Three Days in Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon is the world's deepest canyon, and it's located about 5 hours from Arequipa Peru by car.  I had the great privilege of traveling to the canyon with Guillermo Rendón Cuadros, the Colca Specialist, and Naturaleza Activa, the best adventure tour company in Arequipa.  We descended all the way into the canyon on first day and stayed at a "familiar home," where we were served up hot showers, traditional food and culture and slept in private cottages for the night.  On the second day we hiked along the canyon until reaching the oasis, also known as Paradise.  The name is fitting, we relaxed poolside for three hours, swimming and drinking cold beers before being served a traditional lunch, all in in the towering presence of the Colca Canyon walls.  After digesting for another hour we climbed out of the canyon in three hours on a grueling switchback trail.  It was almost too much for me with all of my camera equipment.  My legs were sore for a few days after.  The next day we stopped by Cruz del Condor to get some amazing views of the Andean Condors that grace the cliffs of Colca Canyon. From there we drove through the Colca Valley to the town of Chivay and were treated to some hot spring therapy for our sore muscles and bones before heading back to Arequipa.  Overall the trip was excellent.  If you want to know more about Colca Canyon, see Guillermo's blog at: http://thecolcaspecialist.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the views:

The road to Colca

Me at the "familiar house"

Putting my feet up in Paradise

Climbing out of Colca Canyon

Traffic on the way out

Cruz del Condors

Making Orange Beer with Cristal (not the racist kind)

Sometimes drinking in the morning is a necessity.  When morning drinking calls I usually mix a bloody mary or an orange beer.  Both are great for early morning tailgating at our beloved Nebraska Cornhusker games.  Since many don't know about orange beer, I'll fill you in.  Take a glass, fill it half full of your preferred beer and fill the rest up with orange juice.  I tend to use the beers I don't like to drink on their own, Bud Light, Busch Light, Anything light.  If my pockets are full, I'll even use my favorite beer of all time: Fat Tire.  It's not blasphemy if you follow up your orange beer with two non-orange Fat Tires to make up for disgracing the first one with orange juice.

When I tell people about orange beer they usually think I'm crazy.  Until they try it.  After giving out hundreds of orange beers at tailgates over the years no one has ever returned one, or spoken ill of orange beers again.  A few people drink only one and move on to straight beer.  But almost everyone likes it and has at least two (to finish off the beer).  It's a healthy and nutritious way to start drinking early in the morning, and that's appealing to most of the people I meet at 6 A.M. in lot 9 at Husker games.  Everyone asks what it tastes like.  It's pretty simple, it tastes like carbonated orange juice with a hint of beer (or a lot of beer, depending on how you mix it).

I decided to write this post after several of my friends here in Peru tried orange beer tonight, and while they were all mocking me at first, they all finished their beers in record time.  Tonight I used Peruvian orange nectar instead of orange juice, and Cristal beer.  Yes, Cristal beer, not the racist champagne brought out of obscurity and now boycotted by American rappers (for being racist).  Check google for more info on how racist Cristal the champagne company is.  Peruvian Cristal is a nice light lager, perfect for making orange beers, and so far I haven't heard anything about them being racist.  Enjoy.

Mapping my trip to Peru

I've created a google map of my trip to Peru, including my route from Columbia Missouri to Chicago Illinois, flight to Ft. Lauderdale, landing in Lima, flight to Arequipa, and soon, my trip to Colca Canyon.  To view the map click here:  http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=ml

In keeping with the idea of including a photo in each post, here is a the view of Chachani from the Arce house at sunset: