Day 16 Colca Canyon down to Oasis Sangalle

Summary of day: Ride to Colca Canyon to see Condors.  Long hike mostly down to Oasis 

We had to wake up at 3:10 am because our bus was supposed to come at 3:30.  It got lost and it was nearly 4 before somebody came to get us.  Then we stopped for gas and the key broke in the gas tank so we stayed there for 30 min.  Finally we were off to Chivay.  Mostly we slept for the 3 hours on the way there.  

Map of trek (red route)

3:30 am is way to early to leave

At Chivay we went to a very cold restaurant to have breakfast.  Unfortunately it was mostly egg so I got lots of bread with some jam and cheese.  We left of pillows here and then were off to see condors

Coca tea for breakfast

We got to Cruz del Condors around 8:45 and we were lucky to see tons of condors.  We saw as many as 8 at a time and some even sat on rocks to pose.  After about 40 min and lots of pictures later we were herded back on the bus.

Flying condor (10 ft wing span)

Resting condor

Dinky and the condor

Next stop was just outside Cabanaconde to start our hike.  From here we could barely see the bottom to where we were headed.  We hiked for about 6 km basically straight down.  The hike was rough on my feet since I am not used to that much down.  We made it to the bridge at the bottom. After that it was a short upward hike to our lunch spot.

Start of hike

Finally made it to the bottom and bridge

Lunch lomo saltado

Blisters on the toes from 6 km all down

After lunch there was about 3 more hours of hiking including some uphills.  Juan pointed out lots of interesting plants and told us their traditional uses. Along the way we passed a stubborn mule.  After 20 min of pretty hard uphills we saw the oasis where we were spending the night.  40 min of rough downhills and we were there.  It was slightly over 8 miles of hiking total in about 6 hours.

Prickly pear cactus

Waterfall the provides water and power to oasis

We arrived at the oasis at 4:30 with just enough time to take a quick cold swim and grab an (expensive drink).  The price was understandable though since everything comes in and out by mule.

Oasis Sangalle pool and drinks

 We all sat around and watched England Italy play while it was getting colder and colder. They ran power just to watch this game

Watching world cup with some brits

Dinner was wheat soup and pesto noodles with alpaca  Pretty good.  After dinner it was straight to bed at 8:30 since we had to get up at 4:15 to start the long hike up and out.

Spaghetti and alpaca meat

Lemon verbuna tea to warm up