The Colca Canyon is the primary reason to visit Arequipa from a tourist perspective. Much like Cusco (the 3rd biggest city in Peru) is the entry point to Macchu Pichu, Arequipa is the entry point to the Colca Canyon part of the Andes, extending up from the 9,000 ft elevation of Arequipa, to about 20,000 in the canyon. To continue the comparison between Arequipa and Cusco, they are both quite far away from the cities they are meant to be the entry point to. This is why the Colca Canyon is usually advertised as a multi-day trip (two day tour, or 4-5-6-7 day trek). To do it one day is not fully a fool's errand, but does come with one significant catch - the tour starts around 3am.
For a couple days, maybe you think this is a joke and it will be revealed tehre is a typo or something, but no it was "you will get picked up between 3:10 and 3:20am". Indeed, the larger-than-a-sprinter van picked us up on the quiet main road at 3:19, where we were snuggled into the back row (limited window access) as we were the last people to be picked up. Luckily for us, three of the people on the van were starting a multi-day trek and were using the van more as a transport, so by the time we needed window access, they were gone.
Anyway, 3am is rough, but it helps that the tour proper begins three hours away, with a 6:30am breakfast in a little house / hall of a quecha woman and family. The food was basic (intentionally so) of inca-style prepared bread and truthfully really good scrambled eggs. There was also some really interesting warm juice. Overall, it was a nice pit stop as daylight just starts to break, even if there was another hour or so of driving until we really started the tour. That hour, though, had some amazing scenery - this part being the Colca Valley, where we are driving about halfway from the lower plateau of rivers and farmland below, and the peaks above. The mountain-faces were mostly all converted into supremely well manicured terrazas (small farms), it was all just a stunning sight that I had to contort my phone behind the sliver of window available to capture.
Anyway, after that hour drive, we left the Colca Valley for the Colca Canyon, the main difference being the level the road is at, now well above the river / gorge below, with teh terrazas being replaced by clean rock faces and crags. Canyon, for an American, evokes the Grand Canyon, and while the Colca Canyon probably wasn't as awe-inducing as the Grand Canyon, it was certainly close and probably more interestingly laid out (e.g. not just a long cantilevered walkway). The only real hike part of the day then commenced, weirdly about five hours into the tour but still 8am (unrelated: after this I am further convinced those "I get up at 4:30am to crush, bro" types are just insane). The hike was about two km, mostly flat with just stunnign view after stunning view.
The only real disappointment of the tour was taht the Colca Canyon is the home to hundreds of soaring, awesome Andean Condors, birds so ominous and impressive that they retained their place as one of the primary god figures for those ancient peoples. We were told early on by our genial, humorous, supremely billingual (if a bit too much given the pace he switched back and forth from English to Spanish) that this part of the year is when the condors usually leave for slightly cooler areas for mating and what-not, and that there are probably only a handful instead of the normal ~200. This was definitely disappointing to hear, but then allowed for a fairly uplifting communal moment when we did see one of those giant beasts soaring through the air.
Anyway, after the hike, we took the drive back towards the valley (us getting better seats with teh three trekkers now gone), and the views continued to just astound - to be honest, the valley is the more memorable, picturesque part of the tour scenery - even if not as awe-inspiring as the canyon was. The next real stop was the hot springs deep in an offshoot of the valley, a river with a natural spring heated up to 70 degree C, creating little pools of 30/40/45/50 C. That all was fun, and I'm sure for a few of the tourgoers was the real highlight of the trip, but the little accoutrements made it all the better. The first was on the ride there, where we stopped at stand where we could taste sankey, a sour cactus fruit taht visually looks like a kiwi. More than taste it, we could have "Colca Sours" which is a Sour made of sankey-based liquor rather than Pisco, and if anything it was better - though the elevation and tiredness may have been a part of that opinion.
The second added bit of fun was my Dad and I doing a zipline down to the hot springs (while all the other cowards just took the van down). The zip-line was in two parts, one 600m, the other 450m - they were both fast and thrilling, but also far higher from ground than any zipline I had done. Not against admitting the fact I was terrified, but it was still a thrill. The hot spring pools were a nice way to calm the nerves down however.
From there, the tour became a series of pit-stops on the four hour (extended to five because of those) drive back. First we had a stop at the highest lookout in the Colca Canyon National Park, at 4,910m (16,108ft, slightly higher than the lodge on Cotopaxi), which was interesting to be that high but to be honest the views from slightly lower (e.g. the main canyon hike) were better - being too close to the top of the higher peaks makes everything feel a bit smaller I guess. Then was a stop at an alpaca and llama preserve, meaning more pulling over to the side of the road where a farmer let his alpacas and llamas roam free a bit. They were incredible adorable - truly some of the most picture-perfect fluffy alpacas I have yet to lay eyes on. In the middle there was also lunch, which was a more impressive than I expected buffet at a simialr type stop to where we had breakfast, including three different preparations of alpaca, one of them being the Arequipa staple of stuffed pepper. All in all, the Colca Canyon tour was a crash course of an area that probably justifies further exploration than we were able to give it, but nonetheless a great time.
Back at the AirBNB, we were fairly well rested given the amount of sleep you can accrue on this tour, and therefore headed fairly quickly into the old town after watching teh glorious sunset from our AirBNB - with a perfect view of the two main mountains of Chachani and Misti that provide Arequipa cover. Truly, this was a mesmerizing view, going through all teh sunset shades are reflected and enhanced by these peaks.
The old town also was quite nice - maybe not as Christmas-y as Cuenca, but not too far away from my self-titled "Christmas Town, South America". Their main square had two LED christmas trees with some lovely graphics on either corner, and the main cathedral that takes up the north side of the square had one of the best cribs I've seen, both reverent to what the holiday is but adding a whole host of local flourishes in fauna, and flora (the offerings / gifts were real potatoes, tubers, corn, etc.). The whole square had a really nice energy - a town Arequipa's size has far more locals taking this in than tourists and you can tell they are living a good life at this Christmas time of year.
Dinner was at Chicha, a Gaston Acurio restaurant, which means something as Gaston Acurio is still the Godfather of modern Peruvian cuisine, from his namesake restaurant in Lima (still hanging on the Top 50 lists) and the whole host of other restaurants he's brought to life, and of course the chefs he's inspired or built the foundation to succeed off of (i.e. Virgilio Martinez of Central credits Gaston, his former boss, for still making Peruvian food be taken seriously). The food lived up to his reputation, graet presentation without being overly tweezery, and just amazing taste. We split five dishes, probably 0.5 too many, but better try it all.
The highlight was probably little cuy (guinea pig) taco that was a starter / amouse bouche for my dad and I, the guinea pig being the best form of pork belly in crunchiness, fat and taste. Other highlights included a great "Alpaca Frites", with Alpaca cooked in a way that far mroe resembled a high quality steak than the more gamey (if still tasty) preparation last night, and a tiradito - the only one we got in our time in Peru (I'll admit, still don't 100% know the difference between tiradito and ceviche). Even the desert of a lucuma ice cream adn creme brulee encompassed by a chocolate sphere that gets deconstructed at your table was exceptional - even if it was the same dessert I ate at a Gaston Acurio restaurant in Cusco in 2016. To be honest, it might have been Chicha (which exists in Cusco), but if anythign this was a credit to his legacy. Chica was great - there is a tasting menu if you are so inclined but it is just selections from the alacarte. In the end, we were happy with our five dishes, including my favorite which was a duck confit with red curry sauce, but the elements of red curry switched to Peruvian equivalents (their main pepper vs. thai pepper). The sauce was truly incredible, adn the duck cooked just right as well.
I did force my parents to visit the 7Vidas taproom a block away, mostly a combination of us needing to get down to business and plan a bit our time in Rio (which was currently way too lazy for my liking) and wanting to try craft beer in Arequipa. We did go there, and the place was lovely, if a bit empty on a late Monday night. I tried half pouts of a double IPA (really great), a mango IPA (too much fruit flavor - my mistake more than theirs) and a porter (excellent). From my various trails at craft beer in Mexico or South America, it is clear to me that they consistently do stouts incredibly well. 7Vidas was a nice way to end a day that started at 3am, ended at midnight, with a whole lot of amazing in between. This is why we travel.
