Peru - Arequipa and Colca Valley

Arequipa - The White City

As it turned out, I had stomach problems on the overnight bus tour and the following 2 days, so I just stayed in the hostel and tried to get my digestion back on track. A unique experience. The lady of the house put me on a strict diet and even denied me her homemade pancakes. She took really good care of me. Meanwhile, Stefan explored the city on his own and provided me with the essentials. On the third day, I was feeling better, so I ventured out. Arequipa has many beautiful old colonial buildings and churches to offer. There is also the famous Santa Catalina Monastery, which the Spaniards founded to provide the best education for their girls and/or prepare them for a life as nuns - in a city within a city. Arequipa is located at an altitude of 2300m and is surrounded by 6000m high volcanoes and mountains.

Colca Valley

One of the main reasons for the trip here was the excursion to the nearby Colca Valley. One of the deepest canyons in the world. Famous for its deep gorges, the condors that live there, and the great hikes that can be done there. So finally, I got to be active myself. Rested enough and recovered. We needed a new reason to relax. We were picked up in the minibus at 3 o'clock in the morning. We wanted to be at the viewpoint for the condors at 8 o'clock. The flagship of this region. They can live up to 80 years old. At night, when we passed about 4600m, I woke up from the freezing metal and the ice on the windows. Yes, it gets very cold up there. My pillow provided good insulation. Unfortunately, my head lacked some support. A few condors actually showed up. However, on the return trip, they were even better and more numerous - but only from the bus. After a small breakfast, the hike began. Basically, it went downhill the next 3 hours on 6 km in scorching heat, a 1000m drop to about 2300m. That was really exhausting. The views of the valley and the neighboring villages and terraces were beautiful though. After a short lunch break, we continued to a few more villages to our accommodation in Sangalle. The pool was freshly filled with water running over the heated stones. A relaxing end point after a long hike. After a short happy hour and long Peru Libres (Pisco with Cola), we were ready for bed. We were classified as a fast group, so we were allowed to sleep until 5 o'clock and didn't have to leave at 3 o'clock like many others. After all, we had to go back up 1000m to Cabanaconde. Because what goes up must come down. Or something like that. So we went uphill in the light of the full moon - and it was quite steep. It was still quite warm in the valley and after at most 5 minutes, we started sweating again. After about an hour, it started to get light and with increasing altitude, it got colder again. The altitude and the difficult breathing were the biggest challenges during the ascent. When we reached the top, we had breakfast as a reward and for the rest of the day, we were going to visit some sights.

There is a hummingbird!

However, this did not happen because in Peru, the population called for a general strike due to rising fuel prices and the resulting cost of living! And a general strike in Peru is still what the word promises! All roads - even in remote villages - were barricaded with stones and concrete.

No passage until 4 o'clock. So we had a little more time in Yanque and could pass the time there. Museum, village square, pub, and church. That's what every village has to offer. That's all you really need. The streets were somewhat passable again at 4 o'clock and we made it to Arequipa quite quickly.

In Arequipa, it was full stop again. All access roads were filled with buses and trucks for kilometers, because the blockades here lasted 24 hours. Our minibus - just like all the other cars - looked for luck off the main roads to get into the city. We arrived at the hostel around 10 o'clock. Adventurous and interesting. You haven't seen anything like this in Europe. Often, it's also the only way to somehow get the government to take action. The next day, it was back to normal. Gas prices had fallen again. And we took the night bus to Cusco. Another 1000m up. First, acclimatize.