Don’t worry, we already had a hot shower – and yes, we were really looking forward to it…
Well, I better start from the beginning. We wanted to go to the world’s second deepest canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US) and went to one of those tour agencies in Arequipa to inform us, a) what a tour would cost and b) what to do and where to go.
a) Costs: For a 3 day / 2 nights trip – that’s what we wanted to do – they asked for 230 US Dollar each. All inclusive (one night in a hostal, one in a tent, meals and transport included). For 230 US Dollar, I suppose, you can live one month as a king in the canyon…
b) What to do: yeah, we got quite some information
So we decided to go on our own. First challenge was the bus terminal – we are not in Ecuador any more (it’s so easy there, a bus goes any time and anywhere)… We where told that a bus directly to Cabanaconde (the village closest to the deepest part of the canyon – a min. six hours drive from Arequipa) would leave at 8am (=getting up early, missing the hostal breakfast…*smiley winking*. Well, there was no bus at 8am, but there was one at 9am to Chivay (a village at the “beginning” of the canyon). So we got on this one, as we where told, that there are some more buses from Chivay to Cabanaconde. At the terminal we met two approx. 40 year old French people with no English or Spanish skills at all, who were a bit helpless. So had to translate for them.
After a good 4 hours bus ride with quite some impressions we reached the “Kuhdorf” Chivay.
Funny story about this picture… There is no toilet in the bus and nothing around, so if there is an urgent demand, the bus stops in the middle of nowhere (this time near a glacier) and the driver calls “Banos!” (=Toilet). Ok, easy for men… Those women who cannot wait for the end of the trip, hide themselves a little bit behind the bus… And me (who did the the water / travel time calculation right) saw the glacier and was climbing / running up and suddenly realizing the thin air at 4800m Way down then a little slower…
In Chivay we had to wait 3 hours for the next bus, so we went into the village center and had a nice set menu with three courses and a drink for 5 Soles (1,25 Euro).
Back at the bus terminal, we saw a long queue for our bus to Cabanaconde. As Chivay was only a stop on the route, the bus wouldn’t be empty, the changes to get a seat were therefore rather small and the bus on an unpaved road would take about 3 hours…
I quickly went to the bus company office to buy a ticket with reserved seats in advance for 5 instead of 3 Soles when bought at the bus without seat reservation (1,25 instead of a bit less than 1 Euro). Was a little hassle to finally get the seats, but we got them. The ride was again really bumpy but with nice views…
Finally, we arrived in the “1300-Seelendorf” Cabanaconde (=1300 inhabitants). And guess what, we ate a pizza for dinner. Peruvians love pizza and they use their traditional ovens to prepare a quite decent pizza!
The next morning we descended the canyon, from Cabanaconde (3200m) to the oasis at Sangalle (1800m) – very steep, amazing views (not all for people suffering from vertigo!).
And yes, we were happy to arrive in the oasis. It’s bizarre, they have a pool but no electricity. The pool water is not chlorinated or anything and is recycled further downstream for toilet, shower, fields and don’t wanna know anything else
In the evening we had a candle light dinner on a palm tree table Was romantic, but probably not as much as it sounds… we were quite happy to get a candle – would have had to eat with headlamps otherwise… the sky was full of stars – could also see the milky way.
The accommodation was cheap but also very basic: just a straw hut without a floor (just soil) and a bed build of bamboo sticks. Our sleeping bags did a good service and we slept well.
The next day we needed to get up to Cabanaconde somehow. As walking up for a longer time is still quite a hassle with my foot and our backpack was a bit heavy, I rented a mule. A donkey got the backpack (and two empty gas bottles)… Again, Thorsten refused to sit on such a thing without brakes and walked up on his own (he needed a bit more than 3 hours, one package of peanuts and 2,5 litres of water for it…*smiley winking*. I tell you, stopping the mule and the donkey wasn’t any problem, getting them to move was not that easy as you would think…
In Cabanaconde, we relaxed a bit before we got on the bus…
… for another 6 hours ride, the first 4 hours on an unpaved road… and finally arrived in Arequipa.
Fazit 1: really nice and interesting trip, came back with some new experiences, nice memories, a good suntan and a lot of dust!
Fazit 2: The cost for our trip was 1/6th of the quote from the agency
Blog about Arequipa will follow soon – hopefully