25/09/2012 - 27/09/2012 - The Flight of the Condor

Difficult to get a sense of perspective, but take our word for it - with 4m wingspans, these birds are BIG!

Heading in to the mountains

Is that a canyon I see before me?

Our trip to Cabanaconde was a new low point in bus travel to date – we were stuck in the front seat with a painfully small amount of legroom, and Tony’s face was in far too close proximity of the rear end of the standing passengers…

Awesome sunset from the bus

Pre-Inca terracing the region is
famous for

Upon arrival, we spent the evening gossiping with a lovely English couple from Colliers Wood – small world! Couldn’t convince them to come trekking with us the next day, and after rising early we were told that the bus wasn’t going. Cue another opportunistic Peruvian to the rescue – this time 10 of us in a ute where Tony was desperately clinging on for dear life at every corner! Cruz del Condor doesn’t get its name from the sparrows in the vicinity, so we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw one of these masters of the air gliding gracefully on the thermals at the canyon edge.

Dodging the landslides

Getting down to it

Looks idyllic...

The Oasis, from above

We were shortly joined by the hoards arriving by the bus load, and made our escape to the start of the walk. Colca Canyon is rumoured by the Lonely Planet to be one of the deepest in the world, but after further research it’s probably not even in the top 10! That said, 4,160m deep is not to be sniffed at, and we pretty much got down to the canyon river in one stretch. Annaliza was suffering from a bit of flu (not rabies related, we hoped!!!), so wasn’t the happiest when it came to the uphill sections, but we made good time to the self-named Oasis at Sangalle. A strange place – 5 or 6 cold outdoor swimming pools at the bottom of a canyon with the same amount of resorts, but none with hot water or electricity! Dinner was therefore a candlelit affair, with us sharing a table with some (hate to say it!) interesting and friendly Germans.

More snow-capped mountain action

Pleased to have made it back to the top!

We were one of the last to rise the next day, but didn’t hang around before starting the hike back up. It was a grit the teeth affair, admiring the numerous cacti on display and avoiding the vast quantities of donkey droppings littering the path… Back in Cabanaconde, Annaliza really enjoyed a hot shower (so much so that she’d used all the hot water before Tony got his chance!) and a good feed prior to taking the bus back to Arequipa. Not an especially memorable journey, apart from the nail-biting 500+m one lane tunnel, with no way of knowing if something was coming the other way and no space for pulling over. Fortunately survived the scare!

Traditional dress

Key Learnings:

More pre-Inca terracing

1. Canyon walking is unusual - the fact you descend first and the finish with the uphill last provides a different challenge.

2. Swimming pools don't necessarily equate to a high standard of resort...

3. The traditional female attire in the Colca canyon region is amazingly colourful - almost trumps the bowler hats!