I forgot to mention yesterday that Colca Canyon (where colca translates as store room or granary) is South America’s equivalent of the Grand Canyon (and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia – rather obvious name-dropping there). Colca Canyon is, depending on who you speak to, either the deepest canyon in the world or the second deepest. Cotahuasi appears to compete with Colca Canyon for bragging rights. One fact not in doubt, however, is that Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon – so it’s a big hole in the ground by anyone’s definition.
But much like a day trip to the Grand Canyon, we could only scratch the surface of Colca Canyon. And rather than see where ‘X’ marks the deepest spot, we explore the shallower end of the canyon which is home to several villages and some breath-taking agricultural terracing. Further along the canyon at Cruz del Condor we are privileged to view one of Nature’s beautiful, yet sadly fast disappearing, spectacles: the flight of the Andean condor. Our guide says that only about 100 of these impressive birds remain in Peru and continuing climate change could ultimately lead to their extinction. We gaze into the canyon hoping to spot these giants birds and there down in the bowels of the earth we glimpse several tiny specks, no bigger than a butterfly. Over the next hour, however, the condors fly higher and higher on the back of warm air currents, eventually soaring out of the canyon and zooming fast and low over our heads. An absolutely spectacular experience.
A long drive back to Arequipa follows. I just manage to retrieve my newly repaired hiking boots from the zapatero before the shop closes and then we return to the Home Sweet Home hostel and pack our bags. Tomorrow we move on again.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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