The Happy Abandon: Simple, but plentiful living

We've been in Peru for about a week now, although it feels a lot longer given all that we have experienced and learned in such a short period of time. We've spent most of this first week in and around Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, including a three-day trek in the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world.

Located in Southern Peru, Arequipa overlooks the Andes mountains and a beautiful snow-capped volcano called El Misti, and many of the buildings in the city are made from white volcanic rock. It's a city with a lot of history and tradition, but is clearly a city undergoing a lot of change. It's the fastest growing city in Peru and has lots of new trendy restaurants and bars. One odd thing about Arequipa is the number of taxi cabs - it sometimes felt like there were more taxis then people.

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Arequipa, with El Misti in the background...

Our hotel in Arequipa and the hotel owner (who insisted on being called "Papi"), who gave me free Spanish lessons every afternoon.

While Arequipa is a nice place to poke around for a while, the highlight of our first week in Peru was definitely the Colca Canyon. Although the canyon is over 13,000 ft. deep, there are several villages inhabited by the Collagua people that are still in existence, dating back to pre-Inca times.

During the three-day trek we visited a few of these communities for meals and to spend the night, and got a chance to meet the local people and learn about their traditions. It's amazing to see how well preserved their culture is, which probably has something to do with the fact that the only way to get there is to hike for several hours down and back up a deep canyon. There are no cars (people get around by foot and by mules through a series of trails), no heating, no modern plumbing, and very little electricity use - simple living to say the least. But at the same time, the people of the Colca Canyon have an abundance of resources. Fresh water flows from the snow-capped mountains and the villages and surrounding land are laced with streams, waterfalls, and narrow irrigation channels. Avocado, oranges, corn, limes, and many other fruits grow in farms nearby the villages. Alpaca, a source of clothing and food, roam the canyon highlands.

While our very short stay in the canyon was a great reminder of how much we take for granted in the developed world, we left with the feeling that there are probably millions of people in the world that would trade places with the Colca Canyon people in a heartbeat.

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An Andean Condor seen outside the canyon at Cruz de Condor. (Their average wingspan is 10.5ft!)

We began our trek at the pagoda, stayed in Tapay on the first night, stopped in Coshnirhua to pick fruit on the second day, and walked through Malata on our way to Sangalle where we spent our second night (Sangalle not pictured).