Tourists are charmed by an alpaca at a refreshment stop on the way to Colca Canyon
Going to the Colca Canyon from Arequipa is very easy, there are tours offered by a lots of travel agencies, the most popular is one that takes two days and they are about USD 25 per person, depending of the hotel where you want to stay.
Alpaca grazing in the Colca Canyon in Peru
The tour start at 6 am, agencies usually pick you up from the hotel, from there there the journey to Chivay takes about 4 hours with some stops to buy coca sweets on a shop or to drink coca tea and take pictures of a cute Alpaca or wild Vicunas on the way there.
Vicuna, a wild relative of the Llama in the Reserve
When you arrive to Chivay there is a small tour around to see the very old traditional churches and then you will have lunch in a typical restaurant, this lunch is a complete meal with traditional food, there are a few vegetarian options or you can go to a nearby pizza place.
Hot springs warm this pool in Chivay in the Colca Canyon
After that you can rest for a little and then you will go to La Calera hotsprings where you can relax and have a swim in the nice warm water, then you return to your hotel to get change and then you will be taken to another restaurant for dinner and for a show with traditional music and dances where you can have a go at the dances too or enjoy a beer. Some people go to one of the small nightclubs after that but it’s better go to rest because the following day there is a 6 am start.
The next day you will go to Cruz del Condor Pointview where you can see the Colca Canyon and Condors flying around, there are good opportunities to take good pictures of Condors and you will see lots of tourists in there.
Me preparing to see the Condors in the Colca Canyon
Condors are one of the largest land birds in the world with a wingspan that can be more than 3 metres (9 feet)! They weigh between 11 to 15 kilos. In the Colca Canyon it is possible to see these birds soaring along the canyon on the warm air rising from its walls but you have to leave early with many tours. We travelled from the nearby town of Chivay arriving as the sun was just starting to get high enough to shine down into the canyon. Condors are big birds and cannot just jump into the air like a pigeon, they need to run into the current of warm air that is rising up from the canyon as the sun heats it, then they can glide around hardly ever flapping their wings.
Andean Condors fly in the air rising from the Colca Canyon
Condors are carnivorous birds, they are classified as vultures, so they are not hunting birds like eagles, their beaks are shaped for pulling meat apart but they do not have strong sharp toes like birds of prey. To attract them closer to the tourist parts of animals like cows heads are left out of the cliff edges near viewing platforms where everyone is waiting with their cameras.
A condor flies close to take a look at US!
One thing that images do not capture is how graceful these birds are, they glide around in circles rising on the warm air high above the canyon and then they can come rushing along the cliff edge with all the tourists chasing them with their cameras. If one flies over your head it is like a door flying over you with a big ‘wooosh’!
After that you will go for a walk, where you can see the interesting geography of the place, then you will probably go for lunch to a restaurant before travelling back back to Arequipa, arriving at about 5pm.
Tags: Colca Canyon, Tourism