El Canyon del Colca

Our trip to the Colca Canyon last weekend certainly had a very interesting start.
First of all, Beth and I both overslept through various alarms and had to run out of the house to meet Pat, a friend from home who happened to be passing by Arequipa... we missed the 8 o'clock bus, bought a fare for 11 instead and killed a couple of hours having a very long breakfast.
But we did get on the bus, and all was good. About 2 hours into the bus ride, the bus starts stopping a little too often and for a little too long each time.
'Wouldn't it be funny if we broke down?' Yes Beth, it would be funny.
In the middle of absolutely nowhere in the desert, with no phone reception, nothing for miles and miles, nada.

They told us they were getting another bus to take us, a bus coming from Arequipa which was 2 hours away.
It was actually kind of nice to start off with, sitting in the sun, playing games, playing with rocks.

And then, 2 hours later, they send not a bus but a mechanic. I am not going to pretend to know anything about autos but something was wrong with the cooler, and this mechanic could definitely not fix it.
This is when, along with everyone else, we lose faith in Reyna (the bus company) and walk up the road to try and hitch hike. However, as soon as we decided to do this cars just stopped coming. It was like magic. And the one truck which did come and was willing to give us a ride was going the wrong way.
Also it was really cold. And we only had a bit of water and 2 packets of crackers left. I think if we had brought proper food everything would have been fine. Or if we had tea.. But we didn't.

We waited some more, and after at least an hour a bus came from Arequipa! It was already full so we had to stand up for an hour in the tiny aisle and I am pretty sure sleeping heads got elbowed but we got there in the end! After a scary journey along a loopy road down through the mountains down to the tiny town of Chivay. I think a good al paca bifstek was deserved that night.
The hostel owner sneakily lied about there being ample hot water so after a nice cold shower we enjoyed the fantastic tv variety of spanish dubbed american movies.

Things do get better though.

In the morning, absolutely frozen, after an al paca and tater sandwich at 7 we got to the bus station and got offered a tour of the canyon and villages on the way for half price, perfect!

One village, Achama, was named after an Inca's expression of disgust when he tried their chicha. When we got there, at 8 in the morning there were a few ladies dressed up in traditional cholita dress with dressed up llamas, an old guy carrying a falcon and a little girl dancing , trying to make a bit of money from tourists who want to take photos with them, as well as loads of people selling the same jumpers, keyrings, al paca hats, scarves and gloves, purses wallets pencilcases notebooks... in a tiny village at 8 in the morning, probably earlier still as some tours leave at 4-5am. It's so crazy.

sneaky

But yeah! The Colca Canyon; absolutely beautiful! I can't remember the number but it is lots of metres deep, absolutely incredible, with thousands of tiny terraces built up the sides by the Incas and the very occasional house or village lost in there somewhere.

The main place people go is Cruz del Condor, a view point frequented by condors. We got there at half past 8, just in time.

Looking triumphant as if we have just accomplished something 

We made friends with a group of elderly folk from England doing a tour round Peru. I really felt like I was back in Malmesbury for about 20 minutes. Things like 'oh yes that is a jolly good one' and 'absolutely spiffing canyon' and 'oh cripes!' you just take for granted at home.
At about 9.30 the real big birds started circling up. Someone nearby had put some drum and bass on which fitted perfectly! That's apparently what makes for the best condor action. As soon as the music came on there were more and more birds, about 15 circling up and swooping above us. We were stood next to this guy who know so much about birds and so we also enjoyed a running commentary on the exact purpose of their behaviour. Here they are, jolly good show:

The tour was really good, as well as being truly knowledgeable about everything to do with the canyon our guide also had a great set of classic jokes (p.s. anyone that is reading this that doesn't know me personally should be informed that I am a very sarcastic person) including a toy snake which he pretended was real.

In the afternoon we went to a place abut 10 minutes away from Chivay to La Calera to the thermal baths, and spent all afternoon there. One of the lifeguards took a photo that is possibly the worst photo possible;

Then we went home.
The End