Yes, I made it back up from the bottom of the canyon

Well the trek down into Colca Canyon and back out again was fantastic. One half-day to get down; another half-day to cross the canyon to the oasis where we lazed the afternoon away by the pool fed from a nearby waterfall. And then yesterday morning we trekked back out by the light of the full moon.





That was a hard slog! Straight uphill; I had to do it nonstop - breaks did me in! And I said my mantra for most of the way in a rather solitary climb. But at 56 (and only a week or two), I was the lead woman at the top! Yeh go Jude! Meanwhile, of course, local people ran up and down every day!

I´m the one in the yellow hat!

And let me tell you about my fantastic group. Three women from Catalan (Barcelona) - Montse a 28 year old pilates teacher; Lydia a 38 year old Olympian gymnast (Seoul, 1988), and Raquel, 28, a teacher of physics at med school and part-time gym teacher. In their defence, they took breaks and 2 of them smoke! And then there were Pierre and Oliver, 2 young French students who skipped and ran up the canyon! And finally Waldo who was our guide.

They are a great group of people and we had a lot of fun together. And I really enjoyed the physicality of the days. We finished with a plunge into hot springs at Chivay and a great massage.

Oh and some fun last night before we headed to all-night bus rides and separate ways...


Next stop - on to Puno for a stay on the islands of Lake Titicaca (and just a little bit of hiking) and then on to Bolivia.