Trip Report
Lizzie, my current girlfriend, had flown out to meet me for a couple of weeks whilst I was backpacking around South America. In typical fashion she’d put together an action packed fortnight, kicking off with a three day trek of Colca Canyon.
The three day trek was quickly shortened to two days due to Lizzie’s baggage being delayed but, undeterred, we soon set off with full camping regalia and another chap we’d met at the hostel. The first day, stomping down to the valley floor from the cliffs above, passed quickly, although we did wonder why we’d dragged so much camping gear with us when there were perfectly good accommodation options available for less than £2…
The second day was less enjoyable. From memory the ascent back to the road was only around the 1000m mark but all of us struggled, the stepped rather than sloped uphill and the hot sun making progress even harder. Our bus was leaving early afternoon (remember we’d lost a day) so we were also having to hurry to make it. On one particularly long steep climb I remember miserably wishing that I could get a cold Coke and, low and behold, at the top of the climb, there was a local women with a cool box of cold drinks. One Fanta later the trail gods had provided and I was refreshed for the last leg!
We ended up power walking back to the town, and only just catching our bus. Interestingly this was one of the times I’ve been most broken/exhausted in my life, by the time we reached La Paz’s central bus station to wait for our next bus (onwards to the net activity on Lizzie’s plan) both of us could barely move and we were drawing straws to determine who’d needed to go and find dinner!
A good, quick and short trip. But one key learning point – stairs are harder than slopes!
Neil Cox Misadventures 
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