• 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.

Wake up early before sunrise, so can start walking as soon as the sun comes out, trust us! you don’t want to be walking at midday!!

Take with you water with coca tea and some caramels for instant energy. Remember that you are going from 2,100 meters (a.s.l) to 3,300 meters (a.s.l)

In this part of the trekking you just have to walk upwards until you can see Cabanaconde. (3 hours)

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)

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)

=)