Flight of the Condors!

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Trip Start Mar 05, 2010 Previous
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  Yanque, Peru
Saturday, July 17, 2010

Tummy update = I ate boiled rice!  Woohoo!
This morning was an early start as breakfast was at 6am.  Needless to say I wasn't venturing to breakfast so I actually had an extra half an hour to have a very hot shower!  What a treat!  By 6.30am we were on the road and heading to the Cruz del Condor, the edge of the mighty Colca Canyon.  Not only would this spot provide some spectacular mountain views, but we were to be in a prime position at 1200 metres above the canyon floor to get a memorable sight of the magnificent Condors, the heaviest flying bird in the world, with a wingspan of 3 metres, soaring majestically up the canyon on the thermals.  Unfortunately, the morning was really cloudy and Alfonso explained that the Condors come out in the sun to rise into the canyon so maybe we would be unlucky today.  I really hoped not!  As we had some time to play with in the hope that the cloud would burn out, we stopped many times along the way.  We stopped at fabulous miradors looking down into the canyon, up to the mountains and out to the majestic countryside.  We passed through many towns and villages including Achoma and Maca.  As a colourful Andean valley, Colca valley has many of these towns founded in Spanish Colonial times and formerly inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas.  The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces that we were able to see.  Maca seemed to be a tourist stop as when we pulled up there were lots of other minbuses and coaches - obviously all doing the same route this morning!  We stopped to have a look at the newly rebuilt church of Maca.  Maca was devasted by the 1997 earthquake and many buildings, including the church, collapsed.  It has now been rebuilt with some help from central government too and we added a contribution as we went inside.  Inside, the church was quite basic with a stone floor and simple benches.  The icons were very detailed though and the alter quite grand.  Back on the bus we continued our journey towards the canyon and Alfonso was excellent in describing the traditions, culture, landscape and stories.  He spoke to us about Pacha Mama  - or Mother Earth and how the Incas really believed in her power.  He pointed out some hanging graves on the roadside where the families of a nearby settlement would have been buried.  There was a special grave, set aside from all the others and facing the sunrise, that would have belonged to the main family.  He also told us about a tunnel that collapsed several times after being built.  The people believed that this was the mountain declaring its unhappiness and that it needed a human sacrifice before the tunnel would stand.  The legend says that a homeless man from Chivay was sacrificed but local people are still scared to pass through.  Apparently, if you can hold your breath all the way through the mountain will grant you a wish.  It was 400 metres long so I didn't manage it but Oliver did.  The final town we passed through was Pinchollo, which then brought us to the edge of the canyon.  Colca Canyon is 4160 metres deep, more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.  However, the canyon's walls are not as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon.  We weren't going to the deepest part of the canyon, just to the start of it to try and spot the Condors.  It was about 08.30 when we arrived at Cruz del Condor, the best spot to view the Condors soaring gracefully on the rising thermals occurring as the air warms.  At this point, the canyon floor was 1200 metres below the rim of the canyon but it was still really cloudy.  Anyway, we found a spot and we settled down to sit and wait to see if they would appear.  We hadn't been there long when overhead came a small, young one.  It didn't seem that small to me and it was magical gliding through the sky.  Unfortunately, it didn't stay around for long and we had to wait a while to see another.  There are about 30 Condors living around the canyon and Alfonso had explained how they are endangered.  The Incas believed in three worlds, the upper world of the Gods, the world in which we live and Pacha Mama and the underworld of their ancestors and the dead.  Each world had an animal attached to it too.  The Condor for the Gods, the Puma for the Earth and the Serpent for the underworld.  Anyway, people beloved that nothing could be as high as the Gods and therefore thought that the Condor was a bad omen and brought back luck.  Hence, it was hunted a lot until the 1970s and numbers have dropped dramatically.  After about 2 hours of waiting in the cold (I think I had about 5 layers on and I was still cold), the cloud broke and several Condors appeared.  We watched them soaring on the thermals, taking a break on a ledge and generally gliding around this magnificent canyon.  We were so lucky that we were able to see the condors at fairly close range as they flew through the canyon walls.  We watched them for a while before heading back to the minibus as the group were going on a short hike.  I still felt really weak and so waited on the bus for them.  It was nice to sit in the bus, with the sun now beaming through the glass to warm me up and enjoy my book for a while.  I am still reading Into Thin Air, a true account of the 1996 Everest disaster and as I read the book, looked out to the canyon and thought about what Alfonso had told us about Pacha Mama I realised the power of this world that we live in.  These magnificent mountains and the things they hold for us, not only today but in generations gone by too.  Once the group returned to the bus we drove back towards Chivay, where we would stop for lunch.  We snapped away at more amazing scenery and even though the pictures don't quite do it justice it is a view that will stay with me forever!  Oliver and I chatted about what it would be like if the Spanish had never conquered the Incas.  Would they have lived on?  How would their traditions and culture have survived in today's world?  Our taste into this region's past has certainly been thought provoking and something I intend to research even more once we get home.  An hour and a half drive brought us back to Chivay and a restaurant for lunch.  I was feeling really hungry and the buffet looked so good but I knew I wasn't ready for that.  I managed to have a bowl of plain boiled rice - yum!  My tummy must have thought it was Christmas and (touch wood!) up until writing this everything is fine.  I am hoping I am past the worst now and can get back to really enjoying everything about this tour.  After lunch, we went back to the hotel to relax for a while - it really is a gorgeous place to do just that!  To our amazement, we even saw another Condor soaring around outside our window!  Fantastic!  Late afternoon came and Alfonso had arranged a trip to the nearby Thermal Baths and then on to a barbeque afterwards.  Despite enjoying my rice I certainly wasn't ready for that and seeing as we have already experienced some thermal baths in South America, I gave the excursion a miss to just enjoy the rest.  I sat in our little window watching the sun set over the canyon and it was stunning!  It went very cold soon after though.  When Oliver came back he said that the baths were much the same as the others and that the barbeque was ok too but he was now feeling tired!  I have really enjoyed slowing the pace down a bit in the past few days and really taking it easy and maybe he needs to do the same.   As we get ready to leave the Colca Canyon behind I will always remember these few days here as some of the most spectacular scenery of our trip and a welcomed break away from the cities.  I can't help but wonder if Pacha Mama has looked after me whilst we have been here but either way I am feeling much better and just hope it stays that way!  Tomorrow is a travel day as we go 4 hours back to Arequipa where we will relax for the afternoon before the 12 hour night bus ride to Cusco and the start of our own Inca adventure. 

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Our lodges - I really didn't want to leave   Comments!	Inside Maca Church   Comments!	Us at Maca Church	Locals with a captive bird for the tourists
The drive	The graves in the cliff	The Colca valley	Approaching the start of the canyon
Oliver at one of the miradors	Stunning! And Oliver too!	Me - able to enjoy it more today	So lucky to see them
Soaring high	Huge	My favourite pic of this amazing bird   Comments!	Into the canyon
The view on the trek	Hummingbird Oliver spotted on the trek	Hovering hummingbird	The drive back   Comments!
Local lady in Chivay   Comments!	Taking the llama for a walk!

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