Our trek p1. 1

We left pretty late in the morning (about 8:30) for the first day of our trek. Most of the first day's hike involved a 3,500 ft. descent from Cabanaconde to the Colca river at the base of the canyon. The size of the canyon is totally impossible convey in words or, I think, pictures, but we did our best.

In this shot, you can see some of the canyon (though not all the way to the bottom), as well as a later section of the trail we'd walk along.


Here we are a little further along. You can see some of the terracing and one of the small villages near the canyon base. You can see the edge of the Colca river in the lower right-hand corner of the shot. Look at how deep this appears and then remember that we took this shot after we'd already descended about 2000 feet.

Here's another shot of the mountain village across the way. (We actually never stayed at that one. On the first day we passed it from below, and on the third day we passed it from far above).



After the long descent, we crossed a bridge, and hiked more or less along the river (a few hundred feet up) for two hours, passing below the town in the photo above. Finally, we arrived at the second bridge (pictured below), and our accommodations for the first day (which you can make out on the very left-hand side of the photo).



It's more of a camping-outpost than a town. There are just two families right above the river. The trail terminates in a covered wooden balcony overlooking the river with tables to sit at. After our long hike, we were happy to sit and enjoy the view. Lip had told us to try and lodge with "the family on the right", though, so after a quick break we went across the trail and found Virginia.

She had a beautiful place. Here is a shot of our rooms from the side.

And here is the view from our door.


She makes some of her income renting these rooms to hikers, but much of her income comes from cactus farming. Here is a shot of our bathroom with some of the cacti.

Jen asked if she sold the cactus fruit, but Virginia told us that a whole bag of the fruit can only get 20 centavos. Instead, a species of insect lay their eggs on the surface of the cacti (what Virginia called a "plague"). Though it looks white, when you scrape it off, it's a deep blood red color. Virginia says that she scrapes the cacti every three months to sell this as a dye.

Virginia also has several sheep, ducks and chickens, a pig, a cat, two dogs, and a small garden where she's planted several kinds of trees. Jen and I talked with her for several hours about all kinds of things--she said it was nice to have guests who spoke Spanish because then we could get to know each other much better (instead of just "hola!"). She cooked us a delicious lunch and dinner, and agreed to have a breakfast ready for us at 5:30 the next morning for our second day of hiking.