Colca Canyon and Condors

After Cusco, we took an overnight bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. It didn´t take us long to decide we wanted to be back in nature. We found a deal – three nights for the price of two at a hostel nicer than we are used to in Colca Canyon. We jumped on it.

The canyon is normally about three hours´ bus ride through the mountainous desert. That is, if your bus´ engine is in good shape. If not, we found out, it can take more than six when you include time broken down on the side of the road.

The canyon doesn´t seem as deep as advertised. It is supposed to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, but it didn´t look it. None-the-less, it is beautiful and rustic. Throughout most of the canyon, the walls are covered in farming terraces built by the Incans. There must be tens of thousands of those terraces. The towns are small and basic, with the ample supply of rocks being used for walls along every street. Most of the women wear elaborately embroidered hats and full-length frilly skirts.

The canyon is also famous as the home of a multitude of condors, which can have wingspans of more than nine feet. One morning we went to Cruz del Condor where we saw dozens cruising the currents, sometimes right above our heads. Exhilarating.

Tourism is a relatively new phenomenon in the canyon, and it´s evidenced by how pushy everyone is for your money. This is a phenomenon pretty rare in our experiences here. More common  is Peruvians being helpful at the cost of business. For instance if you ask a restaurant if they have a certain type of fish, they will point you to the tastiest place in town instead of trying to sell you on their own fare.

Despite the pushiness and a few uncomfortable bus rides, we found the canyon to be a wonderful place to relax for a few days.

The return bus trip to Arequipa through some barren land.

The volcano El Misti on the bus ride to Colca. On this plane we saw several vinuñas, a rare, softer cousin of the llama. The ride took an extra three hours due to a bus breakdown.

A herd of alpacas, not sure whether wild or domesticated.

The rock walls throughout the canyon are lined with cactuses.

Typical dress in the canyon.

Chillin´, which is what we did most of the time.

A narrow, but shallow part of the canyon. The right wall, you can see some storage rooms carved out of the rock where the sun rarely reaches. The Incans used these as primitive refrigerators for preserving food. Called Colcas, they give the canyon its name.

Between the trees, you can see the ruins of an Incan town.

A traditional dance in the Plaza de Armas of Yanque.

Condor cruising.

Hotel manager Elizabeth.

A different view of the Incan town. The Spanish burned it down so the natives would move across the river closer to the church.

In other news, we will be home unbelievably soon – arriving in Cincinnati 3:20 Wednesday afternoon. I´ll probably keep blogging a little after that, partly because I have a slight backlog due to lack of internet access. You do want to see pictures of penguins and a baby sea lion, don´t you?

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