Cabanaconde&Arequipa, Peru

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We got to Arequipa early in the morning and decided to get on the first bus to Cabanaconde, a small pueblo in the Colca Canyon. The next bus was a 6 hour ride from hell in a cramped bus down a long BUMPY road. We spent most of the daylight hours on the bus and when we got there left on a hunt to find a place to stay. Eventually we decided on a place called Pachamama(mother earth). It had great people who ran it and at night had the best vibe, good food, and drinks. We had a great first night talking, drinking and playing games with Luie. Luie and his brother are the owners of the hostel. Liv, Luie´s girlfriend also helps run the hostel. They are some of my favorite people I have met in Peru. They do a lot for the local children and for some of the troubled kids of the town such as teach them english or even give them jobs and a place to live for a couple of them.

The next morning the David, Rachael and I set out for our hike in the Colca Canyon for four days and three nights. We met up with a Canadian couple and some others from assorted countries like Cassiano(Brazil), Ryan and his friend(England). We all had the same plan and hiked either together or met up at the end of the day at each Pueblo. After the first night the aussies and I split because they were starting to run a little short on time. I continued on with the canucks and it was a lot of hiking over the next few days. We finally got to the oasis on our third day and relaxed before our 1100 vertical meter hike up the canyon wall in the morning. This is supposed to take arround three hours and am proud to say I did it in 1hr and 40min with a 25pound pack on and beat mules up. We spent the rest of that day doning absolutely nothing but eating and sitting.

The next morning, the day we left Cabanaconde was quite the doozie. When we woke up and went to the other building (with the restaurant and bar) for breakfast there was a german couple there who claimed that someone snuck into their room and stole the guys wallet and passport. After getting the police involved and the hostel in trouble because of some licensing issues the germans left for there own trek. To try to save the hostel from being shut down Luie ran after them to try to get them to change the story. Come to find out that when Luie got to them the had found there ¨stolen¨goods in another backpack and had no plan to tell anyone until they got back two days later. When that fiasco was put to rest it was time to catch another bus from hell back down to Arequipa with the Canadians. I did see the best sun set I have seen in a while from my bus window that night.

We spent one night in Arequipa before continuing on to seperate places. I left for Cuzco at 8:30pm the next day. The Canadians left for Ica at a similar time on a northern path.