Preface
People do live in the secret oasis in the high mountains. Where you can be so close to the sky, listening to river flowing and wind passing by, smelling the scents of flowers and fruits. The land is rich enough to grow all the food you need, the river seems never stopping to nourish you, the moon and stars are so bright to make you dream, the sunlight is so radiant to reach to the darkest parts inside your heart. You can raise chickens, horses, and make colorful textiles and cut them into dresses, blankets, and beautiful hats.
When I first heard about Colca Canyon, I only knew it was the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. It was not my dream destination, just a good trek to do nearby Arequipa, no expectations. However, after spending 4 nights in the andes mountain surrounded by the Colca Canyon, I know this experience opened my eyes to a new world that I didn’t know exist.
This first part of this blog is an independent guide to Colca Canyon; the second half is all about my thoughts and experiences from this trek.
Guide
If you are deciding to explore the canyon through a tour or independently, I would recommend going independently. It’s budget friendly and allows you to go at your own pace, immerse deeper with the local community and explore some less travelled routes. The concern you have is probably the planning around it, the headache of how to get there and the uncertainty and discomfort in an unfamiliar environment. Here is my simple guide on how to go to Colca Canyon on your own, make it your own experiences and perhaps inspire more of your independent travels.
How to get there and leave there
Cabanaconde is the starting and ending point of the trek. It is a small town set at the top of the Colca Canyon. The city prior to Cabanaconde is usually Arequipa, but you can also travel from Puno or other places.
There are a few ways to get to Cabanaconde from Arequipa, including bus, collectivo, taxi or a pre-arranged transportation from a tour agency/hotel. The most budget friendly and straightforward way is by bus in my opinion. You can check the bus schedule and purchase tickets online from red bus website. From Arequipa to Cabanaconde, it costs ~30 soles and ~6 hours one way. I took the 11:30am bus and got to Cabanaconde around 5:30pm.
To leave Cabanaconde, depending on your next destination, you can again buy bus tickets to go. The buses and collectives start and arrive at the main square of the town and you will not miss it.
How long should I spend in Colca Canyon
You can spend from 1 day to as long as you want. I recommend planning at least 4 nights, including 1st night in Cabanaconde (arriving day) and 3 nights (hiking days) in the canyon, so you can really go slow, enjoy the hike and explore the villages. And most importantly, go to Huaruro Waterfall! It’s a less hiked route. It gives you amazing views with so many wild flowers and fruit trees on the way. The waterfall itself is powerful – I think the entire river that crosses the canyon starts from this waterfall, so it’s like the source of the lives of the canyon.
There are four locations you can choose to plan your night and route: Cabanaconde, Llahuar, San Juan and Sangille. You can get familiar with them by marking each on your google map to have a big picture of the overall route.
Here is the route that I took and recommend. You can download each section of the hike from Alltrails.
- Day 1. transportation to and stay in Cabanaconde
- Day 2. Cabanaconde to Llahuar
- Day 3. Stay in Llahuar, day hike to Huaruro Waterfall
- Day 4. Llahuar to San Juan
- Day 5. San Juan to Cabanaconde and transportation to your next destination
To note, here I didn’t include Sangille as part of the route. It’s a popular destination within tour groups. You can easily hike there from the other three locations.
Where to stay in each of the villages?
There are about 1~3 accommodations in each location and you can easily find them when searching on google maps. I think they are similar and you can choose the ones that are available for your timeline. I booked the first night one day in advance at Lonko Hostel in Cabanaconde and let the rest of the nights be flexible and booked in the same day. My favorite place is definitely Casa de Virginia in Llahuar. You will know when you get there – it’s a real oasis.
What to bring on the trek?
- Food. I brought bread, avocado and cheese for lunch. Fruit for snacks. Breakfast is included in the accommodations. Dinner can be purchased at your accommodations for 18~25 soles (around $5 USD)
- Water. I didn’t have a water filter but that was not a problem. You can buy water from you accommodation each night. So no need to carry a lot of water.
- Clothes. A sweater or insulated jacket for the night. Swimming gear for a pool day or hot springs (Sangille/Llahuar) . And your normal hiking clothes.
- Sunscreen, sunglass and hat
- Books/Kindle
- Camera
My exploring and thoughts
Struggle or luck: thoughts from a multicultural background
People in the canyon spoke very little English. So I scrambled with Spanish, trying everyday to make myself understood. The first time in my life, I missed the US. I had lived in that country for too long, and most travelers here even couldn’t tell my Chinese accent. I missed the time I could talk English with as many as vocabularies I had mastered. The truth was I had struggled, and still was struggling as a foreigner after 8 years of living there. Now in this world, Americans became the minority and I gotta used to a new culture. I thought about home in China, where I should be most at ease, but also felt foreign when going back last year. I remembered people staring at me as someone who spoke like from the last decade and behaved like a westener. I laughed at myself – was I the one who needed sympathy for belonging to none world, or who was lucky to be able to choose who she wanted to be?
Now I still think myself, or us, who can travel as lucky ones. Getting out of the comfort zone is how we evolve and embrace the unknown part of the world. My philosophy is never stopping exploring the world and ourselves to see the new possibilities! If I hadn’t gone to the US long time ago and overcome the challenges that came along with it, I would not have the ability today to explore the world with confidence.
Curiosity: how do we see this canyon and its heritage as an outsider
When I looked down deep into the canyon where the small, cozy villages were suited in the soft greens, I wondered if its people were content with such a life. Had they ever thought about leaving? Had they cared about the world outside, where there were hunger, poor and wars? What were their struggles? How did they feel about the visitors who passed by with curiosity, or in their self-defined privileges? My Spanish was too little to make such conversations. I felt like an alien staring at a new planet from far away. Its charm made me lingering. Too soon I realized I was too foreign to this world and maybe it was best to know its existence without bothering, and to feel lucky I have seen this in my life span. Or maybe I would be back one day with more capabilities understand this canyon. Only future knows.
The bus ride: ride with locals
When you chose to not take a tour, you would likely jump on a public bus for a long ride to reach to the canyon. The bus wouldn’t be the most delightful. It was hot without AC and took too many stops to take on or drop people off. However, before you realized, you had entered the life of those who lived here, along with a few of visitors just like yourself. The local women were wearing colorful local dresses, with braided hair, silver earrings, colorful hats in their own forms, carrying a bag that is a wrap of the same colorful blanket. The men’s outfits were simpler, but still with a single colored hat that was either black or brown. Their skins were darker than most of you and me from years of exposure to the high altitude sun. Their stares were simpler without complication, reminding me of those of the remote north Mongolia of China, where I was from. There were also vendors who got on the bus to sell snacks and juices. I just observed everything, taking in.