Day 145 – 146 : Colca Canyon

Located about 3 hours from Arequipa, this is a tour that is commonly promoted in Arequipa with one of the main attraction : to see the Andean Condors.  I had originally wanted to do this trip free and easy, but with a sprained ankle, I felt it was best to do it via a tour. 

The Colca Canyon can be done either on a 1 or 2 days tour, with exactly the same stops for both.  The only difference is that in a 1 day tour, it departs at 3am, while it is at 8.30am for a 2 day tour. 

Not wanting to have a rushed tour, I opted for the 2 day option.  My tour group comprised of a total of 12 people (including me), and most of them were South American married couples, thus I felt rather out of place with minimal communication.  I had the tour guide’s personal attention though as he had to translate everything to me in English personally. 

The 1st day journey was not too exciting as we basically spent the time travelling to a town called Chivay where we will be spending the night.  On the way, we saw a few herds of Vicunas, as well as a couple of view point where one could see the surrounding volcanoes, with the highest viewpoint being at 4,910m above sea level.

When we got to Chivay, I found it strange that we were put up in 5 different hostels (and there were only 12 of us!).  Chivay is a small little town, and probably was closer to how I imagined what Peru would be like. 

The plan for the rest of the day was to visit a hot springs as well as dinner-cum-folk dance performance, which were both optional items.  I decided to skip the hot springs to just explore the town of Chivay, and join the group later in the evening for the folk dance performance. 

So I was picked up at 7.20pm and headed to the restaurant.  The folk dance performance comprised of a band as well as a couple dancing to some sets of music.  They must have danced about 4 separate dances, but what stood out, was the very last dance which I found was very strange, almost S&M in nature!

As the couple danced, the guy pretended to be eating a fruit and suddenly fell on the ground, and laid lifeless-like.  The next thing we know, the lady took out a belt like thing and started hitting the guy!  There were loud exclamation in the room the moment she did that, and a short total silence in the room.  The lady continued hitting the guy with the belt for a few more times before he got up, and they continued dancing. 

And then the lady did the same thing – she fell and laid on the ground.  The guy then peeped under the lady’s skirt and then later took out the belt like thing again and started hitting the girl!  This time there was an even louder exclamation in the room!  After a couple “beatings” she got up and they continued dancing (part of dance can be seen in below video).

Chivay Folk Dance

They subsequently each pulled a “partner” from the crowd and repeated the ritual.  Very strange dance!

We left the restaurant shortly after the performance ended and headed back to our respective hostels.

The next day, we departed from our hostel at 6.20am in the morning and headed towards the Condor viewpoint, passing through a number of viewpoints along the Colca Valley with views of the green terraces.  It has been a while since I last got to see so much green, especially with such a different variety of green hues, which was extremely refreshing and beautiful. 

After a couple of hours drive, we finally got to the famous area where one can view condors.  The guide mentioned that the Andean Condors can be as tall as 1.3m high and with a total wing span of 3m wide!  HUGE!  They don’t fly, but rather glide and make use of the thermal winds in the area to lift themselves up through the valley in the morning and glide across the canyons to scavenge for dead meat. 

The guide however added on that the best time to see the condors are usually during the months of June, July and August, where one could see about 40+ condors in the air at one time. 

As for this time of the year, it is not the main season and would probably only see a couple in the air.  So we spent about 1.5 hour at this viewpoint in the hope to catch a glimpse of the infamous condor.  During this whole time, I only got to see one gliding at a far distance from the view point. 

However while we were driving back towards Arequipa, about 10 mins after we left the viewpoint, one of the members from the tour group spotted one in the air.

We quickly stopped and got off the van to take a few photos, when subsequently another one was spotted flying in the area.  It was definitely much better view than at the viewpoint, and they were huge!

Everyone being satisfied after catching a few photos, we headed on our way again, with a few stops in some villages (e.g.. Maca & Yanque), where one could see ladies in traditionally dressed clothing displaying their merchandise or parading their llama / alpaca pets or domesticated eagle for photo taking.

I also took the opportunity to take a local juice made from the fruit of cactus (can’t remember the name), which looked and tasted like kiwi!

It definitely tasted and looked different from the cacti fruit I had when in Malaga!

Reached back in Arequipa at about 4.30pm, and subsequently back to Percy’s place to get my bag before heading to the bus terminal to catch my 12 hour overnighter bus to Ica!