C. Lima to Colca Canyon

South America » Peru
July 3rd 2007

Published: July 3rd 2007

Andy and the Desert Fuckers

A short run at 4900 metres

Lunch stop with the truck

claire n tommy

The Euro cup final

We took over the pub and set it up as a Reds ONLY bar!

The Seals .......
Penguins and Birds
Birds... Everywhere
Andy and the Desert Fuckers
A short run at 4900 metres
Lunch stop with the truck Hi,
Well normally this is claires job but the blog is so far behind i have to chip in! This bit is our travels from leaving Lima (nasty, horrible city where i got severe shits) all the way through Peru upto Colca Canyon. I'll keep the bits about Lima short. It is a huge crowded city with a lot of people living below the poverty line (which in south america is REALLY low). This leads a lot of them to look upon western tourists as an opportunity, hence there are gangs of scrotes all out to rob you, so its best to use the taxis. I didnt see much of the city as i was dropping off the kids on a regular and watery basis, if you know what i mean! What i did see i wouldn't miss. Although i will say the coastal side of the city is much better, but also much dearer. On 19th May we got a boat out from a small Peruvian town called Paracus. There is nothing in this town at all worth seeing but it is the gateway to the BALLESTAS ISLANDS. These Islands are a natural reserve for birds and a

Mmm.... The local Peruvian delicacy

Roasted Guinea Pig!

huge sea lion colony, also small penguins! Believe it or not Chile and Peru fought a war over these islands earlier in the century, the war was over 'SHIT' (yes you did read it right) or more specifically GUANO which is apparently a highly sellable commodity!!! There were literally thousands of birds nesting here, and HUGE sealions. Condors also fly out here once a year to eat the sealion placenta floating near the Isle, mmmmm! Anyway it was worth the boat trip!
We then travelled onto to the local PISCO brewery. PISCO is their national drink and is a little like a strong tequila! It comes in quite a few varieties as well. Claire bought Creme de Pisco which she swears tastes like Baileys, i seriously doubt it! We then drove onto to HUACHACHINA this is a man made OASIS in the middle of the peruvian desert (mmmm green serenity). We met a couple of argentinian rasta's and jammed with them for a bit before meeting up with the group. We then got into these huge 9 seater sand buggies, These have huge engines and not much air in the tires and are custom built to drive on dunes! They

Running at 5000m

We went for a run at 5000m above sea level. As you can see i was knackered!

are awesome. Our driver is or was formerly number 2 in the world! These things go up ...and DOWN dunes at angles you wouldn't believe and are way better than any fairground ride. We stopped a fair bit on top of some huge dunes that looked like they had sheer drops. We were then taught how to sand board, which is body surfing down a ridiculously steep sand dune! It can be dangerous if you fall off, and sand burns and ripped t-shirts are routine. To nick a phrase from the yanks 'it rocks' You have no control whatsoever and just hang on for dear life, all good wholesome fun!!! As night came in over the desert we moved to our desert camp site. There was a BBQ going with tons of meat and almost no nasty green veg/salad in evidence so i was well happy! Our drivers then got out this huge canister of PISCOLA (pisco and coca cola!) it tasted like shit, but went down well with the group. We were then treated to a private concert by the 'DESERT FUCKERS' aka our drivers, very funny! All in all a great night, we then slept out under the

Colca Canyon

A look out position

stars in our sleeping bags. I would not recommend this as it was brass monkeys and the sand blows everywhere! By 21st May we pulled into Puerta Inca, this is apparently where the inca's used to send there fishermen down too! The water was wild and too cold for a swim but we built a spit roast and cooked 6 chickens on the beach, well nice with loads of beer (and wine for claire).
The next day we arrived in Arequipa, a cool city at 2325m above sea level, so not for the asthmatics among you! The first night we went out for steaks and then onto a local bar that was doing 3 for 1 Cuba Libres! and 3 for 1 beers! needless to say we all got absolutely shit faced very quickly and hit the dance floor. Andy our driver was a legend, he was like a KIWI John Travolta on acid; it was well funny! Also funny was Tim, Andys brother and a typical rugby playing, beer swilling KIWI hard man! He was carried home drunk by Monkey (his wife) very early on after he passed out!!!! We got back to the hotel (well i dragged claire

Condor

A condor (under 7 yrs old) flys just below us

back!) at about 0330. We got up early with serious hangovers! So in the true spirit of scouseness (claire is an honorary scouser) we went styraight back to the same bar as last night for a beer and to watch the mighty reds of LIVERPOOL FC destroy AC MILAN in the champions league final! Destroy them we did, unfortunately they scored more goals though so i went home drunk, with a cob on! Moving swiftly on.......... we went out for dinner and i ate ostrich, it is really really nice and Ben and Sian i recommend it for youse when you goto OZ! We also tried the local delicacy... Guinea pig.... erm it wasnt horrible but it was a bit greasy and there was hardly any meat on it, and its face puts you off!!!! Still at least we tried it!!! From here we had a big drive to our highest point of the trip (4900m above sea level) we went for a short run, to see what would happen at altitude and i swear i almost needed CPR, i think someone did actually restart claires heart!!!!! Along the route you can see piles of stones, the incas used these

Condor 2

Another bigger fella flies over head

to point the way to the coast from Chivay which was a 25 day walk! We stayed the night at Chivay (and ate fantastic pizza) and the next day we were driven to Colca Canyon. Chivay is at 3700m, we got up at 5.30am to leave at 6.30 (way too bloody early) After an amazingly bumpy drive we got to the canyon and hiked to the look out point. For anyone who doesn't know heres a bit about the canyon- Declared the deepest canyon in the world by the Guinness Book of Records in 1984, it's twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in Colorado and oh, let's say at least five times as interesting!

It's not just the precipitous sides, lined with terraces and picturesque villages, or the crystal clear waters of the Rio Colca in the valley 3,400m below; it's not even the Andean Condors in the air or the herds of wild vicuÃ±as on the slopes; even the natural hot springs wouldn't be enough on their own to get you to travel all this way; it's just that when you put them all together and then put them within reach of a gorgeous city like Arequipa,

Condor 3

This one was huge and an adult (over 7) as he has the black and white colouring. Its weird cause they are majestic, but ugly!

you start to realise that Colca Canyon isn't just a wonder, it's simply unmissable.

The Canyon has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and several stone age sites have been discovered in the valley, producing a variety of stone arrowheads and other tools. Settlement in earnest began in the pre-Inca period when the Collagua and Cabana groups started to carve terracing out of the hillsides. It is a testament to their skill and ingenuity that, 1,400 years later, farmers are still using and maintaining these original terraces to produce the staple crops of the region

Like all the other ethnic groups in the region, the Cabana and Collagua were eventually either conquered by the Incas or scattered into the far reaches of the Canyon. The Incas attached great ritual significance to the area, as can be seen from the discovery of one of the area's most famous inhabitants, Juanita the mummy (see our guide to Arequipa) in a cave in the canyon. After the conquista, the Spaniards also recognised Colca's importance and ordered what was left of the canyon's population after years of war and disease to be gathered into fourteen villages in the valley to make agricultural exploitation

Last condor pic!

Here you can see an adult fly beneath us. You can also see the distinctive black and white markings!

and tax collection easier. If this sad episode in the canyon's history can be said to have had a silver lining, it lies in the fourteen churches of the valley, each a unique example of the blending of European religion and architecture with those of the inhabitants' ancestral traditions.

Colca Today

Today, these churches are at the centre of villages which are an integral part of any visit to Colca Canyon, with those at Cabanaconde, Lari and Sibayo being particularly outstanding. Many of the villages seem to have been frozen in time, with their thatched-roof houses and women in traditional dress. They make great stops as you travel along the valley. Usually your best route is to travel into the Canyon from Arequipa, stopping at a few villages on the way, and then staying overnight in Chivay. After a night's rest there, you can head back to Arequipa by an alternate route.

In terms of wildlife, the canyon is hard to beat; the most famous residents are probably the enormous Andean Condors and Colca Canyon is indisuptably the best place to get up close and personal with the largest bird in the world. They

Pelicans at the dock

The pelicans were waiting for us at the docks. We tried to pay a small boy to tie fish to himself and run up the beach chased by pelicans but unfortunately our spanish wasnt up to it...shame!

can grow to have a wingspan of over three metres and, unsurprisingly, have been revered by every culture that has come into contact with them and understand why the Incas believed that a condor carried the sun into the heavens every morning!
So basically we were standing there giving it the usual 'oh look how deep the canyon is.... look at the beautiful sun rise..' When at about 0820 a huge black and white condor just rose up right in front of us! Its impossible to explain how close they come and how big they are (and how ugly they are from the neck up!). The condors are from the vulture family and apparently push animals off the canyon then swoop down and eat the dead bodies, so they are the mass murderers of the avain kingdom!! It was awesome to see and we highly recommend it, check out some of our pics!

Additional photos below

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