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Colca Canyon
 
The Colca
Canyon is a canyon of the Colca
River in southern Peru. It is located about a hundred miles northwest of Arequipa. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand
Canyon in the US at
some thirteen thousand, four hundred and seventy one feet above sea level
(quick - suck the Coca sweets). However, the canyon's walls are not as vertical
as those of the Grand Canyon, but they are major features of the landscape. The
Colca
Valley is a colourful Andean valley with towns founded in Spanish Colonial times and formerly
inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue
to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces.
Geography: The Colca River starts high in the Andes at Condorama Crucero Alto and changes its name to Majes, and then to
Camana before reaching the Pacific
Ocean. Parts of the canyon are habitable, and Inca and pre-Inca terraces
are still cultivated along the less precipitous canyon walls. The small town of
Chivay is on the upper Colca River, where the canyon is not so deep but
where many terraces are present in the canyon and continue for many kilometers
downstream. As the canyon deepens downriver, a series of small villages are
spread out over approximately thirty five miles between Chivay and the
village of Cabanaconde. The canyon reaches its greatest depth and, in contrast,
about fifteen miles to the southeast rises the twenty thousand, six hundred and
thirty foot Nevado Ampato, a snow-capped extinct volcano. The valley lies in the
Callalli and Huambo districts of the Caylloma
Province.
These are the houses seen in the photograph above (high
centre).
Attractions: The canyon is home to the Andean
Condor (Vultur gryphus – own blog
- and such a WOW), a species that has seen worldwide effort to preserve
it. The condors can be seen at fairly close range as they fly through the
canyon and are an increasingly popular attraction.
'Cruz del Condor' is a popular tourist
viewing stop, the pass where condors soar gracefully on the rising thermals
occurring as the air warms. The condors are best seen in the early morning and
late afternoon when they are hunting. At this point the canyon floor is
three thousand, nine hundred and sixty feet below the rim of the
canyon. The La Calera natural hot springs are located at Chivay, the biggest
town in the Colca Canyon.
 
Name: The name Colca
refers to small holes in the cliffs in the valley and canyon. These holes were
used in Inca and pre-Inca times to store food, such as potatoes and other Andean
crops. They were also used as tombs for important people.
It seems so hard to believe hummingbirds can live up here -
but here is the Giant of them all
History: The Spanish laid out towns along the canyon and built churches there,
but the towns did not thrive and have faded out of memory. In the 1980’s, the
Majes Hydroelectric Project built roads and opened the area to outsiders. Access
today is usually through Arequipa.
ALL IN ALL A DREAM COME TRUE TO BE
HERE
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