Oy. The alarm was ridiculously early today. I checked my WhatsApp, and saw that we had a message from our tour guide that we were getting picked up at 2:45 a.m. instead of 3:00… Ugh. 

We gathered our stuff up, stuck our big backpacks by the door where the hotel people would grab them and keep them safe for us when we got back, and went over to the little plaza to get picked up. 

The beginning of the drive was in the dark, and we slept most of it. We stopped halfway through the drive and had a buffet breakfast, then got back on the bus and kept going. 

Along the way, we watched the sun come up in the Andes. We got to see a volcano steaming, with a promise that we would actually stop on the way back. We also stopped at the Cruz del Condor, where we didn’t see any condors… There might have been one way off in the distance, but it might also not have been. Super anticlimactic. 

We pulled into San Miguel, where there was a bathroom and a table or two to get organized. We rearranged our stuff, hit the facilities, and started walking. 

The first couple kilometers were flat, which was a nice little warm up. We finally came to the turn down, and the descent started for real. Down, down, down we went. We did finally get to see some condors flying around, which was pretty cool. Those things are HUGE! They have something like a three meter wingspan. 

The trail was alternately steps, steep downhill, and loose as shit. I fell on my ass twice, my feet just sliding out from under me. So annoying. 

We finally got to the bridge at the bottom and crossed the river. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had left his GoPro on a rock when we took a break – luckily one of the people that had been on our bus grabbed it and brought it down to us. SO lucky!

After we crossed the river, we only had a little longer to go until we got to the hostel (Posada Gloria) where we were having lunch. Guacamole, soup, and alpaca lomo saltado was one of the better meals we’ve had. And luckily, since we were doing the three day trek, this was our stopping point for the day. Our room was nice, with a comfy bed, a private bathroom with a shower, and an electrical outlet where we could recharge all our cameras. 

After lunch, we laid down and I slept the rest of the afternoon. Good thing it rained the whole time, or we might have felt like we were missing something…

We got up for dinner, and I tried to take a shower. Unfortunately, the water was “warm,” which meant freezing for me. I did the best I could and  we went to dinner. We ate with Philip, a Belgian, and a couple that were German and Dutch. Dinner was some sort of noodle soup and chicken and rice. Yum!

Then bed. More sleep for me. 

Thankfully we didn’t have to get up super early the next morning – breakfast wasn’t til 7:30! We had chocolate crepes with bananas inside, and eggs and crackers as well. Again with the yum!

Today’s hike was pretty uneventful, just meandering our way down the canyon a ways to the oasis (actually called Paraiso Las Palmeras Lodge), our stop for this evening. The whole hike only took about two and a half hours, which put us at the oasis by about 11:00. Lunch wasn’t til 1:00, so we decided to take advantage of the spring fed swimming pool for a bit, especially since there was no running water from a blocked canal or something and dunking ourselves in water at least washed the sweat off. It wouldn’t be a trip for us if we didn’t go at least one night without running water. 

After our swim came lunch, some spaghetti thing with vegetables and bits of alpaca in it. It wasn’t bad, but yesterday’s lunch was better. 

We hung out for a bit after lunch and shared a beer in the dining area. When we were finished, we went back to our room – another private one with our own bathroom – and slept away yet another afternoon. We got up before dinner, though, and shared another beer before dinner. 

We had dinner with three Dutch kids, two guys and a girl, and then another group consisting of an Italian, a German, and another Dutch guy. The conversation was hilarious, with them discussing the differences in French and Dutch as languages… Highly entertaining to just sit and listen. 

One of the other guides came out and started telling ghost stories, but sadly I was exhausted and was falling asleep at the table, so we got up and went to bed. 

William asked us to meet him at 4:15 this morning to start the hike out – ugh! Hopefully that’s the last one on this trip…

Anyway, we started walking in the dark, thankfully I’d brought a headlamp so we could see. Didn’t need it for very long, and soon we saw the first hints of daylight on the horizon. Sunrise was nice, they all are, but there was no big ball of fire since we were so far down in the canyon. 

We went up and up and up, and up some more when we were tired of going up. My legs were fucked, but I made it out with minimal stops. 

We got to the top, took a slight detour through some cornfields (which was actually kinda cool), and walked into Cabanaconde for breakfast. 

Bread, eggs, avocado, and coffee. Can’t argue with that!

Then we got on the bus and headed to the hot springs for about an hour. Those were really HOT! The coolest one was pretty nice, but all the rest were super hot. Felt really good to submerge myself and my tired muscles in hot water, though. 

We stopped twice more on the way, once to see alpacas, llamas, and vicuñas, and another time to see the volcanoes you couldn’t see because of the clouds. 

We made it back by the skin on our teeth. There was some construction, and the workers go to lunch between 1:00 and 2:00 pm, which is the only time during the day that the road is passable, and the road is closed until 6:00 pm if you don’t get through and you’re stuck on the side of the road for a while. We got through at 1:59 pm. Eek. 

Finally back in Arequipa, we had to walk back to our hotel, and the steps on the sidewalk that I had to climb almost brought me to tears. 

We checked back in to our hotel, showered (that was GLORIOUS!), and chilled out for a while.  We went to dinner at 13 Monjas, an Italian place in one of the cool old buildings. We had amazing pasta and shared a bottle of Peruvian wine which was pretty good. 

Then back to the hotel and to bed. 

And back to the original question: Is it worth it? I give it a resounding YES! Was it hard? Sure, the climb out was no picnic. But the whole experience, being there, enjoying the food at the hostels, drinking the local beer, swimming in the oasis? 100%!

Want more? Here’s the video: