Peru Part V: Arequipa and Colca Canyon: May 6-8th

The last segment of our vacation started in Arequipa. It was a beautiful, colonial white city. We quickly declared it our favorite.  

We spent our afternoon there walking around the main square and taking a tour of the Santa Catalina Monastery. 

The convent was quite colorful and fascinating to look around. Apparently, some of the nuns in the colonial times were forced into it. The Spanish culture dictated that the second son or daughter turn to a church profession. So, ironically, they kept many nuns out (the family usually paid a dowry to get them in, they had to be Spanish, and they usually had several slaves in the convent), but some of the nuns didn't want to be in! Interesting.

The next morning was our earliest of all, which is saying something. We got picked up at our hostel at 3:00 AM. From there we drove to Condor Point. 

Condors are the biggest bird that can fly. They themselves are not very pretty - they are clearly and closely related to vultures. But watching them fly across the canyon was amazing. It was so effortless to them and they couldn’t care less that we were there.

From there we started our hike into the canyon. The first day we hiked about 11 miles down one side of the canyon and up the other.

It was pretty grueling with the heat and the high altitude. Luckily, we loved our hiking group. We hiked with Bob and Barbara from England and our mountaineering expert, Juan. Bob and Barbara were hilarious and renewed my dreams of living in the U.K.

Short story: A stray dog slept in Bob and Barbara's room with them (the doors to our little cottages didn't shut too well). In the morning that dog followed us up the canyon. Bob had a running joke about not being able to commit to the dog even though they'd spent the night together. It was hilarious and his dry sarcasm reminded me of an English version of my dad!

The views were incredible, of course, and we ended the night at the base of the canyon at a place properly named Oasis. There was a pretty waterfall and little natural pool to swim in. There was no electricity, but we had a great time eating dinner by candlelight with Bob and Barbara.

The next morning we set off at 4 AM to hike to the top of the canyon. Now that was tiring! It was only 6 miles, but it was very steep. We made it to the top by breakfast time, and I have never been more hungry or eaten so much so quickly.

That afternoon we took a bus back to Arequipa where we caught our flight to Lima to catch our flight to LA.