C-2.0 Loop Canal Cucanamá - "La Varianta"

Distance          5.40 km - Loop

Time                2.00 hours

Altitude          1490m - 1605m

Ascent             145m

Descent           125m

Rating             Easy  2/2

Start                Vilcabamba tourist office

End                  Vilcabamba tourist office

Easy 6 kilometer roundtrip, along the irrigation Canal to Cucanama and return by “La Varianta”, a former access road to Vilcabamba.

Route: From the Tourist information office, head straight up Calle Diego Vaca de Vega and enter the dirt road across the main road. Follow this road for about 200 meters, until you get to an “S”. At the Second bend of this “S”, branches a smaller trail uphill to the left. Follow this trail to the road leading along the irrigation canal.  At the canal, turn right. This level canal-road circles the base of Mandango Mountain and turns into the Rio Vilcabamba-valley. On your left, you pass the canal-irrigated orchards & plantations, whilst uphill to your right the pastures rely on seasonal rains and can be very dry.

At km 2.9, you have to be alert, in order not to miss the small trail branching off to your right. At a small concrete water tank, opposite an uphill road, the trail dives into a small Gully. After descending 500 meters along the forested, gravel gully, you’ll reach the sealed Cucanama-road. Follow the road to the right for 300 meters, where you find the uphill dirt road “La Varianta” branching off to the right. Follow this road, which contours once again the Mandango foothills, leading back to Vilcabamba town.