Colca Canyon

What better way to follow Machu Picchu then with another three day hike down Colca Canyon, thought to be the second deepest Canyon in the world?

So of course that is what we just did. Mike, I, Neil (yes still from Salkantay trip) and some new friends Anne (from France) and Gwenn (from Holland) booked up for Colca.We thought it would be a breeze as the tour operator described it - breakfast, a few hours of hiking, lunch, afternoon off before starting again the next day. It proved to be a bit more of an adventure than that.

We started on Monday. The day did not get off to a good start as we realised Mike´s North Face fleece had been stolen in the hostel - he was not a happy chappy. Next a five hour drive in a minibus to the Canyon - not much fun either. We did stop to see the Condors on the way - which was very cool.

Anyway we reached start point about 9.30am and were told that the descent to the first camp would take about four hours. We had a new A Team and did it in 2 despite me trailing behind again - my sea urchin spike (from Lima surfing) was giving me jip.

When we reached the meet point we had a dip in the river while waiting for the rest of the group to turn up. It was cold!

A short uphill climb to the camp and we settled down to lunch and a lazy afternoon of playing cards. Neil and Anne taught us both how to play Poker and we guarded our bottle top, rock and wooden stick chips with fervour.

The next morning we woke up to beautiful blue sky and stunning scenes and carried on with the trek. Taking the lead again, naturally, we charged ahead and got to enjoy the landscape pretty much to ourselves. Tim (from Cornwall) joined Team A and a great addition he was. Without him we would have been far too sensible to charge down the Canyon to our second campsite - yes I mean literally running down the mountain.

We were well rewarded though as we arrived at our campsite to the welcome site of a pool. Naturally we spent the rest of the day in and out of the pool, sunbathing in the gardens, playing cards and playing volleyball (more on that later).

Onto the volleyball... after lunch we decided we would have a match. All was going well. Mike´s team won the first round and mine lost. The second match just started and Mike, being Mike, went for the ball (which was way out), slipped on uneven ground and fell on his ankle.

The next few hours were a worry. Mike was white as a sheet and nearly fainted. He was in a lot of pain and we were at the bottom of a Canyon with a four hour pure uphill climb ahead of us. Luckily we had Julio, a nurse in the group with us who dosed him up with painkillers and thanks go to Neil and Tim for hiking down to the river to get some cold water to ice the ankle.

Needless to say the next morning we could not hike up the canyon. Instead we got some mules and rode up pain free or so I thought. I forgot how much riding a horse can hurt especially when you are doing a vertical climb.

Nonetheless I still felt guilty as we passed all our group walking and we did get to take in the amazing views as the sun came up above the mountains.

When we arrived at the top we went straight to the medical centre where we were advised to get back to Arequipa and go to hospital. A painful (in so many ways) 6 hour bus jouney later we arrived at the hospital and luckily they saw Mike straight away. Bloody idiot had fractued his ankle and needed a cast. Trust him to do it playing volleyball of all things.

An interesting end to a fab three days and apart from the fractured ankle we wouldn´t change a thing. If you are ever in Arequipa don´t hesitate to do it. Now how to get through the next three weeks with Mike on crutches and in a cast.... Here are some more photos of the trip.