15th October

Late evening, lying star shaped on a bed, staring out of the window of our “rustic bungalow” (tour agency speak for “farm out building”), I can’t quite believe where we actually are in the world. We are, in fact, about to sleep at the bottom of the deepest canyon on the planet. I’ll say that again, we’re at the bottom of the deepest canyon on the planet, and about to sleep here for the night. I can hardly believe it’s true, but truth it is.

The day started with what has got to be the most obscene start time I’ve ever had; 2.45 am. I’ve often come home later than that, it’s just plain wrong to be getting up at that time. We’ve had some early starts on this trip, some very early starts, but this just about took the biscuit. The reason for this madness? It’s a six hour drive from Arequipa to the Cruz del Condor, our first stop for the day, and we needed to be there around 9 am for a very special sight.

The Cruz del Condor is an observation point for viewing the world’s largest bird of prey; the Andean Condor. These birds weigh in at around 12 kilos and have an absolutely enormous wingspan, so you can imagine the excitement as we waited for them to take to the air as the sun started to create the requisite thermals. Jess, I, the rest of our bus, and maybe a couple of hundred other observers all waiting for the moment when the condors started to come into view.

And wait we did, for quite a while. These birds obviously do not perform on demand, and they took their time in starting their morning flight. But patience paid off, and gradually we started catching glimpses of them deep down in the canyon, as they soared away from the rock face before quickly disappearing back behind it. Teasing us with their display, it made it very difficult to get pictures in the short period of time when they were visible; I got a good few pictures of condors behind rocks though, you’ll just have to take my word for that.

Time was getting on, and we needed to get moving for our descent into the canyon itself from a different point a couple of hours away, so we had to remain content with having just seen these birds for a few short moments. Many people there were not even able to say that they’d had even that pleasure, so we counted ourselves lucky. But then, just as we were thinking about heading back to the bus, a huge condor soared straight over our heads coming out of nowhere. What a sight! The 2.45 am start suddenly became a start worth having. That bird sweeping into view is something I will never forget.

As if to thank us for our patience, said condor then circled for a moment before landing on a rocky perch just a few metres in front of us. What can I say? Finally, the photograph of the day.

Colca Canyon is over 4,000 metres deep at its deepest point. Luckily for us, it’s not possible to descend that height in one day, so we’re starting from another point that is much more achievable. On this day, we descended from a village called Cabanaconde, some 1,100 metres from the canyon floor. The trip down into the canyon and to the tiny village we were staying at that night took us four hours. Walking down steep inclines for this period of time was pretty difficult to say the least, but we got there on time and didn’t seem to suffer too much from the journey. The four hours were long though, baking in the midday sun.

On arriving at the village of San Juan de Cuccho, we saw where we were staying for the first time. Let’s just say that it fit its surroundings perfectly, but wasn’t quite what we had expected. A single room, no toilet, no sink, no shower, no electricity and no floor even, this I suppose is what you could call rustic. Just four bare walls, a non closing door, and window and a ceiling comprised our accommodation for the night. But you know what? We didn’t care. Somehow, it seemed right, and it was good.

What wasn’t so good were the toilet facilities. Two public toilets, adjacent to the single shower, with non lockable doors, and also completely transparent windows so that anyone can see you going about your business. I held onto mine.

But the day was a good one. We’d seen some real sights. The canyon itself, well, it was just enormous. More than enormous in fact, it was colossal. The condors of course. The locals we met using their mules for transport on the same trails we used to trek down into the canyon. We’d met some new friends too at the village, around 20 people all told, and most proceeding on the same route we are to take in the morning. It felt like you were at camp somehow, and I guess barring the tents, thats exactly where we were. It was a great feeling. A feeling to fall asleep to, and so we did.

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Part of trip: South America 2009 - Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia

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