Day 172 - Colca, Peru

COLCA CANYON (22/06/09)

Early in the morning we visited Colca Canyon which has the distiction of being the second highest canyon in the world and is over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit it at it´s deepest point, we were visiting to try and spot endangered Andean Condors. We were heading for a spot known as Condor Lookout although neither of us were particularly optimistic as these places tend to be rather inaccurately named. However...

Almost immediatly we spotted a Condor and soon realised that there were at least five or six swooping over the canyon. This is an adult, recognised by it´s black and white plumage.

A brown feathered juvenile.

As we stood and watched the magnificent birds started getting closer and closer until they were gliding right over our heads. It is only when they got this close that we began to appreciate their enormous size. An adult male can weigh up to 15kg (33lb) and have an incredible 3.1m (10ft) wingspan.

The birds appeared to be very aware of us and rather disconcertingly stared at us all the time, even turning their heads as they flew past.

It was hard to tear ourselves away after about an hour and a half of watching, we kept waiting for just one more breathtaking flyover. It was a truely fantastic morning, made even better by the fact that we had not expected to even spot one condor in the far distance.

Heading back to Arequipa we took a quick break in a small village with this extremely South American looking church.

Near the church was an old lady selling the juiced fruit of a particular species of cactii known locally as Tuna. Here´s Liz enjoying a refreshing glass of Tuna juice, it tastes like very sharp, sour kiwi fruit.

Unexpectedly at the roadside at just under 5000m altitude we came across this amazing frozen waterfall.

The ice had a fascinating apperance, more reminiscent of calcite deposits in caves than of frozen water. Unfortunately we did not spend long as we had a long drive back to Arequipa before an early flight to Cusco the next morning.