CLIMB TO AMPATO MOUNTAIN & TREK IN THE COLCA CANYON

We leave from Arequipa at 7AM, from your hotel with our 4x4 truck, travel to the base of Ampato Mountain (5 hours), along the way we stop in different places to see the national reserve of wild animals as Vicuñas, Andean deer, Huanacos, Andean birds, Andean eagles, falcons, and little Andean museum and the highest Andean lookout of Patapampa (4850M).

Stay in the tents, the tour guide will prepare the food (lunch and dinner). The base camp can be set up our tents above 4800 or 5300, according how you feeling and how much do you like to walk this day... normally we climb just 300M or 400M. Everything depends of you (L - D).

At 1AM wake up and breakfast and the attack the summit, you have all day to get the top of this amazing mountain. Some time takes between 5-6 hours to climb 1000M, but everything depend how fast and how strong you will feel at that altitude... you will need good acclimatization. This day we bring just everything to keep warm our body, water, camera and some snack... the rest of our camping gear will stay in the same place. Stay in tents too, we provide all meals during the day (B - L - D).

This day will be easy and relaxing for you. After breakfast (8AM) we packing all our camping gear and then we take the 4x4 truck to travel for one hour to Chivay (3600M), there we visit the hot spring and then lunch. After lunch you have two options:

HORSE TOUR US$55 EACH; we meet the horse in Yanque and we ride for 3 hours between the terraces of the Colca valley and return to the hotel or camping somewhere near of the river.

BIKE TOUR US$55 EACH; Nice downhill ride style from Patapampa (4850M) to Chivay, this tour is one of the best in the Colca canyon, because is long way down, lunch in Chivay and then continue cycling along the canyon, on the right bank and finally arrive to the hot spring. You will cycle between 3 and 4 hours on unpaved road. Stay in hotel or camping near of the hot spring (B - L - D).

NOTE: In case you don't like to do anything, you can stay resting in the hotel or in the hot spring receiving relaxing massages.

At 7AM we take a public bus and we travel from Chivay or Yanque to the condor cross, this transfer take 1 hour. At 8:30am you will be watching the condors in the condor cross lookout. Around 10am we hike down to the canyon, after 3 hour of descent arrive to the bottom and cross the Colca River by suspension bridge. Stay in the town of San Juan De Chuccho (2300M), you can decide to stay in family house or camping (B - L - D).

After breakfast you will hike around six hours along the right bank of the canyon, passing small remote villages, lot of pre Inca terraces, small cactus forest and many corners to see the second deepest canyon in the world. Around 2PM arrive to Llahuar lodge, stay in the bungalows or camping next of the hot spring (B - L - D).

Today we have two options to return to Arequipa, see below:

OPTION A: If you book your trip with Group Service (join a group) you will walk up at 2am and then have simple breakfast and start the trekking following a serpentine trail up to Cabanaconde (5 hours). You will approximately 3 hours in the dark until the first sun rising. This is the hardest part of this trek. Arrival to Cabanaconde we try another delicious breakfast and then transfer to the Condor cross to see again the flight of the birds or if you like we can have directly transfer (public bus) to Chivay and there you have plenty of time to enjoy the hot spring of la Calera. Return to Chivay to have lunch and after that we take our public bus to travel back to Arequipa, normally the bus arrive Arequipa between 4-6PM.

OPTION B: If you book Private VIP Service is the best way for this day. You can walk up at 5 or 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 (do you know their ethnic identity?) 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). 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 Pan Americana highway. From Pedregal direct return to Arequipa (2 hours).