Colca Canyon- The Condor in the second deepest canyon in the world

2:45 AM in the morning, various alarms in the 12-person dorm start ringing. Get out of bed and into hiking clothes, we're off to the Colca Canyon. At 3 o'clock in the morning, the shuttle bus is waiting at the door and squeezed into the minibus, the three-hour drive to Chivay begins, where a minimal breakfast awaits us, but we already make friends with our fellow hikers, Greg, Steve, and Stephan. Another 45 minutes drive takes us to the viewpoint of the condors and also to the lowest point of the canyon. Here it goes almost straight down 1400m on our side. On the opposite side, it's over 3000m, quite impressive. From here we see three condors, two circling in the canyon and one flying past us at eye level. After just 40 minutes, we head back to the bus and continue to the starting point of the hike, the hometown of our guide. He tells us a lot about the formation of the canyon, the significance of the mountain road, and interesting facts about the surrounding peaks. From there, we can also observe our first live volcanic eruption. A gigantic cloud rises from one of the peaks around us. After a short introduction, we descend into the valley. The hike is scheduled for 3-4 hours, but after about 2 hours, we reach the bridge in the valley for crossing the river in the canyon. The hiking group is in good shape and the guide is satisfied. A short climb along the cliff on a narrow trail leads us to a small village in the canyon, where we have a quinoa soup and a Lomo Saltado with Alpaca meat for lunch. Well energized, we continue to the second stage towards the oasis. On the way, we pass beautiful mountain villages and plantations, also known as the famous terraces of the Colca Canyon, and enjoy the magnificent views of the gorge and its steep walls all around. Along the way, we make several stops and get information about the different plants, caves, and resident animals. Our guide does a great job. Upon arrival at the oasis, we check into our simple rooms and take the opportunity to jump into the pool fed by mineral-rich volcano water. The evening ends with card games and happy hour cocktails.

The next morning, this alarm again. It's 4:30 AM, departure is at 4:40 AM. The march uphill begins on the steep mule paths. You can still feel the calves from the previous day, but the gigantic views of the valley compensate every time. The other group members are in top shape and apparently want to set a new record, Max and I remain true to our motto "Slow and Steady". So it goes step by step up the mountain. We beat the estimated time of 3-4 hours with a time of 2:15 hours, the rest of the guys even make it in 1:30. So we are clearly the fastest group back. Upon arrival at the top, a delicious breakfast awaits us in the village and afterwards we still have enough time to enjoy the sun in the marketplace. A dream come true!

After the entire bus is full again, we head towards the thermal springs. Once there, we spend about an hour in various hot pools fed by volcanic water. Just what you need after about 2500 meters of altitude gain and 30 km of hiking in two days.

After the thermal springs, we have lunch before heading back to Arequipa. In the meantime, we stop briefly at 4900m to enjoy the view of the Valley of the Volcanoes, but unfortunately many of the almost 6000m peaks are hidden in the clouds. The last stop before Arequipa gives us the opportunity to observe a herd of llamas and alpacas. Just for your information: an alpaca animal has a value of about 70 sol, approximately 20 euros, and a llama costs about 100 sol. ;)

Back in Arequipa, Greg and Steve leave us again, so we end the evening tired but content in the hostel with Stephan and others with 1-2 beers. All in all, another excellent hiking trip that once again showed us the pure beauty of Peru. We eagerly look forward to our next hikes in Cusco.

Best regards

Max and Marius