So the original thought was go to Arequipa so that we could get out and hike in colca canyon, the 2nd deepest canyon in the world. We figured we could just catch a bus to the canyon, hike down, camp, hike back out the next morning, and catch a bus back to Arequipa. Sounds easy enough,, right??
María la doña actually got us what we thought was a really good deal. She knew someone that ran a colectivo to the canyon. Awesome! BUT it will arrive between 3 and 3:30 in the morning. Yikes! But it's all good. It's about a 5-6 hour ride to the canyon and a 3 hour hike; so it would give us time to get down, set up base, and play around. We were down. We get our packs together that night, eat an early dinner complete with wine to help us pass out early, and are in bed by 8:30. We are both up by 2:40 and ready when the bus arrives at 3:10. On our way.
We make a few more stops and the van is now full with 12 foreigners. When everyone is settled in, the woman in chArge calls our attention to explain a few things. Turns out were on a tour van but we are "solo transporta". She keeps saying this as if we are going to forget. We also stop for breakfast which was not expected, but gladly accepted.
We arrive at cruz del cóndor at about 8:45. We quietly bid farewell to our tour group, load our packs on our backs and off we head on the only marked trail. Starting off we are questioning the trail because it seems like it is going up for one, and it seems like it's just following the road. But Meg continues saying that it's a well marked trail and this is the only trail; so I'm in total agreement. About an hour in we look a ways down the path. Were in the desert and a little elevated, so its clear where it goes. There's a parking lot ... and that is where it ends. Crap!! You've got to be kidding me. I've lugged this heavy-ass pack around for the past hour going nowhere?? Alright time to turn around.
We backtrack to the Cruz. On the way we bump into a samll group with a local who seems like he may be the guide. Meghan goes up to him to inquire about the descent trail. He gives us his map and shows us where we need to be going. Right on. Map in hand and we are good to go! Or so we thought...
According to the map, we pass the Cruz a little ways and then the trail will be descending down the right. Cool. Pass the Cruz, no trail. We continue along the side of the road, which in Peru is not exactly the safest thing to do here, for about 20-30 minutes. We still can't find this trail. This is ridiculous. we walk back and SCOUR the area for the trail. It doesn't exist. It can't. There's nothing. So now at roughly 12:30 we are tired, hungry, and pissed. We sit up at the Cruz with the intention of grabbing a ride with the next bus/colectivo. We start having lunch and an older Peruvian, very traditional Peruvian, lady yells bus at us. We stand up and look; there's a group of folks standing on the side of the road hailing down this bus. Ummm...it's kind of crowded and another 14 folks are getting on....well just wait. Plus the books made it seem like smaller buses come to collect folks all the time, like they do at machu picchu. I'm still pretty positive that is not the case. The bus leaves and we are literally the only folks at the canyon. There is NO ONE and NOTHINGu around us.
An hour passes. No sign of a car, bus, or anyone. At this point, I've told Meghan if we don't have anyone come by in a bit, we are setting camp in the parking lot.
Luckily a few minutes later another bus comes by. We flag it down, but not in the smooth manner that the locals do it; more just like a couple of crazy gringos stranded on the side of the road. The bus is already full, so we stand towards the back knowing that the ride to chivay is 2 hrs on a dirt road. At this point, I know we looked like we were crazy. We smell, were a wreck, and now we are standing on a bus intending for sitting down. As we drive on, people continue to flag down the bus ( in a much less spastic manner though, mind you ) and they keep letting them on. Everyone keeps standing and in about 40 minutes the aisle is packed.
We get to chivay finally. We book a 4 o'clock bus on "el rey latino" to Arequipa which should put us there around 7. Good deal. We probably won't be able to leave for ica that same night but we were just happy to be heading back to Arequipa.
While we were waiting for our bus a fight broke out. But in all honestly it was actually just quite comical. It was between a teller and another woman. All of a sudden Megs and I hear screaming. We turn around to find the teller with her hand out the window (through the little hole in the bottom where you hand money) grabbing at the other woman's hair and cursing at her in Spanish. Someone calls policía who comes over but has this expression of "you gotta be kidding me. I can't use my gun here".
I think it's time to wait outside.
-la gringuita
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