May 19, 2006 - Visite du canyon de Colca

Après une agréable soirée à Arequipa, nous avons pris la route jeudi matin pour une visite de deux jours dans la vallée de Colca, pour y admirer de plus près les montagnes, et du Canyon Colca. Ce dernier est un des canyons les plus profonds au monde. Nous avons marché au bord de la falaise pour y admirer des condors qui y font leurs nids et qui y chassent. Arequipa est entourée de trois volcans, dont le Misti, qui est le plus visible de la ville. Nous sommes montés au plus haut point d'altitude, soit plus de 4,000 mètres pour les voir de...

Apr 8, 2006 - Le cañon de Colca

Depuis Arequipa, nous partons explorer le cañon de Colca. Nous nous basons au petit vllage de Cabanaconde, a une centaine de kilometres d'Arequipa environ : plus de 6 heures de bus sur une route en mauvais etats, avec plein d'arrets de partout... Nous pensions au depart faire un trek pour descendre au fond du cañon, mais apres avoir parle avec differentes agences et surtout apres avoir consulte la meteo, nous renoncons : a priori ca ne vaut las la peine de descendre tout au fond, surtout qu'ils prevoient un temps nuageux. Le premier jour,...

Dec 8, 2005 - Tour to the Colca Valley

Today's entertainment was the start of a two day tour to Colca Valley, with the main aim of visiting Colca Canyon and hopefully seeing the Andean Condor in the flesh. The very new Mercedes van picked me up at about 8.30am, and the tour group consisted of mainly very young Swedes and Norweigans, with a German or two thrown in for good luck. No Aussies! How unusual. We usually have a better representation than that. The tour took our group back up to the altiplano that I had descended from on my way from Puno to Arequipa, and behind the...

Oct 26, 2005 - Peru: Colca Canyon

We took a two day tour from Arequipa to the Colca Canyon. The main reason people take this trip is to see the flight of the Condors which are native to the canyon. We are told that the Colca Canyon has recently been measured and confirmed as the largest and deepest canyon in the world, I'll wait to see that confirmed in the national geographic though. The highlight of the trip was to see the Condors flying. The pictures don't really do them justice. They where enormous, one flew about 10 feet straight over our heads but I was too slow to...

Oct 14, 2005 - Colca Canyon

This was absolutely awesome and the landscape quite incredible and just what I thought Peru would be like (not so much like the dry, arid coastline that we drove down). Taking the bus to Chivay we stopped regularly to see llamas, alpaca, stone pillars to the Gods and a local market. The town of Chivay is set within the mountains and is spectacular. At the evening meal we were entertained by a local band who played for us and got a number of our group up dancing! An early rise the following morning meant we arrived at Colca Canyon in time to...

Oct 10, 2005 - Colca Canyon

Night in a "refuge" it said, it turned out to be a lodge, what a luxury! Spanish guides have come along from Arequipa to enlighten us on the Colca Canyon, the agriculture in Inca times and the flight of the condor that can be sighted early in the morning, if they have a mind to be sighted. Up early again and off by bus, the explanations turned out to be in Spanish and lost on most of the group. After a long route along the canyon, which is indeed very steep and deep, 3,400 metres it said, through unlit and unsigned oneway tunnels (one...

Oct 7, 2005 - Der Colca-Canyon / le Canyon de Colca

Nach der Stadt und den ganzen Touristen die Flucht ins "Gruene", wir sind fuer 2 Tage in den Canyon von Colca gefahren, um dort einen kleinen 2-Tage-Trek zu machen. Immerhin im zweittiefsten Canyon der Welt! Einige Stunden Busfahrt auf Staub- und Holperpisten, schon waren wir in Cabanaconde, dem Startpunkt unseres Treks. Am 1 Tag ging's dann ueber 1000 Hoehenmeter bergab, auf den Grund des Canyons, ein Abstieg, der irgendwie kein Ende nehmen wollte. Danach wieder 400 Hoehenmeter bergauf, nach Tapay, ein kleines Bergdoerfchen ohne Strom und...

Sep 10, 2005 - On on to the Colca Canyon!

Hi Everybody! Today was the day to head out to the Colca Canyon. This canyon is the second deepest in the world at around 3000 metres deep. It is only surpassed by another canyon here in Peru. Unfortunately I was having a moment and I cannot remeber that canyons name (where is a Guinness Book of Records when you need it!). The trip to the canyon involved a couple of things a) Going to the highest point of the trip @ 4800 metres above sea level, and b) going on the roughest road known to mankind! The first of these was a bit of fun, you go...

Sep 1, 2005 - Colca Canyon - Condor Watching

We reluctantly left Cusco and took the bus to Arequipa in southern Peru, a good staging post for venturing to the Colca Canyon. Arequipa is almost entirely constructed from a unique white stone called sillar. There's plenty of the stone on-hand, and there needs to be, the town regularly has to rebuild itself after earthquakes. The three 6000m volcanoes that surround the town make for a pretty impressive backdrop. There are two canyons in the Peruvian desert that make the Grand Canyon look like a small divet. Colca is the lesser of the two...

Aug 20, 2005 - Colca Canyon Day 1

It was a very hot day and after lunch in a touristic restaurant and then decented to the Colca River which was a long decent and walking with very slow people was slightly frustrating! Our accommodation was described before we left as 'rustic' however, was warm and welcoming.

Aug 16, 2005 - Colca-canyon

Arequipaban egyebkent eppen fiesta volt, a varos alapitasanak evforduloja, es ennek alkalmabol zenes-tancos karneval volt a varos egesz teruleten, elkepeszto felvonulas, rengeteg ember tancolt. Masnap indultunk a Colca-canyonba. Nemi gondolkodas utan letettunk az eredetileg lefoglalt haromnapos, turazast is tartalmazo haromnapos utrol, es helyette ketnaposat valasztottunk, es milyen jo, mert nem is volt mar hely a haromnaposon. (Egyebekben az emailes foglalasok eddig bejottek.) A ketnapos is boven soknak bizonyult, mert Gy.-t elovette a...

Jul 27, 2005 - Colca Canyon - Kondorbesichtigung

Hallo ihr im Kaeseland Hier soll mal etwas gesagt sein: Wir vermissen den Schweizer Kaese! Ihr habt es wirklich schoen in der Schweiz. Wisst ihr das??? Naja, dafuer habt ihr keine Empanadas, Salteñas, Rellenos, Pique Machos und wie all die Leckereien hier heissen. Aetsch! Lassen wir das Essen.... Nach der Besteigung des Machu Picchu kam die naechste Herausforderung: Der tiefste Canyon der Welt. Der Colca hat eine Tiefe von 2'000 m (der Grand Canyon ist nur 1'400 m tief, paah!) und ist wirklich beeindruckend. Vor allem die vielen...