January 13th, 2006

Not having found anything else of interest in Arequipa itself, we moved on to plan number two. Colca Canyon, one of the most famous Peruvian wonders,is located not four hours away from Arequipa. Described as being twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and easy enough to hike through without a guide, we could not resist. We caught a 2am bus hoping to get there in time to catch a glimpse of the condors which are promised to be flying above the canyon in the early hours of the morning.

Few hours later, on the bumpiest ride we’ve ever had so far, we arrived at Mirador Cruz del Condor, a view point at the rim of the canyon. We probably could have taken a later bus, as the ride turned out to be shorter than we were told, but once again we listened to the advice of a local agent who probably only had her own interest of getting us on a less desired ride, in mind. It was 6am, and we were the only ones there. Well, the only foreigners that is. On the same bus arrived about fifteen more locals with huge sacks who wasted no time and unrolled their merchandise, mostly llama hats and sweaters, as far as the eye can see. As there was no sign of condors yet, and we had nothing to do, I thought I’d stroll through the many piles of goods, but a second later gave up on that idea as it felt like the anxious sales people were ready to tear me apart. I came back to Shurik, who was smart enough not to even approach the “market” area, and we decided to have breakfast. Last night, in Arequipa, we went to a supermarket and got ourselves some dry snacks for the road. This might not sound very exciting to you, but for us it was a special treat as we don’t get to do this much anymore. You know that feeling you get when you shop for groceries and fantasize how yummy will it be to come home and make something really good out of it? Well I like that feeling a lot, so once again I got to remind myself that sometimes it doesn’t take much to make me happy. In any case, breakfast was simple: couple of bags of mixed dried fruit and nuts (very nutritious), a tube of Pringles (not very nutritious), and water. I hoped to have a nice quiet little meal, but had no such luck, we were immediately spotted by two locals: one who demanded money, and the other who just stood there until we just gave him something to eat. The first, apparently some sort of site official, requested $7 for the right to freeze our butts off while we wait for the condors to show up, and in return gave us a big colorful ticket with a list and pictures of other sites which we never heard of, that were included in the price. An obvious rip-off, but nonetheless the book mentioned a ridiculos fee (which has tripled from the time th book was published), so we just paid the man and sent him on his way. Our second visitor was a little boy who probably came with his family to sell things to the tourists. He circled us for a while, and then parked about a meter away, literally looking into our mouths as we ate. I didn’t know if he was hungry or just curious, but I signed for him to make a bowl shape with his hands and filled them up with trail-mix. Absorbed by his now new dilemma of how to get it all into his pockets, the little boy left us to enjoy the rest of our breakfast.

Three ours later, and still no condors. Plenty of people though. It looked like we were the only ones stupid enough to catch that early bus as buses and people kept arriving every minute from about 8am, though most of them were with some tour. On the plus side, we got the best seats, right on top of the edge of a huge cliff overlooking the canyon. Now we were surrounded by people and the only thing that was missing was a guard rail. I set on the very edge and Shurik kept grabbing the back of my shirt every time I moved. Finally, when some people were almost about to leave, the condors showed up. They must have slept through their alarm because it was already a quarter to ten, but nobody cared. Magnificent, graceful, and remarkably unattractive they soared above and below us in circles, looking like small fighter jets.

The condors finally left, and so did all their spectators. A few hours ago, our plan was to reach a nearby village — Cobanaconde, and from there hike down to an oasis at the bottom of Colca Canyon. However, looking at the valley from the top, the canyon did not prove very impressive. We’ve been to the Gran Canyon before and even though this Canyon claims to be deeper, somehow, it was lacking the grandeur. Nonetheless, we were already there, and so we went to Cobanaconde’s view point to the canyon if for nothing, then just to prove ourselves we made the right decision. Well, it doesn’t happen often, but we were right. The canyon did not inspire us at all, and after wondering the village for an hour or two we caught a bus back, decided we were sick of Arequipa, and hopped on the ten hour night bus to Nazca.

Tags: kids, trekking
Posted in Places»South America»Peru, wildlife | No Comments »

Comments

Comments are closed.