Will you be my Condor?



View of the volcanoes from across the plateau

After Nazca, it was finally time to get back to the mountains. We decided to spend our last week and a half traveling together in Arequipa, a town at the foot of multiple volcanoes and also a stone's throw away from whitewater, canyons, and various other adventure sports. Arequipa is not only a jumping off point for many outdoor activities, but is also a fun modern city. We spent most of our time enjoying the city, staying in a beautiful hostel with a great rooftop terrace, and the rest of our time taking a tour of the nearby Colca Canyon (which is the second deepest canyon in the world!).    

Although Arequipa is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that reach over 6000 m, the city itself is only at 2335 m, and is therefore a popular place for people to acclimate before going to Cuzco or hiking in the Andes.  

Just hangin' out by the train tracks

We don't always love organized tours, but we decided to take an overnight tour into the Colca Canyon. If you don't have time to trek for at least 10 days, they recommend a two day driving tour. On the way to the canyon, there is a reserve that is home to herds of vicuña. Vicuña are related to llamas but can be identified by their tan and white coloring, and their long necks and dainty faces. They are also found wild in Peru, as opposed to the domesticated llama and alpaca. 



Vicuña

Te mixto, with coca and chamomile

Llama crossing

Although the terrain on the way to the Colca Canyon doesn't seem extremely dramatic, the road gradually climbs to an altitude over 16,000 ft. Because of this, the tour buses all stop at a rest stop to feed you products made from coca leaves. Coca tea, candy, or just chewing the leaves themselves are tried and true tactics from Incan times to minimize unwanted side-effects of the altitude. Most of us were fine, but there were some people on the tour who had a rough time. It is definitely a little bit of a shock to change altitudes in such a hurry! It must be common because our tour guide was always reminding us to remain "tranquilo" and to refrain from running or making sudden movements!

Coca tea rest stop!




Herd of llamas!



llama!



Everywhere you stop, they are there ready to sell you something

Highest point (altitude-wise) of the drive

On our way down into Chivay, the town where we stayed the first night

So many little llamas :)

Look at the little guy in the corner...I loved him!

We spent our first day in the town of Chivay in the Colca Valley, where we ate a buffet of typical Peruvian food before heading to some hot springs. The hot springs are located in the foot of the valley next to a river, and while highly picturesque, were also amazingly crowded. After waiting in line for what seemed like hours, we only had a short time to actually enjoy the hot springs. We did our best hopping from pool to pool to try things out before we had to leave. It seems obvious that volcanically heated water would be hot...but it is still fun to see it steaming and being funneled from the earth into pools. Whoever came up with the idea of sitting in hot baths...I am for it! That night we were taken to a restaurant to eat more typical foods and to watch some typical dancing from the region. The dancing was fun, but by this point the nature of the organized tour was really starting to wear us down! Our whole tour group decided pretty early in the evening that it was time to go back to our hostels and get some rest for day two.

Our second day of touring started with breakfast at 5:30 am. Then we were on the bus at 6 sharp headed to the canyon. Our final destination was the Condor Cross. This is an area of the canyon where our guide assured us we would see some condors. During the drive we stopped at little towns along the way as well as some very beautiful viewpoints.

The Colca Valley

Kyra, scoping out the scene when we arrived at the canyon

Photos just really can't do it justice. It was so steep and deep!

On our way to the Condor Cross

When our tour guide assured us that we would see condors, I have to admit I was skeptical. However, by the time we left I had seen over 8 at once all flying within 30 feet of where we were standing on the hillside. What you can't tell by the photos is that condors are HUGE. Our guide took the time on our walk to the viewpoint to give us information about condors. For instance, the adult condors have a white ring around their necks and white on the top of their wings, whereas the juveniles are brown. He also told us that legend has it that condors are monogamous, and that if their partner dies, they fly to the top of the canyon and fall off to commit suicide. Who knows if the legends are true, but it led us to coin the phrase... "will you be my condor?" Romantic?

Adult condor

Juvenile condor

In any case, we got to spend quite a bit of time watching the condors fly pretty close to us before we headed back toward Arequipa on our little tour bus. Once back in Arequipa, we had a few more days to sample the local foods (like queso helado, aka cheese ice cream!), do some souvenir shopping, and get ourselves organized to head to our next destinations.

Not much space between the road and the cliff...

Another wayside rest stop/ souvenir shop/ fruit stand