Backpacking South America

It is hard to capture the beauty and sheer impressiveness of Machu Picchu in photos. Upon entering the site, we were instantly overwhelmed with the structures and the ability of the Incas to tame the mountain. Centered where the two portions of the Andes meet the Amazon, located on top of a mountain, it is hard to imagine so much foresight and effort going into building a city.

The stone structures of the temple do not use any mortar. The Inca’s carved the granite so all the pieces fit together perfectly. Most of the structure remains intact without significant restoration, even though it was built over 500 years ago and abandoned for hundreds of years thereafter.

An optional side trip from within the Machu Picchu site is to hike Waynapicchu and Huaynapicchu. They have 400 permits available each day to hike the mountain. The trick is, they are first come first serve. We arrived at the park gate around 6:45 and we got tickets 394 and 395 – only 7 were left!

Our first stop in Peru was Arequipa – Peru’s second largest city. In the center, it’s colonial buildings remain largely intact. The white walls, clean cut corners and arched doorways take you back to the time the Spanish occupied the center.

Arequipa was charming and a nice transition from Bolivia. We spent a few days before and after the Colca Canyon exploring and relaxing in Arequipa. A big plus was most cafes had delicious coffee (a long time coming…) and great food. I know, we’re here in Peru and should truly embrace and enjoy Peruvian food, but we could not help but be drawn in by the Turkish and Middle Eastern restaurants. Arequipa was a welcome change and has set the mood for the rest of Peru.

Santa Catalina Convent

One afternoon, we decided to visit the Santa Catalina Convent located in the center of Arequipa. The convent really is a city inside a city. It was constructed back in the 16th century and endured several earthquakes and periods of transition which can be seen in the architecture of the “city.”

The monastery is made of silar, a volcanic rock, and is often then decorated with beautiful paintings.

We decided it would be a good idea to hike to the bottom of the second deepest canyon in the world – Colca Canyon. Just a bit shallower than the nearby Cotahuasi Canyon, the Colca Canyon is actually twice as deep as the Grand Canyon; however, it seems more like a really, really deep valley with steep walls.

I imagine the Grand Canyon to be deep with nearly vertical walls, which may or may not be true… I will find out soon enough. Regardless, it was amazing and worth the pain of the nearly 4,000 foot descent and ascent.

Our tour started at 3am. A bus stopped by all the hostels to various groups of day-trippers, two-dayers and the adventurous 3-dayers like ourselves. We quickly fell back asleep. We awoke around 8am as we were entering Chivay, a town at the mouth of the canyon. We paid our entrance fee and made our way along the canyon’s edge, mountains towering over us on both sides. We reached Cruz del Condor about an hour later and were quite lucky to see a number of the condors up close in our short stay.