Colca Canyon in the clouds

Bright and early, we set off on a two-day excursion into the mountains.  Located about 100 miles from Arequipa, Colca Canyon is one of the deepest in the world, about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon!  The Cotahuasi Canyon nearby is said to be the deepest in the world, and is only a little deeper.

Alpaca, vicuña, guanaco, oh my!

Climbing ever higher, we saw a number of cute and fluffy vicuña and guanaco, wild relatives of the alpaca and llama, in the Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve.  This extensive, protected area was created to protect the flora and fauna of the region, and contains several volcanoes, including the well-known Misti and Chachani. The views in and around the natural reserve were lovely. A little further up, we saw more alpacas and llamas, and learned to distinguish between them. The vicuña are much more rare, and they have the finest fleece apart from the similar, but even more endangered and larger, guanaco, which we had also seen in Chile.  Apparently, these four camelids originally fled from North America with the ice age.  We saw lots of llamas still being used as pack animals, as they can walk further than donkeys and mules. The only drawback is that they can´t carry as much of a load. Since it was baby season, we also saw lots of newborn and very young llamas and alpacas everywhere. Awwwww!!

Coca leaves help at high-altitude.

It was too cloudy at the highest point, Patapampa, to see the volcanoes that are normally visible, but we could definitely feel the altitude at about 4900 meters (about 16,000 feet).  We drank coca tea along the way to help acclimatize. Chewing coca leaves has traditionally been used as a strategy to combat fatigue (and hunger) and help with the effects of altitude sickness and digestive issues.It provides a mild, stimulatory effect, and really did seem to make a difference with Donny’s nausea.

The landscape here was typical high-altitude: volcanic, rocky and treeless.  It was snowing lightly, and there were hundreds of cairns (stone prayer stacks).  The tradition of placing these prayers in this location is that it is much closer to the sun, a deity worshiped here long ago.

Next stop: Chivay

Chivay is the largest community in the Colca Valley.  We had a great lunch and sampled a wide variety of local food, including alpaca (2nd only to ostrich in being low-cholesterol), guinea pig (cuy), a spicy red pepper stuffed with stewed alpaca meat (rocoto relleno), quinoa, sweet potato, lots of veggies and soups.  In nearby Calera, we had the chance to relax in the famous hot springs.  Donny showered off before finding out we were going to another pool, and almost froze before getting to the new location. The water was not as hot as the Japanese cousins in our group would have liked, but hot enough to get fully relaxed and warmed up on a chilly, drizzly day. The pools are also full of healing minerals from the mountains.

Terraced Hillside, Colca Canyon

In the evening, we broke off from the group and hung around in the Plaza de Armas (main square). In Chivay it was carnival, a celebration linked to fertility rites and a time for people to look for a partner.  Long days of hard work, and communities that often lie great distances apart mean less opportunity for social interaction and recreation.  The carnival tradition called yunza, includes cutting down a eucalyptus tree, decorating it with balloons, candies and clothing items, and erecting it in the middle of the street that surrounds the square.  Long into the night bands play instruments from brass to pre-Incan flutes near each of the eight or so trees.  Groups of mostly women dance and sing around the trees.  Pairs are formed, and later the trees are cut down again, symbolizing the wish that another should grow in its place.  The couple that delivers the hatchet blow that finally knocks down the tree are officially joined, and help in the organization of the yunza the next year.  The women and girls we saw were all dressed in ornately embroidered long skirts and layered tops and jackets.  They all wore white hats with shiny decorations.  Some of the participants had woven ribbons thrown around their necks, or danced with a plastic washtub slung over their shoulder.  We have´t figured out the meanings of those yet, but conjecture that maybe it symbolizes that the woman is talented with household chores?!?

Local Villages with Long Histories

In the morning we visited a number of small villages.  In Maca, our guide pointed out the difference in dress between the women here and those we had seen in Chivay.  Two main groups have long needed a way to distinguish themselves.  Long ago, the Coyagua and Cabana people practiced cranial deformation, wrapping the heads of their infants and creating either an elongated, tall skull, or a wide one.  These two shapes explained which mountain each group had come from, as one was tall and conical, while the other was wider.  This tradition continued during the Inca times, because the Inca respected local traditions, but when the Spanish arrived, the practice was outlawed.  These days, the descendants of these groups distinguish themselves with different hats and clothing, although they now speak the same language, Quechua.

Condor’s Cross

Further down the canyon, at the Cruz del Condor (Condor’s Cross), we were lucky enough to see five Andean condors cruise around on warm air thermals rising from the canyon.  Two were juveniles, dark brown and a bit smaller than the darker adults, with white markings on the tops of the wings and around their necks.  The condors rarely flap their wings.  Instead, they just seem to coast, carried along on currents of air.  They are not predators, eating only dead animals.  If they get extremely hungry though, they have been known to push an animal toward a cliff and scare him off it, making a well-earned meal. Kind of cheating, but efficient!

On the ride back toward Chivay, we learned that eighty percent of the mountain terraces that still provide agricultural means for people today were carved out by pre-Inca cultures.  We saw one large stone facing the opposite hills that mapped out the plan and organization of the terraces for that whole area. We also made a stop at Toro Muerto cemetery, burial place for the Wari (an Andean civilization established between abt 550-900 AD).  They buried their dead in a fetal position, and this cemetery is built into an almost vertical cliff face!  It´s hard to imagine how they got there, but the advantage of the tombs’ inaccessibility is that they haven´t been ransacked like so many other historical treasures of Peru.

Colca Valley Photos