Peru: Huacachina & Arequipa
After all the hiking in Huaraz and the cold, it was time to visit Peru’s desert: Huacachina! On the 26th of July we arrived here in the morning and after checking in in our hostel, we immediately booked a dune buggy and sand boarding tour. In the afternoon, a jeep took us to the desert where we first started a crazy ride in a dune buggy. After half an hour, we did some sand boarding. It was so much fun! We also met the nicest people in our hostel, which made Huacachina even more fun.
The day after, we took another night bus to Arequipa. On our first day, we explored the city a bit and visited the Mercado Central. In the evening, we went to a rooftop bar where I tried my first pisco sour! We spent the rest of our days in Arequipa with a visit to an alpaca farm, a free walking tour and hanging out with our new friends we had met in Huacachina. On the 1st of August, we did a tour to the Laguna de Salinas. Unfortunately, this wasn’t really our thing. We saw a lot of alpaca’s and vicuñas on the way, but the car didn’t want to stop. The day after, we had another tour planned and this was totally something else! At 3am in the morning, we left for a two day hike to the Colca Canyon. On the first day I really struggled with the altitude and didn’t want to finish the hike. Luckily after inhaling some agua de florida and a good lunch, I was ready to continue the hike. After hiking for over 14 kilometers, we arrived in our hotel where we had dinner and just chilled a bit. The day after, there was another early wake up call at 4am. This time, it was only going up. For over three hours straight, we climbed up. I was so happy when we finally reached the top. This was probably the hardest hike I have ever done, but the Colca Canyon is extremely pretty and I’m happy I did it! When everyone was at the top, we had our final breakfast and lunch together. We ended the day with a short visit to the Salinas, and luckily, this time we had time to take some pictures with the cutest alpaca’s.
The rest of our days in Arequipa, we just chilled and enjoyed the rest of our stay in this beautiful city.
