Peru Guide
Around Arequipa
Cabanaconde
The bus terminal at the small but growing town of CABANACONDE (3300m), 10km on, is a good base from which to descend into the Colca Canyon. An impressive high wall and painted gateway mark the town's eighteenth-century cemetery. The town is also home to several semi-destroyed stone buildings and doorways left over from the late colonial (or Viceregal) era. If you can make it for the Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen, usually between 14 and 18 July, you'll see the bullring in full action and the town in the throes of a major religious festival and party. From Cabanaconde the road becomes a little-used dirt track continuing down the valley via Huambo and Sihuas to the coastal Panamerican Highway, where you can catch buses back to Arequipa to complete the circuit.
There's a surprising range of accommodation in Cabanaconde itself, given that it basically comprises just a few streets. The Hotel Kuntur Wassi ( 
054/812166 or 252989 or for reservations via the Lima office 01/4951639, 
kunturwassi@terra.com.pe; Price: $25–50) is an interesting and very comfortable new place built on the hill, some 80m above the plaza; it has fine views right across the canyon to the Huaro waterfall, and the attractive rooms are laid out in an unusual way, clinging to the hill and incorporating some natural rock features and unusual domed roofs; it also has a restaurant and bar as well as solar-heated water. Hospedaje Villa Pastor, ( 054/445347 or Lima 01/5672318; Price: $5–15) on the Plaza de Armas, has internet access (rare in Cabanaconde) and comfortable enough rooms. The Hostal Valle del Fuego ( 054/203737, hvalledelfuego@hotmail.com; Price: $5–15) is a good backpackers' pad and is complemented by the attractive Inca-style restaurant Rancho del Sol, while the Restaurant Rancho del Colca offers similarly inexpensive lodging for backpackers, mountain bike rental and serves great hot breakfasts.