Leaving Huacachina I met with Claudia again on the bus to Arequipa. After finding a hostel we booked a four day tour to the Colca Canyon starting directly on the next day. Thanks Claudia for coming all the way down to Arequipa and for getting me on this tour. Did so good not be alone these days and I deeply enjoyed the hike!

Even if it is not the best time of the year for watching Condors, we have been lucky and saw a few. Lessons learned from the real Condors for the “El Condor crew” of Casa Bambu: make yourself scarce! Hundreds of people (aka girls) will wait for you and be in rapturous delight once you show up. Haha!

First day we hiked almost the whole day down into the canyon, where we stayed for a night. Hot springs aside the river. Great! The second day we went into the valley of a smaller tributary of the Colca river. It was much greener there than in the Colca valley and there was a beautiful river flowing its way. The trail was amazing as well. Went along a small moat for a long time. You would not want to fall down…

Did a little detour to a waterfall together with Roy, our guide. Well, I still love waterfalls, even as I have now seen a few :-) The rest of the day we hiked in bright sunshine to an oasis back in the Colca Valley. It was hot! And no shadow at all. But after a jump into the pool, I felt refreshed again.

The third day was really relaxed as we did a lot of the way on the second day already. Thus we’ve had a chilled morning in the oasis and, hm well, needed to climb up the canyon of course. As Roy offered a beer if I would make it up in less than an hour I gave it a try. Needed 1:20h in the end and had to buy the beer myself. The last day we visited some small towns, relaxed our muscles in the very (!) hot springs in Chivay, and returned back to Arequipa, where we checked out the clubbing scene as it was a Friday evening.

Thanks to Roy for being such a great guide during these four days. A lot of interesting stories about the canyon, the living of the people here, the history, and the nature. And delicious meals! Muchas gracias, amigo! I deeply enjoyed the four days. Knowing that Roy was walking with Claudia, I hiked for myself most of time, which gave me the opportunity to think about what has happened. Sorry Roy and Claudia, if I have not been too happy these days, it was definitely not your fault!

As I have some work to get done, I decided to stay in Arequipa for a few days. And I am still here, staying at the nice Los Andes Bed & Breakfast, enjoying doing nothing special and getting a coffee here and than. Probably I was in need for a short break in traveling, ‘cause after almost two relaxed weeks here I am now looking forward again to see Bolivia where I will be headed to on Friday.

Greetings from where the condors fly!
Michael