Colca Canyon

Hearing great things about excursions out of Arequipa to explore the Colca Canyon we asked our wonderfully accommodating hostel owner to schedule a two day tour of the region. Renowned the world over as being one of the deepest canyons in the world as well as being home to the giant condors that glide around the warm air currents in the area. Setting off early in the morning our tour bus picked up a few more tourists on route before leaving the city for the dusty and dry hills beyond.

The landscape was expansive! For as far as the eye could see it was just blue skies broken only by the horizon where grey desert hills began. Following the twisty single lane highways we wound our way out of the city and through what seemed like barren expanses for several hours until our guide advised us that we had entered a wildlife reserve. Alpacas, Llamas and Vicunas roamed the hills of this area, sticking close to small water holes to combat the unrelenting sun. Most of the animals did not pay us much attention until we stopped by a particularly large group of alpacas where several children ran off to snatch up baby alpacas for us to pet and take pictures of. We could only assume that this arrangement was some sort of deal struck up between the kids and the tour guides to spice up the tour and it was hard to question as everyone fawned over the baby animals.

Pushing on our little tourist group traversed ever higher through the mountains until we reached the 5,000m elevation mark and could actually see slushy rain! At the peak pit stop there were a couple of signs of abandoned human habitation and rock structures but beyond that and a couple of friendly vendors there was not much else to see before shuffling back into the small bus. Starting our descent, we finally made our way to Chivay. A sleepy little town that seemed to be built off the tourist industry, Chivay seemed to be in various states of disrepair. Unfazed, we settled into our basic hostel and prepped for our mountain hot spring time. Nestled in the hills surrounding Chivay are natural hot springs where piping hot water bubbles from the ground and is piped into large swimming pools where locals swear by their healing and relaxing powers. Packed to the rim with people the boiling hot pools of sulphurous water were more party-hardy than relaxing but they were refreshing nevertheless. Enjoying a tourist trap-esque meal with fellow tourists we enjoyed the farm fresh foods and local dance entertainment before turning in for the night.

Waking early the next day we continued deeper into the canyon as our guide warned us of the increased rarity of seeing the somewhat elusive condors. His warnings seemed to only enhance our experience as we were all very much excited and relieved when we first spotted a huge shadow glide majestically over the canyon. Looking up we all spotted the enormous bird (with upwards of a 10 foot wing span) glide silently over us in circles as it rode the air currents. We were lucky enough to spot two more condors before we began our long journey back to Arequipa. Reflecting on the experience it seemed like we were seeing a lot of world wonders when you coupled our experience with this deep and expansive canyon with our visit to one of the great wonders of the world (Machu Picchu).

Written by AJ Kwong