for the last hour into The Oasis. We passed several little towns along the way, and we were given a local drink (chicha-a fermented corn drink) by one of the local women. We were told that chicha was only made for special occasions, and our visit to their town was that special occasion.  It was super cool to pass through towns, where there was a church and entire community, on the bottom of a freaking canyon.

As we got closer to The Oasis, Victor told us that once we got there, we would have the rest of the day and evening to relax and prepare for the next day’s ascent back to the top. The Oasis was quite the place to unwind after a tough two days. It is a little village at the bottom of the canyon that has many bamboo huts for the hikers to stay in. It also had two pools, the water coming from nearby waterfalls. And what would an oasis be without a bar to help with the unwinding process?

It was a gorgeous place to spend the afternoon and evening unwinding and preparing for the next day’s hike. Our hut wasn’t the most luxurious of places, but how many times does one get to stay the night in a bamboo hut at the bottom of the second deepest canyon in the world?  After our guides cooked everyone dinner at around 7, it was back to bed by 8 again, as we had to get up at 5am to start our journey back to the top.

Day Three (written by Megan)

After dinner on day two, our guide came over to our table and asked if anyone wanted to hire an “emergency taxi” (a mule) for the next day to ride up, rather than hiking. I’m not going to say that the idea hadn’t occurred to me, but I didn’t sign up for mule-riding, I signed up for hiking!! When he asked, I was sitting at the table with just the smallest seed of doubt in the pit of my stomach. We all responded to him that we were planning on hiking out, but we appreciated the offer.

His response was, well, pensive. He looked concerned to say the least. He asked one more time, pausing deliberately on me as he was looking around the table, “Are you sure that no one wants to have a mule to ride out of the canyon in the morning?” I still refused, but that seed of doubt was growing at the rate of Jack’s beanstalk…

The plan was to get up for breakfast at five and get on the trail by 5:45 so we could avoid the direct sun–hiking straight up for three hours would be hard enough without doing it in the sweltering heat. I insisted that I wanted to get a head start because I still knew that I was going to have to take it slow. So we scarfed down our breakfasts and hit the trail about 20 minutes before the rest of our group.

Adam’s Editorial Notes finish the recap:

Luckily the wife’s altitude sickness subsided, and it was an uneventful hike out of the canyon as far as sickness was concerned.  She did awesome as we hiked, taking it slowly but surely.  Hiking canyons is quite a bit different than mountains, as the hardest part is done on the last day or two.  Straight up is the only way to go, so there’s no respite.

The hike out was beautiful, though, and with Megan feeling good, it was really enjoyable.  It took about 4 hours or so for us to get out, and we met up with the rest of our group for a photo and some much needed food back in the town we started in, Cabanoconde.  We got to hang out in the town for a while waiting for everyone on our bus to get out of the canyon, then it was off to Arequipa.

Tips for Hiking Colca

Hopefully by now you’ve read my trekking guide, meant for beginning hikers and those not in tip top shape, where you can learn a lot about hiking and multi-day treks in general.

Here’s a few tips specifically for hiking Colca Canyon based on our time there.

• Whatever company you decide to go with, make sure it includes a stay at the Oasis.  It was an awesome and relaxing place to stay, and it was fantastic to have almost the entire day to chill, swim, and have a few beers.
• When choosing a company, try to find one that has you stay with a family.  It was super cool to be able to stay at a family’s place and share their kitchen, eating area, and space.  And to see people who live in these conditions at the bottom of a freaking canyon is damn impressive.  Highly recommended.
• Don’t expect top notch cuisine.  I’m not sure if it was just our group or not, but the food was just so-so.  I wouldn’t say it was bad, it did the trick and provided us with plenty of sustenance for the trek, so that was good.  At the time we didn’t really care considering that our guide carried most of our food and the cooking conditions were less than ideal.  But our Inca Trail hike absolutely spoiled us.  The conditions were worse, and the food was simply phenomenal.  Since food is so important to us, I just thought I’d give it a mention.
• Go at your own pace.  This is important, especially if you’re a beginner and not used to altitude.  Megan got altitude sickness on the second day, and it was pretty scary.  She nearly passed out a few times, I had to carry her bag (yeah, that’s right), and it just wasn’t fun.  It may have been avoided had we not tried to keep up with our guide, who grew up near the Canyon and does trips into it a few times a week.
• Have fun, enjoy yourself, and take tons of pictures.  I thought we took plenty of pictures throughout our whole trip, but since we’ve been back and I’ve started this site, going through all our pictures in the process, I wish we had even more.  Don’t be shy.  Chances are you already stick out anyway, so whipping the old camera out isn’t going to suddenly out you as a tourist.