Colca Canyon, Peru

Our main motivation for visiting Arequipa was to do the Colca Canyon Trek, a canyon nearby larger than the Grand Canyon in the States. We made our way to Arequipa on our first overnight bus, a pleasant surprise. Purchasing VIP tickets was a great choice, reclining seats the size of business class on an airline!

We departed for the Colca Canyon at 3am, the earliest wake up on our trip so far. A three hour bus trip took us to a Condor lookout, a popular spot to watch the Andean Condors fly across

the Canyon. Then onto our seven hour hike down the Canyon to our sleeping spot in an Oasis at the bottom of the Canyon. Another early morning we set out for the epic, steep two hour climb to the top of the Canyon. Starting our climb at 5am we were able to see the sun rising over the Canyon and make it to the top before the heat set in.

Beautiful views at the top made the sweaty ascent all worthwhile. On our way back to town we stopped in another little town called Chivay for a much needed buffet lunch, we both made the most of it! Another stop at a lookout where we could view an active smoking volcano, Sabancaya.

In Arequipa itself we wondered the streets and, as always we searched for great coffee which in Arequipa we found at two

separate chocolatiers, shame.

This was our last stop in Peru as we started to head towards Bolivia.