colca canyon (peru)

hat festival on the various local buses

chivay barbed wire with flare ............................. local outdoor equipment

weekly supplies from the city ......................................... afternoon chat in chivay main square

caldo blanco (traditional soup)..................................cabanaconde terrace

canyon cactus ............................................. healthy, out of breath hikers in the canyon

oasis paradiso, at the foot of the canyon ...............................posing pet alpaca

the end of the trek at last! ...................................................interesting scene in cabanaconde church

where´s wally? ....................................... bus stop nap

the only condor spotted .................... the ¨vallee del fuego¨garden

pepina-papaya (cucumber-pawpaw) fruit

as you may have guessed it, we are not too fond of crowds and instead of taking a typical tour offered by the hundreds of agencies, we went solos to the colca canyon.

the trip there was enjoyable as we stopped off, after approx 4 hours, in the town of chivay for a few hours. even though it was just under 4000m, the effects of the altitude were evident. the town was nestled in a valley, with a monsterous cross cut in the valley and alpaca´s in the town square with their owner´s in traditional dress (i soon started to become intrigued by their woven hats).

then came the second leg to cabanaconde, which is the last village served by a bus service. it became quite clear about 15 minutes before the bus arrived that we were not the only ones heading in that direction as a queue started in the middle of the bus parking lot.

picture this: an enromous cross on a nearby greener-than-green hill, a dusty parking lot with a row of about 4 families and 6 loners reading the paper, eating etc. then towards the back of the queue, the tourists. clearly not accustomed to such tactics on getting a good spot, or a seat at all!

so the seat situation was not the best as there were many free seats but all with either a bag or a (beautiful) hat preventing us from sitting. now i understand what all the fuss was about (i think that they may be worse than the mexicans getting on the bus or metro)!!

anyway, after much stopping and starting, the quantity of people seemed to diminish as we reached the terminus...thankfully. did i mention that the windows could not open and that does not mean that there was aircon. not at all!!

cabanaconde is probably half the size of chivay and has a lovely, quaint feeling. we stayed in the BEST hostal called ¨vallee del fuego¨owned by the famous pablo. the rooms overlook the crop fields and the canyon and have a little garden that absorbs the sunlight during the day. the restaurant is constucted all out of stone and has a wonderfully warm indoor fire. there are candles on the tables and pablo´s brother mixes some good tunes whilst one eats and drinks merrily. as you may sense, i enjoyed this place immensly -

the reason for our visit to this part of the woods was 1) thanks so sarah who spends about three months in this continent every year and 2) to do a hike to the oasis paradiso.

the hike was not a conventional one; it started downhill, for about 1 1/2hrs, and ended uphill, approx 3hrs. thank goodness, there was a refreshing swimming pool waiting for us at the bottom and the thin, cool air at the top. i didn´t realise the impact a change of a few thousand metres would have. at one stage, it was just (just!) the lack of breath that made me stop.

although it was a mighty strenuous hike, it was well worth it. the views were breath taking and the satisfaction of reaching the top of such a mountain made it.

one thing must be said, that churches in the two villages that we visited were beautiful. they were brightly painted with a little less kitchness than usual.

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Notre petite escapade au cañon de colca nous a permis de nous échapper dans la campagne aréquipénienne. Pas moins de 6 de bus local surchargé ,qui s´arrête toutes les 5 minutes pour récupérer un ou deux campesinos avec la récolte de leur champs (soit deux sacs chacun de 10 kg), pour rejoindre le village de Cabanacondé. Sur la route les paysages sont magnifiques. Les plaines désertiques peuplées de lamas et d´alpacas laissent peu à peu palce au cañon avec ses cultures en terrasse: patates, mais, piments, haricots, puis les fruits dans la vallée.

Enfin, cette escapade nous a permis d´observer quelques beaux habits traditionnels de la région parmi lesquels le chapeau melon et la robe traditionnel.

La cañon est célèbre notament pour ses condors. Une randonnée nous permet de descendre au fond du cañon et de profiter de la piscine de l´auberge ou l´on réside avant d´entamer la difficile remonter vers le village (1000 m de dénivelé a 4000 m d´altitude). C´est notre première expérience avec l´altitude et on a pas trop eu de problème même s´il est vrai que le souffle manque un peu parfois.

Enfin, j´ai eu l´occasion de prendre qq menus de jour à base de caldo blanco (soupe de poulet avec des pates) et steak d´alapaca en sauce (pas mauvais du tout), le tout accompagné de mate de coca.