Since the bus office was closed in the evening, we had to make sure that we get to the terminal early, since it's the only bus, otherwise it would be too late. Got up at 4:40, to be at the terminal EARLY. The office was still closed, but stood in line until 6 am, and got 6 tickets. 1 guy from Montreal just started travelling, and hasn't been anywhere else before, so he got excited about everything, whistling on every view. OMG guys, you have to see the view on this side ... yeah, yeah ... I've seen it hundred times already :) There were 3 guys from Holland. 2 without any character at all and 1 didn't even talk. It took us 6 hours to get there. It was snowing, so some of the way was all covered in snow, very pretty. Passed a lot of terraces, but not sure if they're still in use or not. They're from Inca time, but now just have a lot of weeds on them. The guide book says that there are lots of people trying to sell fake tickets, to be careful, and to buy them only at the entrance. One town before that, there was a first control where one girl was trying to sell us tickets. 12 tourists were arguing with her, nobody wanted to buy them, she almost cried. But she was extremely patient, in her place I would punch somebody out :)
Started the hike at 12:30. It was easy, since it was all down, but long again. Made a lot of stops to take pictures, by the end my knees hurt. Met a 15 year old boy on the way who offered us accommodations. Went to his place, which is surrounded by nice views, lots of trees, smells really good everywhere. There were almost no people nowhere, only 40 familys left, everybody else left to the city. It's a difficult life over there. 1 guy told us that sometimes there is nothing to eat. The father of the son went to town at 1 am with donkeys, returned at 6 pm with only 10 bags of cement, cooked dinner, and left at 1 am again.
The bed at the hostel was 5 soles each (~$1.7), beer 10 soles, dinner 8 soles. We slept in a super nice round hut with beds around it, with 3 wool blankets. Had a nice vegetable soup with alpaca (kind of llama), vegetarian second dish (they don't have any animals living there), and for breakfast had pancakes.There are some ruins, but I didn't want to go. Instead me and one guy went straight to the oasis, the others did a 4 hour detour. The guy from Montreal wanted to stay longer, so he left us in the morning. Although I'm not really sure what else is there to see.
We got lost on the way, there are no signs at all, and no people to ask, so that cost us 40 minutes. One indigenous lady helped us find the way. Went 1 hour up in the hot sun. Got to 2 villages, all empty. Found cactus fruits. I climbed a wall and all my fingers were in little thorns, which took forever to take out, and could feel them for a long time. And at the end, they were all rotten :( Finally got to oasis. This guy wanted to check all the hostels out, was very annoying. We were tired, and they're the same anyway. Stayed at the last hostel. 8 soles for bed and dinner. Swam in the swimming pool, very refreshing. There was a group from colca trek who was camping!!! I didn't even want to talk to them, how stupid do you have to be to pay so much !!! Had dinner with candles, asparagus soup, with pasta and tomatoes and a nice citron tea, and went to sleep after dinner at 7:30. Wake up time 2:40 am :S Hiked up for 4.5 hours. At first not difficult, although very slow. I listened to music to keep myself occupied. Made a lot of stops on the way. Last hour was hard. We had to walk faster to catch the bus to see the condors. 1 Dutch guy was pushing me from behind. I got exhausted, the top was never reachable!! :S Finally made it to Cabanaconda, and guess what? There is no bus at 8, only at 9, means that we walked too fast and we miss the condors!! Ate breakfast, ate so much. We kept asking for more and more food. Nobody talked, super tired, legs didn't move. Took a completely packed bus at 9. I crashed out, and I never sleep on day buses. At 10 got to the condors. There were 5 of them, some really close, but I expected them to be bigger. We were lucky, they shouldn't have been there at this time. Tried to take pictures, but couldn't see in the camera nothing. Just shot random shots. Have a lot of clear blue shots of absolutely nothing :) Caught a bus to Arequpia. Lots of space, but couldn't fall asleep. Passed fields with hundreds of alpacas. And this time all the show had melted, so it wasn't that pretty on the way back. In the terminal, got a ticket for 25 soles to Cusco the same night at 8pm. Went to the hostel to relax and had a last dinner with everybody at some expensive sandwich place. At the terminal we were told to keep our stuff on us all the time, and not to talk to anybody ! :S But the bus was just as nice as the expensive buses (which are for 80 soles). We couldn't fall asleep at all :( too many turns, and cold, and nowhere to put the legs.
Arrived in Cusco at 5:30 am.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ColcaCanyon#
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