Colca Canyon: the world's (maybe second) deepest canyon

Of all our time on this earth, there have been very few occasions when Med and I have had to set an alarm for 2.00am. Our trip to Colca Canyon was one of these rare occasions.

Soaring, Andean condor

As we were getting ready in the middle of the night, others were no doubt still queueing to get into clubs on the other side of town; Arequipa, after all, is one of the top nightlife spots in Peru.

It didn't start well: the bus was 30 minutes late and showed no signs of our friend, James, who we first met over a month ago in Bolivia.

After a stand-off, a telephone call and making the driver promise we would see James at the other end, we eventually admitted defeat and climbed on board, giving a quick ‘hola’ and apologetic smile to our fellow, sleepy trekkers, and settled in the seat to try and get some shut eye that our bodies were crying out for.

At the bottom of the 2nd deepest canyon in the world!

Twice as deep as the Grand Canyon (though the walls aren’t as sheer), the Colca Canyon is somewhere between 3191 and 4160 metres (it's vague!) - maybe only second deepest in the world to the the Cotahuasi Canyon situated further to the north west of Peru.

There is much dispute around the world on this - some argue Colca is the deepest and Nepal claims on this title too.

Five hours later with a small stop in Chivay for breakfast and to pay our entrance fee to the national park, we arrived at our first stop, Cruz del Condor, the primary viewing location for Andean Condors.

Is anyone home?!

It seemed everyone got the memo though; we were in no way alone to enjoy this impressive bird with a wingspan of up to 10 feet and the ability to fly at altitudes of up to 16,000 feet. Oh no - anyone would think we were in Animal Kingdom, Florida with all the camera clutching, brimmed hat wearing tourists flooding the viewing platform.

Thankfully, in the crowd, we found our fellow trekker, James. We were going it alone, without a guide or a plan, and things were finally back on track.

Putting our feet up in our hospedaje, Ta Pay

When I blocked out the tourist circus for a few seconds, it was incredible to see one of the biggest birds in the world up close. They soared gracefully, rising up on the warm airs from deep in the canyon ready for a day's hunting - they are very heavy and rely on strong updrafts to be able to fly.

We also saw hummingbirds, giant and small, floating on air around us.

We then got dropped off at the start of the trek, San Miguel, quickly cutting away from the guided groups so we could have the canyon, and its lofty, cliff-cut views, to ourselves. The terrain was harsh and dry, the slopes steep and constant, until we reached the river in the bottom.

Keeping warm in our barn room

Then it was up, up and up, deciding to continue trekking past the small village of San Juan (in truth, we actually couldn't find it!) until we thought we had reached Ta Pay.

There was no one in the six or seven mud huts here, despite our shouts of "hola" into the fresh, silent air.

After 15 minutes, we were almost considering going back down to find San Juan, and then a small man ambled down the path and shed some light: Ta Pay was still another 30 minute climb up.

Making friends with the donkeys

Ta Pay was a small village high up on one side of the canyon, fringed with mountains behind and the depths of the canyon in front.

Again, it appeared to be a ghost town, the church eerily empty and dark. Until we found the football game in a concrete yard and someone who had a basic hospedaje.

The guy who ran it, probably in his early 30s, lived there by himself, working the land and occasionally getting some money from tourists. His family all lived away - incredible the simple, hardy and isolated life these people had.

Our accommodations were certainly rustic - more like a barn with beds - but thoroughly impressive given that the only way to get to the village is to hike or ride a mule.

Snake man

Right about then, we knew we had made the right decision to avoid the tour groups as we sipped on our long neck beer, the only tourists in the village (the last people wrote in the visitors' book over a month before), chatting away into the night under the best starry sky I've seen.

The next day was a lot easier, scaling the canyon side but in a gentle, downward direction. We saw ancient Inca 'tombs' - holes chiseled out of the steep canyon cliff to keep the bodies of their dead. And then along came a man holding a live snake - "comer" he smiled - to eat. We shared the route only with locals and their scruffy-looking donkeys and mules.

Cute little Quechan girl

After a few hours we reached San Galle, known as "Oasis" as, in the middle of all the barren rock and stone, this place is saturated with lush green vegetation and palm trees. Oasis was quite the place to unwind after two days trekking, with several quaint hostels all with swimming pool and a bar.

Stunning views of the canyon

Our hut wasn’t the most luxurious of places, but how many times does one get to stay the night in a bamboo hut at the bottom of the second deepest canyon in the world? We lazed by the pool until sundown, then played cards and ate dinner with our fellow trekkers.

The next morning it was up at 5am in the dark to hike the gruelling, steep face of the canyon to catch our bus at 9.30am. Sunrise was beautiful, between puffs and glugs of water.

Chilling in the pool at Oasis

We raced up the canyon, the boys seemed to make it their mission to overtake every single person.

Cue the motivational music on my iPod and the destroying of my emergency biscuits (all three packets of them).

But make it we did, in half the time we'd given ourselves - just one hour and three quarters.

To top off a great three days trekking Colca, we got an amazing, free buffet lunch due to the cock-up with buses on the first day.

Sweaty, exhausted but we made it!

Backpacking life doesn't get better than a stunning trek and a free lunch.