We had read in our guidebook that Colca Trek was the most-recommended guiding company in Arequipa. Apparently, there are a lot of third-rate and somewhat sketchy companies (all of which are along the same street as Colca Trek, too). We skipped all of them and went straight to Colca Trek on Saturday morning. We were in luck – not only did they organize treks of Colca Canyon, but they had one leaving on Sunday morning, first thing! We signed up and spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. Our three-day trek included:
- A real international group, including 4 Italians, 2 Dutch, 2 Germans, 2 Americans, and an Israeli. Our guide was Peruvian, and so was our driver. Everyone on the trek spoke English; the Dutch also spoke German, and our driver spoke Japanese (yes, our bus driver! Very impressive). Besides the Peruvians, we were the best Spanish speakers though
- Trips around the back of several mountains near Arequipa, and a visit to strange rock formations (where we saw a halo around the sun!)
- A stop at the high pass across the mountains, at 4910 meters (where I got a peruvian wool hat!)
- A couple of great buffet lunches
- Hiking along the canyon ridge until and through sunset – we saw some great light!
- Night in a first-class hotel
- Party in Cabanaconde where we celebrated the 412th anniversary of the town’s founding with the locals (lots of fire, drinking, and dancing)
- AM hike (3 hours or so) down the canyon wall from Cabanaconde
- Afternoon hanging out at the Oasis on the canyon floor, and enjoying the pool!
- Two great professionally-cooked meals, with wine!
- Hike to the bridge over the river, and to see some of the medicinal cactuses
- Camping in tents (yes, this was luxury camping, as the weather was great, everything was set up for us, and we didn’t even have to carry our own gear!)
- 4 A.M. wakeup for a 5 A.M. start to return to the canyon ridge. We expected about a 3-4 hour return hike; we needed 2 hours 20 minutes to get back up. One person in our group made it in 90 minutes!
- An hour searching and finding condors cruising the thermals
We really enjoyed our trek, especially meeting all of our new friends. It was truly a great way to spend three days; check out the rest of the photos below!
Click on each photo to see the full set of pictures…
[...] before, we were on a schedule on our way through Peru. After a couple of days in Arequipa (and our GREAT Colca Canyon trek!), we decided to [...]
No problem! Good luck with your trek!
Well now we have a trek company to go search in the next few days. Thanks for documenting the experience!