Trip to Canyon De Colca 4th/5th November

A 2 day trip by small mini coach up to the Canyon De Colca, the second deepest canyon in the world - the deepest one also being in Peru. The Colca canyon is twice the depth of the USA Grand Canyon as the photos just don't give any real perspective of depth. Main reason for going was to see the Condors fly as the cliffs of the Canyon is their home.

Well the trip up to the canyon was a 6 hour drive along dusty gravel roads, stopping along the way for drinks of Coca tea to help with altitude sickness and also for the locals to try and sell their wares being all handcrafted. The views going up were amazing and managed to see wild Alpacas - smaller than llamas - along the way.Stopped overnight at Chivay and went for a quick chill out in the local thermal baths. The place was packed until I revealed my famous "Basle Trunks" and then it became isolated. Still having the place all to myself was just dandy.

In the evening, dinner with the group of about 16 of us to a local restaurant and had Alpaca steak, may have been one of the ones I saw earlier in the day! No it didn't taste like chicken but more like beef. Restaurant had a local band and dance group so lots of Peruvian pipe playing and dancing. I managed to get up and make a few shapes which quickly brought that festivities to an end! Finished up going to a local bar with 2 guys being from the Czech Republic, both work in the largest brewery in Prague….could be great contacts for a future visit.

On the 5th it was up early at 6am for the 2 hour drive up the canyon to get to the Condor cliffs to see them. Apparently its best to see them around 10am when the sun is up and the thermals are just starting. Unfortunetly this was the low season for seeing them as most had flown to the Pacific to feed upon sea lion placentas at this time of year and the only ones left were the adults with children who couldn't fly yet. Managed to see 5 in an hour which was OK and fully appreciate the size of them in flight with their massive wingspan.

Then it was the long 7 hour coach ride back to Arequipa which had to go along the same route we came up so was a little boring but time to catch some zzzzzzzz.

Got back to Arequipa at about 5pm, got my backpack and down to th local bus terminal and jumped on an "Economico" bus to Puno, the town by lake Titicaca. These buses are really for locals and a bit shabby, but boy cheap….the 5 hour ride cost 2.80 sterling!.Arrived in Puno at 10pm and out into town to see the final part of "Puno Week Celbrations"