Wednesday, January 03, 2007
27-28 December Canyon de Colca
Two days commited in the hope of finding Condors gliding the thermal winds of this isolated canyon.
Left Arequipa to travel across some very wind-swept mountain sides. This is the heart of the southern Peruvian Andes. The mountains rise up to 6500m (the glacier I visited in the Cordillia Blanca was 5600m and the highest mountain there is about 7000m). We travelled above the tree line and met desert ice country. Barron, windswept plains. It snowed in the passes on the way in and back out. We actually got out at 4800m just to say we had and it was bloody cold. What the alpaccas, llamas and vicuñas eat up here is beyond me. Although there are wetlands up here too - more like peat bogs - where the animals seem to congregate. Vicuñas are the one of the two wild species in the llama family and their wool is incredibly expensive. A scarf costs around $700US.
Took most of the day to get to Chivay our overnight stop. It was raining quite heaviy on arrival and it was COLD but we decided as a group not to forgo our hike up above the village as it was a chance to warm up (and the village had nowhere to hide in the warm anyway). So we headed off ponchos, hats and hoods on. Up behind the town there were a few badly robed graves but some good outlooks over the farming community. Again, there is an incredible amount of pre-Inca terracing. This region is particularly productive as the river provides water and the microclimate makes it warmer than the surrounding countryside. When we got down the hillside, there was a very welcoming hot spring to soak in. My poor frozen fingers and toes thawed out in the mineral spring and I just didn't think about how cloudy and grey the water was...
The ladies here embroider beautiful blouses and hats. I was very taken with the hats but they are all machine embroidered now and when I discovered they are manufactured in Arequipa and brought in for sale I lost interest.
We had another local dance night tonight. What a lot of fun - and a great way to keep warm. Each of the small regions has their own suite of dances and music. My new trail buddies (ladies from Greece and Holland) and I laughed so much when the local lady kept picking on the young Japanese tourist to dance with. We decided she rather liked that he was taller and cleaner than any of the local men...
Very early start on day 2, to make sure we're at the canyon before the air warms up and the Condors start riding the thermals. Walked about 1km to the head of the canyon. But not a condor in sight. Waited and waited but none appeared. And then, just as we had given up and got in the bus, there was one...He cruised with such effortless grace along the canyon, 1000's of metres deep...but right at our eye level as we stood mesmorised at the top of the canyon wall. A wing span of 3.25m, he's a member of the vulture family so only eats carrion, deep chocolate brown with cream wing markings. This guy was young and alone. We did see a few more specs up high in the sky but today only one graced us with his powerful presence. It seems they mate for life, only breed after reaching 7yo and have only one chick each 3 years. They can live to be 75yo in captivity but they don't know if they last that long in the wild.
What fun to fly. No wonder man has dreamed of flying...but nothing we have invented matches the grace and pure power of a large bird's flight. And he was having FUN!...Swinging along the canyon wall. Tumbling up high and then soaring and dipping down 10's of metres in seconds and then next time taking his time to glide down and show off his feathery finery to we mere mortals.
Two days commited in the hope of finding Condors gliding the thermal winds of this isolated canyon.
Left Arequipa to travel across some very wind-swept mountain sides. This is the heart of the southern Peruvian Andes. The mountains rise up to 6500m (the glacier I visited in the Cordillia Blanca was 5600m and the highest mountain there is about 7000m). We travelled above the tree line and met desert ice country. Barron, windswept plains. It snowed in the passes on the way in and back out. We actually got out at 4800m just to say we had and it was bloody cold. What the alpaccas, llamas and vicuñas eat up here is beyond me. Although there are wetlands up here too - more like peat bogs - where the animals seem to congregate. Vicuñas are the one of the two wild species in the llama family and their wool is incredibly expensive. A scarf costs around $700US.
Took most of the day to get to Chivay our overnight stop. It was raining quite heaviy on arrival and it was COLD but we decided as a group not to forgo our hike up above the village as it was a chance to warm up (and the village had nowhere to hide in the warm anyway). So we headed off ponchos, hats and hoods on. Up behind the town there were a few badly robed graves but some good outlooks over the farming community. Again, there is an incredible amount of pre-Inca terracing. This region is particularly productive as the river provides water and the microclimate makes it warmer than the surrounding countryside. When we got down the hillside, there was a very welcoming hot spring to soak in. My poor frozen fingers and toes thawed out in the mineral spring and I just didn't think about how cloudy and grey the water was...
The ladies here embroider beautiful blouses and hats. I was very taken with the hats but they are all machine embroidered now and when I discovered they are manufactured in Arequipa and brought in for sale I lost interest.
We had another local dance night tonight. What a lot of fun - and a great way to keep warm. Each of the small regions has their own suite of dances and music. My new trail buddies (ladies from Greece and Holland) and I laughed so much when the local lady kept picking on the young Japanese tourist to dance with. We decided she rather liked that he was taller and cleaner than any of the local men...
Very early start on day 2, to make sure we're at the canyon before the air warms up and the Condors start riding the thermals. Walked about 1km to the head of the canyon. But not a condor in sight. Waited and waited but none appeared. And then, just as we had given up and got in the bus, there was one...He cruised with such effortless grace along the canyon, 1000's of metres deep...but right at our eye level as we stood mesmorised at the top of the canyon wall. A wing span of 3.25m, he's a member of the vulture family so only eats carrion, deep chocolate brown with cream wing markings. This guy was young and alone. We did see a few more specs up high in the sky but today only one graced us with his powerful presence. It seems they mate for life, only breed after reaching 7yo and have only one chick each 3 years. They can live to be 75yo in captivity but they don't know if they last that long in the wild.
What fun to fly. No wonder man has dreamed of flying...but nothing we have invented matches the grace and pure power of a large bird's flight. And he was having FUN!...Swinging along the canyon wall. Tumbling up high and then soaring and dipping down 10's of metres in seconds and then next time taking his time to glide down and show off his feathery finery to we mere mortals.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 1:18 PM 
