Colca Canyon Trek

Bleary eyed, I waited at the hotel front desk for a delightful hour as my 3 AM pick up became subject to yet another mysterious Purvian delay. Around 4 AM I climbed into the packed mini bus for a five hour venture to the mouth of the canyon. When I booked my trek for Colca Canyon, I was told not to be discouraged by the insane, ungodly hour of pickup because we would be able to sleep on the bus. Normally, I would have no issue napping for several hours after being lulled to sleep my the gentle purr of an automobile motor BUT this is Peru and things just couldn´t possibly so simple! Our driver seemed to be unaware that our vehicle came equipped with a heater and instead was more interested in inviting in the cold for he kept the windows down for a good hour until a nice, thick layer of FROST had developed on the inside of the few closed windows... brilliant...
Colca Canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is known as one of the best locations to spot the Andean Condor, which makes sense that our first stop was Cruz del Condor where we spent nearly an hour gaping at the enormous birds as they drifted about the valley powered my the hot air currents. From there we all (roughly a dozen of us) piled back in the bus and headed down into the canyon. We were dropped off at a point along the road that bore no distinct markings, divided into groups of no more than 6 and told to march on down the hill behind a stranger who from this point on would be known as our guide... hummm... I was a bit wary at this point... The trek down into the canyon took a few hours during which I was able to chat with my group, a Dutch couple and newlyweds from Australia. Lovely folks, I must say. In addition to charming company, the views were simply astounding! That night we stayed in the village of Coshñirhua with a local family. I was thrilled to learn that there was hot water for showering, almost thrilled enough to forgot to care that my room didn´t have a floor...
Day two of the trek graciously allowed us to sleep in until 7:30 AM...¨pancake breakfast¨ and a few hours of hiking left us in the deepest portion of the canyon, then ´twas off to the ¨oasis¨ for a quick refreshing dip and some lunch. Here is where the fun started, like I said, we were at the deepest portion of the canyon and the whole trip we had been hearing about various record times set by hikers from ´round the world as they clamored to reach the rim of the canyon. Before I left Arequipa, my pal Raul had given me crap about how he thought I would need to take a donkey out of the canyon. Umm, can you say challenge? My group was more of the ¨let´s stop to admire the views as we have a cigarette break,¨ type so I decided to go at it on my own. Dude, it was most definitely NOT easy but I hauled my buns up that hill as fast as my lil legs would carry me! And it paid off, I totally killed i! mahahahah I was the first up the hill and def had no need of a donkey! Well... I mean, by the time I got to the top and the sweat began to cool, if a lonely donkey were to amble by and ask if I wanted a lift to my hotel I probably wouldn´t have turned him down...