Colca Canyon: The Life and Times of Pepe

(Arequipa. Volcan El Misti in the background)

Arequipa is surrounded by dozens of volcanoes and the second deepest canyon in the world. We booked a two day trek in the Colca Canyon. Pepe was our guide.

Since we were staying one night in the canyon we had to leave Arequipa at 3am. We packed into a van and were on our way. I chose the wrong seat. I sat behind the driver who kept the window down the whole ride because the defrost did not work. I managed to get a few minutes of sleep to wake up cold. The ground outside was coated in snow and we were cruising at about 4900 metres with the windows down. If only I had my alpaca gloves at this time.

Our first stop was the condor lookout on the edge of the canyon.



Here, the gigantic birds swooped amongst the cliffs. There were about eight condors flying around when we were there. We were pretty lucky to see them at this time because eventually they all dissapeared.



It was time to leave the condors. Pepe rounded everyone up. He stood and waited until I got in the bus while everyone else was still at the lookout. Something about him seemed quite arrogant and I was not a fan so far.

We started our trek a couple hours away from the condor lookout. I broke to the front of the pack to soak up the scenery. Pepe caught up behind me and began to talk. We talked about the typical things travelers talk about: where are you from, how old are you, your name etc... and then Pepe began to tell me his life story.

Pepe (in his mid 30´s) used to be a mountain climbing guide. He climbed many of the local volcanoes until he fell off a cliff and dammaged his knee. Ever since, he has only been able to trek. He began to tell me how he lived with his grandma because his mom died and about the rest of his family. He told me all about life in Peru .

As we walked Pepe put his hand on my shoulder and said,

¨This story is only for you¨ he said with a smirk.

Pepe went on to share stories of his sexual escapades (even though I didnt ask him to). Pepe told me how he had gotten involved with two girls that he had been guiding one time. Im going to omit the details.

Oh Pepe, you´re all right.

Eventually we crossed over a bridge to the other side of the canyon. A group of girls who had come along on the trek were far behind with our other guide. We were behind schedule so we had to push forward.

While eating lunch Pepe gave us a choice. We could either wait for the rest of the group or move forward with another guide. We wanted to move forward so we went with another guide.

Our new guide was quite knowledgeable about the area. We got to try the fruits off the cactus. One was named Tuna and there was this other one that was incredibley sour. It induced sour-sweats and would be awesome as an alternative to a pisco sour (peruvian coctail).


We made it to the oasis just before nightfall. As it got darker we wondered about the other group with Pepe. It was dark and the girls didn´t have flashlights. We wondered if they would make it to the oasis to sleep.

Just after we finished dinner and were heading to bed, the other group rolled in. They were upset with Pepe because he was forcing them to rent mules out of the canyon the next day. They were too slow on their feet.

The next day I hauled out of the canyon. I was preparing for some climbing in the near future so I decided I would see how fast I could get up.



I waited at top for the others. Soon the girls on the mules arrived along with the others. Apparently, one of the girls had fallen off the mules earlier. Pepe looked frustrated.


We got into a small town and had breakfast. Afterwards, we met some dog with utters and then headed off to the hotsprings.

We were apparently behind schedule in getting back to Arequipa. Some people had to catch a bus that night but the driver and Pepe were being leisurely about the whole thing. At lunch people began to talk about Pepe. It was a mutiny. Pepe didn´t even know it.

When we eventually got back to Arequipa. I quietly asked another person if we were supposed to tip. No one that I knew of tipped and most of us rushed out of the bus.

On the way off, Pepe called to me and waved goodbye. He smiled. It was a slightly awkward situation but I waved back. Everyone else had jumped ship. I felt bad for Pepe. I would imagine that its not always easy to manage a large group of tourists.

Poor Mr. Pepe.