An Amazing End to the Year

There were many reasons we decided to move to Peru but the big one was to continue Emma and Hannah's education in Spanish. While I am thrilled the girls are doing so well at school, it has been frustrating to have so little time to see the country (which was another reason we came here). Summer vacation in the southern hemisphere has changed all that and we recently had the opportunity to take a fantastic vacation to Cotahuasi, the deepest canyon in the world.

Travelling to and around the canyon is time consuming and challenging, making it difficult for tourists and travelers to visit; actually, it is difficult for anyone to get there, including the residents! We took advantage of the long school vacation to make the trip and it was well worth the effort (and effort it was).

We left our house for the bus terminal around 3pm.  Despite being told there would be no problem getting seats on the bus, the only ones left were at the very back (i.e., the ones that do not recline). After some debate, we decided to take the seats and hope we could sleep sitting straight up during the 12 hour bus ride. Actually, the seats were not that bad compared to our driver. At about 1am, he drove us into a ditch and everyone had to exit the bus in the freezing cold + snow flurries. Fortunately, another bus came along and pulled us out after about an hour. We arrived in the little town (also called Cotahuasi) at dawn and found our way to the hotel where we had reserved some rooms. After a nap, we explored our surroundings and found a little chicken restaurant for a much needed meal. We later found out that chicken was pretty much the only meal you could get.

The town of Cotahuasi is actually inside the canyon and is a charming place with stunning views which more than made up for the lack of culinary diversity.

The next day we took a "combi" or mini bus to the town of Alca.  From there we hiked out of the canyon and up to a farming village. We then looped back to the main road to enjoy the Luchio Hot Springs. Unfortunately our photos do not come close to capturing the incredible beauty of the canyon or the village nor do I have the words to describe them.

After another chicken dinner we sacked out early so we could catch the 6:30am combi that drives toward the deepest part of the canyon, passing a waterfall and a cactus forest. Our plan was to take the bus to the end of the line, hike back to the waterfall and catch the afternoon bus back to town. The drive was beautiful but treacherous and the driver kept having to stop to clear the road of rocks. We were both scared and frustrated so we decided to get off early and walk back to the falls. It was a stunning hike  through some of the most beautiful canyon country I have ever seen. The bus was two hours late on the return trip but at least we made it back in once piece (barely) and just before the afternoon rains started. Again, the photos do not capture the splendor, but they do show how tired we were after the day's adventure.

We had planned to visit the remote village of Pampamarca and spend the night but ran into some more transportation challenges. We found out (by accident) that local buses were not running the following day because it was a holiday. We decided to make this a day trip and though it was lots of bus travel (3 hours one way) it was worth the effort. It was lucky that we did not plan to stay overnight as it turned out there was really nowhere to stay! We did find two young guides who showed us around a bit but spent more of their time tossing large rocks over a cliff. The fog and clouds made it hard to see much, but it was still a beautiful place to visit. When we got back to Cotahuasi that evening we bought a bottle of homemade wine (sold in plastic bottles) to celebrate the new year.

We spent New Year's day visiting a lagoon and a branch of the canyon close to town. After our hike we went back to the hotel to get ready for our trip home on the afternoon bus.

Unfortunately a major landslide blocked the road to town. We were told to be in the main plaza around 3pm to catch a combi to the landslide area. After that we would have to walk to where the buses were waiting. We arrived at 3pm but all the combis had left! After Aileen did some yelling at the ticket agent and a did some nervous pacing, another combi came and got us there just in time. After an hour ride in the back of a smelly van with no seats, we had to run over rocks and mud in the pouring rain with all our luggage in order to make it to our bus. We then had to kick some people out of our assigned seats and deal with the consternation of the driver who was annoyed that we were late. However, we managed to get settled in for a long and largely sleepless night. We got back to Arequipa around 4am, exhausted, happy to be home and thrilled with our adventure.

Everyone looks forward to some more travels before school resumes on March 1. Hopefully the transportation will be a bit easier, but I doubt it! No big deal because getting there is (sometimes) half the fun. Happy New Year!