Canon De Colca (Colca Canyon), Peru

January  2002

The Colca Canyon is the world's deepest canyon with some sections going down to 3400m. It's a pretty unforgiving looking place but there are villages eking out a a subsistence existence and of course ... condors.  Jeremy and I spent two days on a tour checking it out.

Templo De Santa Ana Maca

The Colca Canyon gets a fair few earthquakes from time to time.  We checked out a beautiful church in the boonies of the Canyon which was being rebuilt.  On the way, Jeremy and I picked up a few of the local birds (sums up the whole tour really ...chasing birds).

The church.  Just in case you're interested, if a church has one tower, it is normally named after a male saint.  If it has two - like the Templo De Santa Ana Maca here - it is named after a female saint.

Church again.

Jerry pulls one of the local birds - an eagle I think.  Doesn't he look happy?

Me with bird on head.

Me with bird on arm. 

Colca Canyon Snaps

The canyon. Very dry. Lots of cacti.  On the other side of the canyon, you can see terraces used for farming.

Me and the canyon.

Terraces..

Dry, rocky landscape.

Herd of wild guanaco or possibly vicuna.  These two species are both wild.  The vicuna is quite rare and only produces just 250g of wool per shearing, which happens every 3-4 years.

Guanaco or vicuna on road.

Volon Chachani. 6075 metres above sea level. Love those white legs!!

Condors at Cruz del Condor

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of condors (Jeremy took all the photos with his zoom lens) but we did see some, about ten minutes before we were due to leave the lookout point ... after two hours of waiting. 

As I have no pictures, I've nicked someone else's (Jacqui and Lars) Peru holiday snaps to show you what you are missing....

Condor over the Colca Canyon.

Extreme close up.  As you can see, they're huge birds - the second largest bird in the world (after the albatross) -  Their wingspan is absolutely massive.  It's definitely worth taking the trip just to see the condors alone.

Dancing In The Local Restaurant

Me wowing the traditional dancing girl with my legendary Latin American dancing skills.

Jeremy enjoying himself with the traditional dancing girl.