lglass

shothyme 77
I wouldn't call us experts, but we have been traveling during the summer the past 4 years to Costa Rica, Oaxaca, Mexico and Nicaragua and really enjoying the experiences.
We are staying at Hotel Sauce in Ollanta. Took a little while to decide where to stay, and it's a little more than we usually pay, but after reading the posts, decided to go with this option.
We have planned all of our trips in the past and did this one also. Yes, we are going to M.P. from Ollanta. We are going the first part of June and I don't think there are any festivals then. In Cusco we are staying at Torre Dorada. Even without being there yet, I would highly recommend this hotel. We have gotten so much help with our trip from Peggy and Rosemarie, that it will definately be worth it to stay there.
Nicaragua in June was hot and the country is pretty poor. I'm glad that we went, but don't think that I'll go back. Now Costa Rica is another story. Loved it!
Enjoyed your questions!
Linda

lglass

My husband and I will be traveling to Peru in June and will be spending 3 nights in Arequipa and 1 at Coporaque on a Colca Canyon tour. My question, after reading your post, is should we spend another night at Coporaque and 1 less in Arequipa? We like to hike and see out of the way places and it sounds like you did this on your trip to Colca. How did you find out about the places that you visited - Uyo Uyo and the ruins under the Yanque bridge? Any additional info that you can give us about this region?
Thanks for your help!

tatersalad

lglass:

Uyo Uyo- I had read about it somewhere before we left home but I don't think it was listed in either of our guide books that we carried (Frommers and Lonely Planet) and I had forgotten about it until I purchased a map of Colca at a bookstore in Arequipa; the taxi driver, Palo, knew about it when we asked him but I am not sure that he had make the hike to it before, there is a sign along the road west of Coporaque marking the start of the path. Myself, I would have liked to have hiked further up past Uyo Uyo, the path seemed good and I think that one can maybe go all the way up to the small waterfall that can be seen from Uyo Uyo.

The ruins under the bridge- we just found them when we walked to the bridge from Yanque but if you were on the road west of Coporaque you can see them and the bridge from there.

The north (I think) side of the river where Coporaque is located is not visited much by people from the outside and the road is not very good but it does pass close to the foot bridge that crosses to Yanque. We walked from Yanque to the bridge which is, in my estimation about 1 km.

If you interests are like mine, I would recommend that you spend as much time as you can in Colca, for us the two nights in Arequipa were plenty of the city life.

You will love Colca.

Happy travels.

JC98

Hi tatesalad, great trip report! It's an excelente aventura indeed!

I'm going to Peru next week, and wondering how much luggage the Vistadome and Backpacker train allow you to bring?

How much luggage did you have with you? We're trying to figure out which luggage size to bring with us.

Thanks!