Colca Canyon Condors

Feb 21, 2015

We hit the road and headed for Colca Canyon in search of the ever elusive condor. This was going to be a long day with the Colca tour followed by a five hour drive to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

The Cabanas and the Collaguas tribes moved to the area from the Lake Titicaca region and inhabited the valley and arrived in the Colca Valley around 1320 AD. The nasty Spaniards, under Gonzalo Pizarro, arrived in 1540 and in the 1570s the Spanish viceroy Francisco de Toledo ordered the inhabitants to leave their scattered settlements and to move to a series of centrally located pueblos, which remain the principal towns of the valley.

No passable roads existed between Arequipa and Chivay until the 1940s, when a road was completed to serve the silver and copper mines of the region.

In 1981, the Polish Canoandes rafting expedition proclaimed the possibility of its being the world's deepest canyon and it was so recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1986. The canyon, at its most profound depth is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The river has an elevation of 3,497 ft (1,066 m), and is surrounded by a ring of fire - volcanoes.

It was very cloudy when we arrived but the clouds burned off, unfortunately not enough to see the bottom of the canyon as we had hoped, however it made for beautiful pictures anyway. We didn't see any condors there however down the road at another lookout we saw Peregrine falcons, buzzard eagles and a large bird in the distance which the guides with their binoculars, avid bird watchers, swear was a condor. They probably are programmed to say that to make us feel better! It did.

There's a cactus called Prickly Pear, which bears a fruit which, when ripe, is the rich red colour of a pomegranate and tastes similar. There's a blight which grows on the cactus which resembles icing sugar but if you scrape some off and squish it, a brilliant red dye appears which is used to colour lipsticks etc.

A stop in Yanque to check few sights. In the market we watched as a little boy brought barley to barter with an old woman. He gave her nine cups of barley in exchange for eighteen peaches. Lord knows how far he came. Donkeys actually still make the trek from Cusco and Puno with goods - a long haul!

A nice buffet lunch in Chivay and off to Puno with a pitstop photo op at Patapampa, 4,910 meters! The highest point we'll reach!

Dinner in Puno at Machupizza. Someone is clever, and of course there was the customary Carnaval parade outside our hotel  window.