Arequipa was our final stop in Peru where we decided to brush up on our Spanish with a week of lessons and work off the many calories we had consumed in Lima with some hiking!
During our time in Arequipa, we enjoyed the historical district where you could find plenty of interesting antique shops, cafes, bars and squares. The most famous attraction in the town is the Santa Catalina Convent which we visited during the night by candlelight when the daytime crowds had disappeared. It was definitely much more impressive than we were expecting, albeit a little creepy! The convent is enormous - the size of an average city block - with it's own streets & cemetery.
Inside the convent
Our main reason for visiting Arequipa was to hike down & up the world's second deepest canyon, The Colca Canyon, and see the Andean Condors which have wingspans of up to 3.5 metres. We were picked up from our hotel at 3am and took the bus to the Colca Canyon for a quick breakfast and then to a viewing area to spend some time watching the condors. They were pretty amazing to watch, gliding in the canyon below.
At around 11am we began the long, 21km hike down the canyon and to an area called 'Paradise' where we spent the night. The track was not the easiest and a little frustrating with loose gravel & rocks galore! When we finally arrived at the cabanas and saw the steep track leading to the top of the canyon, Elise had made up her mind that she wanted a mule for the 7km trek back up to the top! But pride prevailed when 5am came along and she made the slow journey up, enviously looking at the people on mules and Ben's long legs all the way up.
It wasn't the biggest confidence booster being told by the guide, "Group, you are all good, you will make it to the top in less than 3 hours. You Elise, you are not bad but not very good. Maybe 3.5 hours for you." : (
Day 1 hiking (bottom middle shot shows what we had to climb up!)
After the torturous hike up, we finally had some breakfast and drove to a nearby town with thermal pools to rest our sore muscles before heading back home to sleep it off.
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