ADVENTURE COLCA CANYON HORSEBACK RIDING TOUR $629 USD Per Person

At 7AM we start our tour to the second deepest canyon in the world, driving on the left side of Chachani mountain (6070M), continue going up to 4400M over the sea level, is a Natural Reserve of Salinas and Aguada Blanca, is the nature habitat for the Vicuñas, one of South American camelidos, groups of Llamas, Alpacas, small lake (Bofedales), highlands views (Pata Pampa 4850m), snow caps and volcanoes, will stop every place to get short break getting pictures from all each place you like.

At 12PM we will arrive to Chivay town, located over 3600M high, there you will have lunch and after that we go to learn all about our horses will be riding. We will learn how to communicate with our mounts horsemanship techniques similar to those used by the famous horse whisperer and you will practice with the horses. In the afternoon we travel to the hot spring of LA CALERA, and at 7PM we visit the Maria Reiche Planetarium to immerse in the mysteries of the Colca Valley sky and enjoy the performance "Colca deep Canyon, deep sky". Overnight in Chivay — you can choose to stay at Chivay or Yanque village, both have good quality accommodation (tell us at booking time).

At 7AM is the breakfast at the hotel and travel to Yanque village, from where we will star to ride our horses, this day you will go on a longer ride through the Colca valley with our friendly horseman, you will see spectacular terraces along the Colca river, colony churches, pre Incas ruins, Ichupampa and Lari village, they are typical villages on the left bank of the river and the trail is mostly even.

At 12PM after four hours riding ours horses, we will arrive to Lari, where we will have lunch and continue riding between the terraces, going down to the bottom and crossing the river to right side of the Canyon and then we up to Pinchollo village (3400M) where will spend the night in tents surrounded by mountainous range like Mismi, Hualca Hualca and Bomboya.

At 7AM after nice country breakfast and packing all our camping gear continue riding our horses through the mountain and nice country (2 hours) to the famous Condor Cross (3600M), at this place is possible to appreciate the fly of Condors or sometimes seating on the big rocks, two hours spending looking this amusing and biggest flying bird in the world. Time to continue riding and seeing many remote villages in this spectacular Canyon.

At 12PM arrival to Cabanaconde town (3280M) nice and peaceful surrounded by pre Inca terracing. Here we have delicious lunch prepared with fresh and health local ingredients. At 1PM or 2PM start trekking to the deepest part of the second deepest canyon in world, nice trek following a serpentine dirt trail descending 1300M to the bottom, where will cross two hanging brides over the Colca River. After 4 hours of trekking finally arrival to Llahuar Lodge where are nice bamboo cabins located on the encounter of the Llatica and Colca River, this place have nice location and views of both canyons, this is Llahuar very interesting place for adventure lovers. Plenty of time to enjoying the hot spring (40ºC) located next to the river.

At 7PM nice dinner accompanied and protected by wonderful deep starry sky over the huge mountains. Spend the night at the charm bamboo cabins.

At 6AM we breakfast as we watch the sunrise light up the canyon. A short (two hour) relatively level trek along the left bank of the Colca River, takes us across abandoned terraces completely covered by cactus through a small valley called Soro (2050M). All too quickly we pass abandoned farms and several working farms, pick our last tuna (January to April), offered by the farmers and then we cross a suspension bridge over the Colca River to meet our 4WD. It's a breathtaking drive back up the canyon along a serpentine road smoothly executed by our experienced drivers. The views beckon us to make several photographic stops because it's hard to imagine that what’s to come can quite match the current scene. The magnificent views continue for the next as we make our way to Huambo (2900M), a village surrounded by green terraces, a lovely town square, and a different group of people wearing different local dress. At the highest point of our journey in the Andean range, at the "Mirador del “Ampato" we have a good view of the Ampato, a snow covered mountain. In 1995 the mummy of 14 year old "Juanita" was found by climbers. We continue on to see two small volcanoes in the vast Pampa de Qerqe (whose summit is only 300m) from there we travel to the coast.

El Pedregal (1400M) long green valley in the middle of the driest area located on the both site of the Panamericana highway. Direct return to Arequipa (2 hours).

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you book a backpacker service (Join a group) on day 3 will be necesary to climb up from Llahuar to Cabanaconde by the same way we used one day before to get down. From Cabanaconde we take public bus to Chivay to have our last lunch and then return to Arequipa travel takes 6 hours whole trip.