• Carry coca tea with you, you can put it in a bottle.
• Sangalle’s water is good to drink, at least for us.
• To save money buy: bread, cheese and honey.
• Buy bananas in the towns.
• On third day from Sangalle to Cabanaconde start walking at sunrise.
• Leave your luggage in Arequipa.
• Carry sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and comfortable shoes.
• If your physical condition is not good, take a mule.
• Breath Pimiento.
• Carry caramels.
• On the way up, there some trees at the top of the canyon, they are a good reference on how far you are.

After asking  for directions at house of Rivelino we started walking for 1 hour untill Cosñirhua.

Walking wasn’t all that great cos neither of us could breath.

At Cosñirhua we bought bananas and honey, delicious!!!
The prices here are cheaper than in San Juan but more expensive than in the city.

When we arrived to Malata we realized that the Colca Canyon towns were celebrating their anniversary.

In the canyon you can see a lot of different cactus and people harvesting tunas (the fruit not the fish!!!)

In Malata we met Carlitos, a really nice guide, we continued walking with him and his group to Sangalle. Carlitos does his tours at a good pace, he explains well and is a really good cook. We totally recommend him. If you want his detail contact us!

On the road to Sangalle there a lot of nice lookouts, from where you can see the waterfalls and the oasis. We stayed at Las Palmeras.

From San Juan de Chuccho (House of Rivelino) take the wide pathway and if the path is bifurcating take always your right. There is a point where you start to go upwards following a small river (on your right) continue this way until you see a bridge, cross it and then you will start to go upwards.

Cosñirhua, the next town after San Juan is right after you finish this road (1hour).
Malata is 20 minutes after Cosñirhua. After Malata the road star to go down until you reach Sangalle Oasis. This path is more narrow than the ones you walked before. Be careful cause it’s slippery (1 hour)

We left Cabanaconde at 9AM, we woke up early after a really bad night. One of us had fever and a sore throat, the other one was ill too but without fever. Altitude and pressure changes were having an effect on us.

Early in the morning the speakers in town were announcing El Gran Día de la Limpieza de Calles (The big day of street cleaning challenge), while we were looking for a place to leave our backpacks for the trekking we saw all the neighbours cleaning the streets. We left out backpacks in a store were Milagros Buses tickets were sold. It was a very hard decision.

We started walking, but when we arrived at the San Miguel lookout signpost we didn’t know which path to follow. We saw a local woman coming our way and we asked her, she told us to follow a local man who was going in the direction of the canyon.

We had breakfast at the cliff of the canyon, we ate bananas, Arequipa’s bread and cheese from Cabanaconde, not very tasty but energetic.

The path going down the canyon is sometimes  very steep and slippery, with rain it must be horrible. All the towns are clearly seen all the way down, except for San Juan de Chuccho, that once you are there, you realize it’s not a town but few houses and farming fields.

Almost all the tour groups go very fast and don’t stop to take the time to see the surrounding area which is very beautiful.

In San Juan de Chuccho we stayed at House of Rivelino, that is in the way to Cosñirhua. We rested there all afternoon, after taking a hot shower =D.

You can arrive to Cabanaconde by taking a public bus during the night:

1AM Reyna Buses
1,30 AM Andalucia Buses
They both charge $15 soles for the trip.

If you take the 1AM bus you arrive to Cabanaconde at 6AM you can eat breakfast in town and then start walking to San Miguel lookout to start the trekking.

To arrive to San Miguel lookout, walk back through the highway until you see a signpost “Mirador de San Miguel” (20 min).

Another option is to tell the bus driver to drop you there.

Once you are in front of the sign post walk to the canyon, you’ll find a wide pathway with of shoes prints and horse/donkey/mule/ shit. Follow the path to your right, if you walk past a cross you are in the right way. In this part of the trekking you don’t have to go up any hills.

Once you arrive to border of the canyon you will see a path going slowly downwards, this is the beginning of the trekking, just go down till you get to San Juan de Chuccho’s  bridge. After you cross the bridge go uphill and turn left. In the rocks you can see marks with arrows pointing to different rustic lodges. (4 hours)

=)