This past week was our student directed travel week. After spending the day in Cusco, we hopped on a very enjoyable ten hour overnight bus ride to Arequipa. We spent two days there relaxing at our hostel and exploring the beautiful city. At 3 am on Monday, we got on a bus that took us and the rest of the group that we would be hiking with to Colca Canyon. Colca Canyon is regarded as one of the most beautiful places to visit in Peru and is the second deepest canyon in the world. After breakfast we spent some time looking for the Andean Condor. Our first day hiking included descending to the bottom of the canyon. Most of us spent the rest of our Monday napping. On Tuesday we hike three and half hours to the oasis of canyon. We all went to bed early that night in order to be well rested for our 4:30 am start time the next and final day of the trek. Wednesday included about a 3 hour hike back up to the top of the canyon, which was followed by a visit to some nearby hot springs. When we arrived back in Arequipa later that day, we quickly ate dinner and packed our bags. Then we took another ten hour overnight bus ride back to Cusco, where we spent our final day of student directed travel.
– Tyler
