Day One
All the group met for breakfast at 6am at the restaurant of the hotel. We started the walk at around 7am with our local guide, Patricio. We walked up to the canyon and started walking down this impressive canyon. The landscapes were amazing, very aride cliffs with all sorts of cactus on them. From the top of the canyon we could see the Oasis, the place where we will stay for the night and also the villages we will visit in the afternoon. It took us less than 3h to reach the bottom of the canon taking quite a lot of breaks to take pictures. At the bridge a guy was waiting to check if we had bought the Bolleto touristico S/35. Our guide had told us previously that the money goes to the government not to the local people, so he did advise us to not pay. He told the guy that we did not have any money with us as the tour was all included and the guy (who seemed to know our guide!) let us go. Then we walked another hour along the very nice and green other side of the canon, through small fields and habitations. We had a 2h break at a "hotel", a very simple and small place where you can eat and sleep in basic conditions, however our lunch was quite nice. To pursue our way to the Oasis we followed for a while a small irrigation canal and walked through two small villages (where most of the people were drunk!). It took us nearly 3h to reach the Oasis. This is a very surprising place, where there are lots of palm trees and plants, the green of the Oasis really stands out of the rest of this arid canon. We were a bit surprised when we discovered our "hotel"...made of a few bamboo shelters, with very basic beds inside, no other furnitures and no flooring. We then could relax next to the swimming pool eating very nice popcorns cooked by our guide (we did not swim as the weather was not that hot at the end of the afternoon). We even had a football game with the Peruvian guys working at our hotel ... and we won! The food for dinner was not the best but the atmosphere was unique, we were all sitting on logs around tables made of chunks of wood, the unique lighting being from candles. Our guide served us some Peruvian wine, but we cannot say it was the best wine we ever had... as we said to our guide "mas fuerte"! Being quite tired and not having much to do in the Oasis left in the dark after the sun set (no electricity), we went to bed very early, 8.30pm, but before we enjoyed watching the beautiful sky full of stars!
Day Two
This was a very cold night in the Oasis, especially when you sleep in a bamboo shelter! We all woke up at 5am freezing in our beds...well not all, Gilles woke up as he was too hot ...in his warm sleeping bag! We had to wait for 6am to have breakfast and finally started our way up the top of the canyon at 7am. We had been told so many times that the walk up is very hard, that we finally found it not that bad. We reached the top of the canyon in 2h30 at a quiet pace, and after a 30min walk through the fields organised in terraces we arrived in Cabanaconde, left without electricity since the morning. We all enjoyed having some rest after the walk, which was not an easy one after all! The French guys caught the 12pm bus to Arequipa and with our friends from Belgium, Gilles and Catherine, we started a search for a restaurant in Cabanaconde as we did not feel like eating the menu of the day at Valley Del Fuego (the same as the day before). We ended up having lovely pastas for S/5 at Ludvic's restaurant Pachamama, on the main street. Ludvic, an ex-guide had just opened this hotel-restaurant 2 days ago. We recommand this place as the food is very good and Ludvic is very nice and helpful. In the afternoon we went to the mirador of Achachiwa, only a 10min walk from the village. The view on the canyon was beautiful and we enjoyed relaxing under the sun. But when the sun started to go down the temperature dropped quickly, so we soon found ourselves warming up around the fireplace at the restaurant Valley Del Fuego. We went back to Pachamama for dinner, and ended up having a lovely meal in a special atmosphere; candles light as the eletricity was not yet back and music played by Ludvic with his guitar.
All the group met for breakfast at 6am at the restaurant of the hotel. We started the walk at around 7am with our local guide, Patricio. We walked up to the canyon and started walking down this impressive canyon. The landscapes were amazing, very aride cliffs with all sorts of cactus on them. From the top of the canyon we could see the Oasis, the place where we will stay for the night and also the villages we will visit in the afternoon. It took us less than 3h to reach the bottom of the canon taking quite a lot of breaks to take pictures. At the bridge a guy was waiting to check if we had bought the Bolleto touristico S/35. Our guide had told us previously that the money goes to the government not to the local people, so he did advise us to not pay. He told the guy that we did not have any money with us as the tour was all included and the guy (who seemed to know our guide!) let us go. Then we walked another hour along the very nice and green other side of the canon, through small fields and habitations. We had a 2h break at a "hotel", a very simple and small place where you can eat and sleep in basic conditions, however our lunch was quite nice. To pursue our way to the Oasis we followed for a while a small irrigation canal and walked through two small villages (where most of the people were drunk!). It took us nearly 3h to reach the Oasis. This is a very surprising place, where there are lots of palm trees and plants, the green of the Oasis really stands out of the rest of this arid canon. We were a bit surprised when we discovered our "hotel"...made of a few bamboo shelters, with very basic beds inside, no other furnitures and no flooring. We then could relax next to the swimming pool eating very nice popcorns cooked by our guide (we did not swim as the weather was not that hot at the end of the afternoon). We even had a football game with the Peruvian guys working at our hotel ... and we won! The food for dinner was not the best but the atmosphere was unique, we were all sitting on logs around tables made of chunks of wood, the unique lighting being from candles. Our guide served us some Peruvian wine, but we cannot say it was the best wine we ever had... as we said to our guide "mas fuerte"! Being quite tired and not having much to do in the Oasis left in the dark after the sun set (no electricity), we went to bed very early, 8.30pm, but before we enjoyed watching the beautiful sky full of stars!
Day Two
This was a very cold night in the Oasis, especially when you sleep in a bamboo shelter! We all woke up at 5am freezing in our beds...well not all, Gilles woke up as he was too hot ...in his warm sleeping bag! We had to wait for 6am to have breakfast and finally started our way up the top of the canyon at 7am. We had been told so many times that the walk up is very hard, that we finally found it not that bad. We reached the top of the canyon in 2h30 at a quiet pace, and after a 30min walk through the fields organised in terraces we arrived in Cabanaconde, left without electricity since the morning. We all enjoyed having some rest after the walk, which was not an easy one after all! The French guys caught the 12pm bus to Arequipa and with our friends from Belgium, Gilles and Catherine, we started a search for a restaurant in Cabanaconde as we did not feel like eating the menu of the day at Valley Del Fuego (the same as the day before). We ended up having lovely pastas for S/5 at Ludvic's restaurant Pachamama, on the main street. Ludvic, an ex-guide had just opened this hotel-restaurant 2 days ago. We recommand this place as the food is very good and Ludvic is very nice and helpful. In the afternoon we went to the mirador of Achachiwa, only a 10min walk from the village. The view on the canyon was beautiful and we enjoyed relaxing under the sun. But when the sun started to go down the temperature dropped quickly, so we soon found ourselves warming up around the fireplace at the restaurant Valley Del Fuego. We went back to Pachamama for dinner, and ended up having a lovely meal in a special atmosphere; candles light as the eletricity was not yet back and music played by Ludvic with his guitar.
