Arequipa Stories and Tips  Across The Pata Pampa Pass  Andean
Village Photo, Colca Canyon, Peru  One of the downsides of
visiting the Colca Canyon is the trip there. As an isolated set
of communities, there is only one road there. Which means that
there is only one road back. Visiting Colca between Arequipa and
Cusco, it is dismaying to have to backtrack over the same
ground. However, one of the positives of a visit to Colca... is
the trip there!  Reaching Arequipa from the coast, the route we
climbed was from the barren desert into more temperate zones.
Leaving Arequipa, we drove out through the surrounding slums as
we began our climb. El Misti, the conical volcano that watches
over the city was picked out by rosy-fingered dawn. Climbing, we
hit the altiplano—still semi-arid, but thriving with life
compared to the Nazca deserts. It was here that the Incas herded
their llamas, and grew their potatoes. Maize was grown in the
valleys. What the tourist passing through will see is vast
stretches of stony ash-grey