Trip to the Colca Canyon

Trip to the Colca Canyon

Friday april 21st :Day one

To-day we are starting an overnight tour to the Colca Canyon. I go out to the patio where we are to eat our breakfast and the woman comes and asks me for 5 sols to go and get the buns. Thought the breakfast was included with the room.

The tour van picks us up at the hostal. There are already four couples in the van plus the driver and the guide. Ellen has to squeeze into the front seat with them and we are on our way.

A map of the route from Arequipa to Chivay and the Colcoa Canyon.

We are soon out of the city and climbing up into a high dessert plain. I spot a vicuna on the side of the road with the Volcano Misti looming up in the distance. Volcan Chichani can also be seen. The air is very misty and visibility is not very good.

A vicuana grazing with El Misti in the background.

We stop at a restaurant for treats and restroom break. There is a pet Vicuna in the restaurant and they are feeding it cocoa leaves.

A Vicuna eating cocoa leaves at a restaurant on the way to the Colca Canyon.

We are climbing higher all the time and the landscape is so vast and stark. Out crops of strange rocks can be seen along the way. We pass through a volcanic crater. Like one imagines the moon is like.

A rock forest seen quite often along this route.

There are rocks strewn all over the landscape and everything is a brownish color. Looks like someone sprinkled the whole area with rocks. Eruption of volcanos I imagine did this. Wonderful but stark.

A view of the desolate landscape on the road to the Colca Canyon.

We stop at the Mirador at 4900 meters, the highest spot we will reach. Can feel the altitude. It affects our breathing. Air is misty but can see for a long distance. Can see the volcan Ampato to the west. This is the volcano where Juanita the child mummy was found recently.

The Mirador at 4900 meters.

Ellen and Elfer the guide at the Mirador.

Jeannette and Elfer at the Mirador.

After taking some pictures we continue our journey, We are going down now toward the town of Chivay at 3633 meters. A green oasis in this stark landscape.

Town of Chivay in the Colca Valley. A green oasis. 3633 meters

In the town of Chivay we stop at a restaurant and have a meal and then are taken to our hotels. Six of the group are spanish and two are from Belgium. One Spanish couple is put in the same hotel as Ellen and I. Cant communicate very well but with their English and our Spanish we manage. We then go to the Calera Hot Springs just outside of town. We go into the hot pool and relax for awhile. It starts to rain while we are there.

WE go out for dinner at a place near our hotel. A local group plays and sings some traditional songs after the meal.

We are very high here and the nights are cold. I wore everything to bed but was still cold in the night. Between the cold and the altitude I did not sleep very well.

Ellen settling in for a cold night in Chivay hotel. She wears her coat and gloves to bed.

Oh we are having so much fun.

Saturday April 22nd:Day two
We are up early and by 6.30 are on our way to the Cruz del Condor which is about 35 km from Chivay. We want to get there before the sun gets too high in the sky. The idea is to be there before the sun hits the floor of the canyon where the condors spend the night. As the air warms up they ride the drafts up out of the canyon.

First sight of Condors soaring up from the bottom of the Colca Canyon.

They circle around rising ever higher to get up above the rim of the canyon. They are rather ugly looking birds but beautiful to see in flight. They come soaring by where all the people are and you can see them turn their heads looking all around. The canyon at this spot is very narrow and you cannot see the bottom. Across the valley about half way down we can see a few buildings. We wonder if someone lives there.

Closer look at the Condors.

There are a large group of people here to watch. We spot Jean-Marie, one of the men we had met on the tour of Lake Titicaca. We visit for a bit. He looks lonely.

Condor soaring off over the mountain.

The condors gradually fly higher and higher and then soar off over the mountains to spend the day hunting for food.

Another condor soaring away to find food.

Finally the last one disappears over the mountains and we start our return trip to Arequipa.

Young boy with his pet Vicuana waiting for tourist to take a picture on the way back to Chivay. A voluntary contribution for the honor is all that is requested.

On the way back we stop to take a picture of the young boy with his pet. We also stop in a town and tour one of the old churches. They are getting the statues and crosses ready for the good Friday procession. I cant remember the name of the town.

The trip back is long and at times scary as the road is narrow and the cliffs are steep. We stop at the mirador. It has snowed a bit and is very cool. The south Americans like the snow.

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To check out some of my other adventures follow these links.
El Camino de Santiago, Spain
Bicycling in France
Trekking in Nepal
A trip to Iquitos, Peru