It was another 2-day tour that I did, but this time out of Arequipa, to which I came back specifically to see this canyon. The price of the tour was of course bargained again, and I managed to get it for 55 soles. It included a guided tour of the canyon and local sites, a night at a simple hotel (single room with hot water is all I cared about) with breatkfast, and all the transportation.
So the tour took off in the morning, 9:30 that is, but the goal of the first day was getting to the town of Chivay, which barely even begins the canyon itself. On the way however, we have stopped in few places. The first was the Needle Forest, a place with many sharp conical rocks populating the hill sides of desert cliffs. It was quite an interesting place I have to say, but it also included an artesanal market, which completely consumed the attention of some people. Secondly, we stopped at what's called Aquas Verdes, which consisted of scattered pools of water on high altitutde, green meadows with animals like Llamas, Alpacas, and Vicunas grazing here and there. After that we've stopped at one of the highest road passes in the world, at 4900m above the sea level. To give some of you an idea of how high it is, it's about a half a kilometer/a thrid of a mile higher than the highest peak in Alps and more than 1000 feet higher than the top of Mount Whitey ..and a road passes through there, how cool is that:)) Anyway, just like some of you might be throwing coins into the fountains to come back to the place or for good luck, in Peru they build small pyramides of stones, and that place had thousands of these. The views of the mountains were no less impressive than the place itself.
After reaching the town of Chivay, we were taken for some lunch, buffet for 18 soles, placed in our hotels, and then taken (who ever wanted) to the thermal baths, which were quite enjoyable in contrast to the not so high open air temperature. And, since at almost every thermal bath in Peru alcohol is served to the edge of the pool, a group of people I've met earlier this day and I had couple of beers ..surprisingly from glass bottles.
Quite early in the morning, 6:00 am, we begun continue our trip to the actual Canyon de Colca. The canyon kept opening up and getting deeper and deeper, or so it seemed, as we continued to drive further and further into it, and the view kept getting more and more amazing along with it. At about 9:00 in the morning we had reached a place called Cruz del Condor, and then, those majestic, but at the same time so graceful, birds showed up, gliding literally only few meters over our heads ..it was incredible!! I simply couldn't stop taking pictures.
After a short walk along the edge of the canyon, we were taken back to Chivay for some lunch, and then directly to Arequipa. But what a marvelous place it was, and discovered by a Polish expedition.
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