Colca Canyon

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One of the joys of travelling without a fixed itinerary, is taking a delightful side trip. Often these can be the highlight of a trip. So on the recommendation of our Lima travel agent, we departed Arequipa for a two day trip to the deepest canyon in the world at 3,000 metres (9,842 feet), the Colca Canyon.

The drive out was interesting as we departed on the Interoceanic Highway. It stretches from the Coast of Brazil to the Coast of Peru and it cost of US$2,000 million to build. The first thing I observed was that for the first 10 kilometres out of Arequipa our bus had climbed, twisted and turned more than a 10 hour bus ride in Argentina.

Our guide (Ebber) gave us a commentary of what we would see along the way. The first stop was a shop to buy Coca leaves and/or sweets to combat the effects of altitude. We were prepared because we started taking our doctor recommended altitude tablets the day before and we had already purchased some Coca leaves. Just to be on the safe side, we added some Coca leaf sweets for good measure.

The second stop, for Coca tea and a toilet stop, was just after we turned off the Interoceanic Highway. It was interesting that there were stalls selling the same products as we had seen in the Arequipa market. This was the pattern for the trip at most stops.

We stopped to see Vicuñas, a wild relative of the llama and very similar but smaller than the Guanaco that we have blogged about earlier. Next we stopped to look a Llamas and Alpacas. A little further on, we stopped to look at a boggy slope that had largely frozen up.

The higher we climbed the more barren the landscape became until we reached the highest point of our journey at 4900 metres. Wow, we were at 4.9 kilometres above sea level or just over 16,000 feet. This was a gain of 2600 metres from Arequipa’s 2300 metre height. The air was certainly thin and as we got off the bus and started to move about to take pictures, we really noticed the lack of oxygen. We were grateful for our coca leaves and Ebber reminding us to walk slowly!

It was then all downhill to Chivay with most of the descending being done in a series of switch backs with Chivay in sight. We were taken to our hotel to book in. We had a short rest then explored the main square. We noticed some activity just down the road. We gazed through the fence at a local wedding. We could not see the bride and groom but observed the festivities and their four tier wedding cake.

Elieen mentioned the wedding to a local shop keeper who had good English. He explained the four day process and showed us the traditional wedding garments.

The market nearby not only served local needs but also the tourists needs. Eileen was fascinated by the TV repair man. I was tempted to buy a cowboy hat for NZ$12 but I resisted on the basis that I did not want to be mistaken for ‘JR from Dallas’ on the remainder of our travels. The range of local foods included a fascinating range of corn and potatoes in different shapes and colours.

Next stop was the hot pools. Eileen did not bring a swim suit as she said it did not mention swimming, just hot springs, and there was no more room in her 12 litre day pack. After trying on various clothing combinations from the few items in her pack, Eileen decided on a pair of my undies (unused) and her camisole; a slightly eccentric look but it did the job and she just needed to be careful with the positioning of the stretchy camisole. There were three pools, two outdoor and one indoor. We headed for the cooler of the outdoor pools. It looked like a convention of English Grey Power members were in town. Shortly after we arrived the people in the pool seemed to leave on mass (nothing to do with Eileen’s attire I am sure) and for a while we had the pool to ourselves.

That evening we took up the option of a dinner and a show. The food was ordinary but there was a good band and a traditional dance troupe. The dancers got some audience participation for some of the dances. The first of these reminded me of folk dancing at Johnsonville Main School when I was young.

I was called up by a miniature Peruvian girl for the last of the audience participation dances. It was a little different and it involved a piece of fruit which the man has to take from the woman. Once the man takes the fruit he pretends to take a bite of the fruit and then feigns death. While he is on the floor he is whipped with a rope by the woman and then he is revived by her waving her skirt over the man’s face. The man, once revived, picks up the woman over his shoulder (fireman’s lift style) and dances around in celebration. Eileen said the young woman’s face was priceless as I picked her up and towered over the local lads. The men dance around with the women over their shoulders and ‘bump’ the ladies into each other, rear to rear. Now there was a dance that would have made folk dancing at Johnsonville Main a little more interesting!

We had an early start to drive into the Colca Canyon. The main goal was to get to the Condor viewing spot in time to see the Condors head out for the day. The Condors, a species of large vultures and the biggest birds in the world, are truly impressive birds that soar on the warm up currents. We had seen them at a distance before in Argentina. What is great about this spot is that you can see them flying from above as they leave their nests, then later they fly right in front of you as they gain altitude on the warm air currents.

The Colca Valley has large areas of terracing created by the Incas. The higher ones are pre Inca, and they capture the natural water flows from the mountain. The Inca’s brought the technology for irrigation which enabled the lower slopes to be terraced. Here I saw a market with one of the best views in South America.

On the way back we stopped at a local village where I had my photo taken with a falcon and we watched a local man and his donkey carrying straw in from the fields. We also stopped at the site of some Inca tombs set high on the cliffs. We then speculated over the use of a carved stone that overhung a vertical cliff.

After an ordinary meal in a tourist restaurant we headed back to Arequipa to catch our overnight bus to Cuzco.

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