Day 438 – Chivay to Llahuar

Colca Canyon Hike

Today we woke up and had a nice breakfast at Colca Land Hostel. We then packed our backpacks and got ready to leave for our tour/transport to Cabanaconde that would pit stop at Cruz del Condor. When we arrived at the agency at 7am, the lady told us that no one else was coming, so the tour was cancelled! 

Getting from Chivay to Cabanaconde 

We were shocked. However, the lady didn’t speak English so our responses were limited. She gave us a full refund. But we were left without transport. Therefore, we walked to the Chivay Bus Terminal and found a bus leaving at 7.30am. The tickets with Turismo Milagros cost us 5 PEN ($2.38 AUD) per person (p/p). 

The bus wasn’t new or anything flash, but at least it existed. There weren’t many seats left when we boarded. The bus was mainly full of tourists. The bus journey was slow.

We arrived at Cruz del Condor around 9am. We had no idea that the bus would stop here. A few people got off and more people got onto the bus. We had decided to remain on the bus and skip Cruz del Condor. Cruz del Condor is a hotspot for seeing Condors, which is a type of bird. 

We arrived in Cabanaconde at 9.30am.   

Cabanaconde 

In Cabanaconde, we walked to a council building to buy tickets for the Colca Canyon. The tickets cost 70 PEN ($33.32 AUD) p/p. We were also given a map.

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After buying the tickets we went to a restaurant around the plaza, to buy some juice. 

Colca Canyon – Cabanaconde to Llahuar

We started leaving the town of Cabanaconde at 10am. The start of the hike was on relatively flat ground. The great thing about the hike is that Cabanaconde is higher than Llahuar. Therefore, the hike is downhill overall. 

After 20 minutes or so, we came to a viewpoint. Here, a staff member checked our tickets. The views from the viewpoint were spectacular. 

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The next hour, we hiked along mainly dry and exposed paths. The only saving grace was that the ground was still flat.

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This is followed by a jaw dropping descent. It was a little scary going down with the big backpack on the loose dirt path. We stopped for some snacks under the limited shade of a leafless tree. 

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Then the downhill hike continued. Around 1.30pm, we came to a bridge. Near the bridge, we could see some smoke billowing out. This was due to thermal activity. There is a bus stop on the other side of the bridge that gave us some shade. We decided to have a pre packed lunch here of tuna and biscuits. 

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I was exhausted by this time and needed a breather. Mainly because the next stretch was uphill.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad. We finally arrived at Llahuar at 3.30pm. 

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Llahuar

There are literally only two hostels here and nothing else. We had booked Hostal Casa de Virgina via booking.com. After settling down, we decided to try the hot springs that Llahuar is famous for. Hostal Casa de Virgina has their own small thermal pool, but my wife really wanted to try the other hostels pool since it was near the river. 

As we were walking down to them, knowing full well that we would need to pay at reception, a staff member followed us and told us to come to the reception. The reception was actually right next to our hostel. First they told us that we can’t use their hot spring. We said that we wanted to pay to use them. They charged us 10 PEN ($4.76 AUD) p/p, which I thought was excessive, considering how rude they were too. 

However, we went down to the river edge and came around a few concrete pools that were jam packed with tourists. We went to the furthest one and got into the lukewarm water. It was definitely not worth the hassle. The view was nicer than our hostel’s pool, but the crowd and lack of adequate heat made us leave pretty soon. 

Once we got back to Hostal Casa de Virgina, we decided to try the pool. The water was marginally warmer and there were only two other people in the pool. But you don’t get any views to be honest.

Also the owner of Hostal Casa de Virgina, came to us and said that the other hostel, accused us of using their pool, so he would cancel our booking.com booking. We would be able to stay in the room but we had to pay him directly. We had no idea what was going on. 

In the end, using another couples tour guide, we gathered that there is beef between the hostels. Therefore if you stay, just don’t use the other’s hot spring. To this day, I will never understand the owners reason for cancelling our booking. But it turned out to be cheaper for us, so I’m not complaining.

We had dinner, prepared by the hostel before we went to sleep. The room wasn’t fancy or anything, but it was roomy. There were basic shared bathrooms that worked. Again the skies were cloudy, so I was denied a star filled sky.