Colca Canyon Day 1

The alarm clock was set for 2:40 AM.  No joke. We had a bus pick up scheduled between 3:00 - 3:30 to take us to Colca Canyon. Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world at 10,725 feet, with the deepest one right next door named Cotahuasi Canyon.  It's a 3 hour drive from the center of Arequipa to the canyon. 


Colca Canyon Link


The drive to Colca Canyon climbed constantly up many switchbacks from Arequipa at 7,740 feet to over 13,000 ft.  This was a little crazy in the morning darkness.

We stopped in the town of Chivay for breakfast with our guide Rene. Rene has spent some time in the USA and we talked a lot in the cold breakfast restaurant. I think the temperature as we ate was in the upper 30s. We were told to get off the mini bus suddenly, so none of us prepared by bringing warm clothes.

After the typical Peruvian breakfast of bread with butter and jam, ham, cheese, juice, tea, and coffee we headed to the "Cruz del Condor." This is a lookout point along the road to watch the Andean Condor. We didn't see any for about 20 minutes, but when they made an appearance, it was spectacular. The massive birds rode the updrafts from the deep canyon cruising back and forth and even circling below.

I tried my best to get a shot, but was more impressed looking at these condors through my binoculars.  At times, I could get them to fill the entire view glass.  

Finally, a picture of me and Katherine together. 

"Cruz del Condor" with Thug Tommy and K.

We had a guide trade at this point.  Rene left, and we met Jean (pronounced like Jean Claude Van Damme) for the hike down the canyon.  Many more condors made an appearance as we began our hike.

The hike begins!

Katherine with a condor surprise.  I was glad I had the camera out.

Jean immediately started talking about all the details of the hike. I can not even begin to rehash the hours of information he imparted. I thought that audio recording his information would be the best way to document, but unfortunately I did not. I will just point out a few details below. He is a wealth of knowledge.

He discussed Peruvian life, medicinal plants, fruits grown in the canyon, explained all the types of cactus, and even personal relationships with a funny sense of humor.

The above photo shows some of the villages in Colca Canyon.  You can see the terraced farming practice that has been around for over a thousand years.  I was amazed at the variety of crops they can grow.  For instance, 4 types of avocado!  

Here we are!

Down, down, down.

This is the very bottom of the canyon.  We crossed the bridge after dipping our tired feet in the river.

Until 20 years ago the bridges were made from woven yucca strands!

K trying out the Pacae.  It's a long pod legume with edible sweet white pulp.  The locals add it to home made ice cream.  Yummy!

Jean explaining the uses of the plants.  

Jean had a few stories I would like to point out.  He told us that when he was around 12 years old he sprained his wrist.  His mother took a lizard, killed it, opened it up and took out the insides, put it around his wrist, and wrapped it tight.  After two days the sprain was better.  He said it smelled, but was worth it to heal his wrist.  Another remedy for aches and pains is to put a snake in a jar of alcohol for a long time and then use it as an ointment.  

Katherine with Jean in the distance.  There were avocado trees everywhere.  We even ate some for lunch.  Jean made K an olive leaf crown from one of the olive trees along the way. 

This is a view of one of the local schools.  It was built by the gold mine company behind the mountain to appease the locals.  The workers on the bottom right are trying to rebuild the football field.  Jean explained how the large gold mine operation is working with and sometimes struggling with the locals.  

We walked along the river for a few hours leapfrogging the other hikers because Jean pointed out nearly every plant along the trail. Lucky us!

There is even invasive Spanish moss in the canyon.  The avocado farmers hate it as it weighs down the trees.

Huge agave!

Jean showed us the prickly pear cactus parasite.  The locals use it for dye in clothing and even dry it out for make up.  

Our view of the "Oasis!"  This is where we spent the night. 

What a great hike!

The sun was almost all the way down.  Dinner was served at 7:30pm and of course, it was alpaca.  

Our bungalow for the evening.  

The camp is called Tropicals Paradiso.  It has spring-fed pools, and we even had a shower in our room.  Of course it was a cold water shower, but it was great to get cleaned up. Everything is brought in by mule. Jean even gave us a star gazing briefing. I immediately noticed the "Southern Cross." It is really cool to see a different view of the stars in the Southern hemisphere. We saw many constellations that we have never been able to see before. 

After dinner, we went right to bed. Tomorrow we have to hike out the 3,000ft with a 4:15 am wake up call. What a day!