Huacachina, Arequipa & The Colca Canyon

So after our strenuous treck it was time for some much needed rest, relaxation and a private room in the baking hot Peruvian desert.

We arrived off another hairy night bus into Ica and jumped into a taxi to Huacachina. The place is beautiful, a real desert oasis with a few small hostels and bars dotted around the shores. And so we spent a lovely few days sunbathing by the pool, eating and drinking our way through the menu with a slog up the dunes for a truly spectacular sunset.
Although our hotel was quiet the nearby Bananas Adventure was a traveler hub and it was nice to chat to some fellow Northerners.

One evening we went on the tour the place is famous for, a buggy ride and sand boarding in the dunes which was great fun! The buggy is real white knuckle ride and the sand boarding was essentially like very high speed, hot, face first sledding. As always in Peru, safety first…

We then jumped back on the night bus to Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city although more like Cusco than Lima. We checked in to our hostel and found ourselves sharing with a very exuberant, forgetful French man Alex. We spent our first day wandering the city checking out the sites and the bars and playing a good few rounds of ping pong, I’ll let you guess who won. After much deliberation over whether to do the Colca Canyon DIY we chickened out and booked another trek. Yes I was as surprised as you.

So after a 3am pick up and a long bumpy ride we arrived at the edge of the canyon and our long descent down a rather dubious path. I won’t lie by the bottom I was a sweaty, tear stained mess, Dan was worse obviously.
After a dip in the river we headed part way up the other side to our camp and our bed in a shed!

We were an eclectic group, a Thai guy who was fasting, an older Dutch couple, a German woman, an incredibly rude Israeli woman, three adorable Spanish girls and us! Day 2 was another scorcher, we set off along the valley and back down to the bottom of the canyon to reach the oasis and a very welcome swimming pool.
Day 3 we set off at 5am to reach the top for breakfast then headed to a small town called Chivay to visit the hot springs next to the river which were idilic and ideal for our sore legs. After lunch we snaked our way back to Arequipa through the various volcanos of the region, dormant and active.

Overall the trek was pretty hard going and not as impressive as the inca trail, but hey, when in Peru… Next stop the worlds largest high altitude lake.

Claire and Dan x

P.S. I miss beans