Colca: Canyons And Condors

With a week at the lake having been more than enough, moving on felt glorious. In the morning of Boxing Day we got ourselves by a moto taxi to the bus terminal and got tickets to Arequipa. We had asked about the ticket prices in the town center a few days prior and it was said that Express bus tickets would cost 40 soles (14ish USD) which to me had seemed quite high for a 6 hour bus journey in Peru. And when buying the tickets 10 minutes before the departure at the station, they'd cost exactly half of that. Hah! On the way to the platform we grabbed some standard ham/cheese rolls for breakfast for 1 sole each and off we go. It's good to be on the road again!

Getting to Arequipa we're rather surprised about how nice the city center is. So called colonial style, the buildings are built out of white stone and feature pillars, terraces.. and with the cobbled streets and well-kept plazas, it's like looking at a central European old town. Another surprise is to find the first Döner Kebap joint we've ever seen in latin America to be located just around the corner from our hostel. The evening is spent sampling Qusquena beer and purchasing tickets for a 2-day field trip for the next morning.

And as the new day rises, we get picked up by the tour bus at 0800 and we head north towards the gorgeous Colca Canyon and the surrounding natural reserve. The first stop is to a touristy store selling various coca products to help with the altitude sickness as today we're reaching the highest point of the trip; 4910 meters above sea level. Coming to think of it, we've consumed so much coca stuff in the past 3 weeks in Peru and Bolivia that it would be hilarious to take a drug test some stiff companies are imposing on new employees nowadays. Priceless!

On the way to Chivay, a small town down in the valley bottom yet at 3800m above sea level, we see a bunch of vicunas, alpacas and llamas on the side of the road but find it hard to get excited about them after seeing the creatures for a few weeks already. The clouds close in on us and it starts to rain and soon the awesome mountain peaks disappear in the fog. The entertainment for the rest of the day is paying a visit to another thermal springs joint, and this one turns out to be by far the nicest we've been to. The water in the pools is 38C-40C and for once even Riikka doesn't think the water is too cold :D The day is concluded by a trip to a local Penã, a kind of a dinner & show restaurant with local dances being performed while the crowd eats and drinks.

The second day of the excursion took us to the edges of the actual canyon. At over 4000 meters deep (!) it is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in US, making it the world's deepest canyon. And oh my the view is .. spectacular, rivaling those of the Death Road. Sadly the weather was a bit cloudy, it being the rainy season and all, and sometimes the visibility dropped dramatically.






Besides the view, the main attraction of the canyon is the healthy population of Andean condors residing on the walls of the canyon. With a wingspan of over 3 meters it is the largest carnivorous bird there is. And they live up to 100 years old in captivity and 60-70 in nature.. crazy! We saw several, but capturing them on picture with a regular camera is somewhat hard with them flying so high and fast.

Currently we're frantically looking for a place to spend New Year's in. Somewhere warm and within a <20h bus trip from Arequipa, south Peru. Suggestions? ;)