Following hard on the back of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, we had a trip to the Colca Canyon just outside Chivay, Peru. We left Cusco on Sunday, the day after arriving back from the Inca Trail and drove for about 10 hours before transferring to another coach and driving into Chivay in the Colca Valley. We stayed overnight in a fabulous hotel called Inkari Eco Lodge (www.inkariecolodge.com) and set off at 6.00 a.m. the next morning on a tour of the Valley.
We drove along the canyon where corn, potatoes and other crops were grown on the terraced sides. People in traditional dress worked in the fields, and donkeys, llamas, cows, horses, and sheep grazed in the fields or travelled along the roads interrupting the traffic. We saw some hanging graves in the white volcanic ash rock where many years ago the dead were burried in graves dug in the side of the mountain. In the background jagged snowy peaks peeped above the moss green lower mountains. Flowers of purple, orange, and yellow grew freely in the scrub by the side of the canyon, and eucalyptus trees grew up the sheer sides of the yellow, orange, and grey coloured rock. Along the way, we passed many small, quaint, towns where the main occupation is farming and tourism. These included Achoma, Maca, and Pinchollo. There were was one area the guide pointed out to us where there were no roads, only paths, and the inhabitants of the village had to trek for 5 hours down the mountain to get anywhere.
Once inside the national park, we got off the bus and did about an hour's trek along the edge of the canyon. There is some dispute, but Colca Canyon (http://www.go2peru.com/webapp/ilatintravel/articulo.jsp?cod=199888) claims to be the deepest canyon in the world - even deeper than the Grand Canyon in the States. Anyway, we didn´t see it at its steepest, but it still looked very deep, and our walk was very pretty, going through clumps of beautiful blue, purple and yellow flowers in the sunshine and under pure blue skies.
The main attraction of the trip was seeing the condors, and we were lucky, they put on a wonderful show for us. They are huge birds with a wing span of over 3 meters which soar high in the sky. They live to about 50 to 70 years and are carion birds. We got lots of pictures of them, but of course they were very difficult to capture adequately.
Chivay is a small town, maybe about 6000 or 8000 people. It is the capital town in the region, and was built in the 1500s. It is very pretty, but is also very touristy which does not go down well at all with our group. In fact, our poor guide had a really hard job knowing what to do with the group, because at any of the "contrived" tourist attractions, we all just refused to get out and participate.
The first part of the drive from Chivay to Arequipa was very beautiful, and we drove through volcanic scenery surrounded by some 9 volcanic peaks. The highest point we reached was 4,900 which I think is about the highest we have been on the trip. Fortunately, we all seem to be acclimatized to the height and except for shortness of breath, suffered no ill effects.
We arrived in Arequipa around 5 p.m. on Monday.
We drove along the canyon where corn, potatoes and other crops were grown on the terraced sides. People in traditional dress worked in the fields, and donkeys, llamas, cows, horses, and sheep grazed in the fields or travelled along the roads interrupting the traffic. We saw some hanging graves in the white volcanic ash rock where many years ago the dead were burried in graves dug in the side of the mountain. In the background jagged snowy peaks peeped above the moss green lower mountains. Flowers of purple, orange, and yellow grew freely in the scrub by the side of the canyon, and eucalyptus trees grew up the sheer sides of the yellow, orange, and grey coloured rock. Along the way, we passed many small, quaint, towns where the main occupation is farming and tourism. These included Achoma, Maca, and Pinchollo. There were was one area the guide pointed out to us where there were no roads, only paths, and the inhabitants of the village had to trek for 5 hours down the mountain to get anywhere.
Once inside the national park, we got off the bus and did about an hour's trek along the edge of the canyon. There is some dispute, but Colca Canyon (http://www.go2peru.com/webapp/ilatintravel/articulo.jsp?cod=199888) claims to be the deepest canyon in the world - even deeper than the Grand Canyon in the States. Anyway, we didn´t see it at its steepest, but it still looked very deep, and our walk was very pretty, going through clumps of beautiful blue, purple and yellow flowers in the sunshine and under pure blue skies.
The main attraction of the trip was seeing the condors, and we were lucky, they put on a wonderful show for us. They are huge birds with a wing span of over 3 meters which soar high in the sky. They live to about 50 to 70 years and are carion birds. We got lots of pictures of them, but of course they were very difficult to capture adequately.
Chivay is a small town, maybe about 6000 or 8000 people. It is the capital town in the region, and was built in the 1500s. It is very pretty, but is also very touristy which does not go down well at all with our group. In fact, our poor guide had a really hard job knowing what to do with the group, because at any of the "contrived" tourist attractions, we all just refused to get out and participate.
The first part of the drive from Chivay to Arequipa was very beautiful, and we drove through volcanic scenery surrounded by some 9 volcanic peaks. The highest point we reached was 4,900 which I think is about the highest we have been on the trip. Fortunately, we all seem to be acclimatized to the height and except for shortness of breath, suffered no ill effects.
We arrived in Arequipa around 5 p.m. on Monday.
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