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Yesterday we started our 2 day trip to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in South America and the 3rd deepest in the world. I believe the world's 2 deepest canyons are in China. They say Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, though you wouldn't really know just by looking at it. When we signed up for Peru Hop, the group we've been traveling with for the past week, we signed up for the all inclusive package because there were many tours included in the price, Colca Canyon being one of them. Everything we had read online suggested that the trip to the canyon was a trek, so we were excited to do some hiking. Unfortunately we found out right before leaving that we were actually signed up for a van tour, lame. We have now learned our lesson with these package deals like Peru Hop, they are not all they are cracked up to be. All disappointments aside though, we actually had a really great time. We had a van full of people from our bus so we already knew everyone and the people we went with were great. Our group consisted of the 5 Irish guys we met on our first night with the group, 2 friendly Canadian girls, a fun guy from England, a very outgoing girl from Holland, a nice couple from the states (also the Bay Area), a girl from San Diego and her Australian boyfriend, and a cool older guy from Germany. It was a good group of people.
We left from Arequipa at 8 in the morning and on the way we drove through a national park, el Parque Nacional de Salinas Aguada Blanca. There we were introduced to our first wild animals of Peru (not counting all the stray dogs), the vicuñas. There are 10,000 of these animals in the park, which are close relatives of the llama and al paca. After seeing all the vicuñas, we continued on to a little pit stop farther up the road where we saw tons of sheep mixed with different al paca species. There are 3 species of al pacas total in Peru and 2 species of llamas, and we got to see them all. One can tell the difference between them because al pacas are much smaller than llamas and have smaller ears. Also at this rest stop were Quechua women selling their handmade sweaters, hats, gloves and other goods made from different types of llama and al paca wool. It was so awesome to see the way these Andean women were dressed and actually be able to interact with them, because when you see pictures of Peru it is mostly these people that are represented.
We continued along the road and kept going higher and higher into the Andes mountains. At this point our guide taught us the proper way to chew coca leaves, which the locals use to combat altitude sickness, and also for energy and other medicinal purposes. Each bag of coca leaves comes with a little stone that is very sweet, I think made from stevia or something. What you do is take a bundle of about 8 to 10 leaves and roll them up with a small piece of the stone inside. This stone is used for better absorption of the coca properties and it also helps sweeten up the very bitter and somewhat unpleasant taste of the leaves. You then place this little bundle in the side of your mouth and chew continuously for 30 minutes, then spit it out (or swallow it like the locals do), wait 20 minutes and repeat the process over again. It feels a bit weird at first because there is a strange anesthetic effect, so half of my mouth went numb, but the feeling quickly faded. By the time we reached our highest point of the drive, a dizzying 4,910 meters (over 16,000 feet), I was feeling great and had no trace of altitude sickness. The highest altitude I've ever been to before this was just under 12,000 feet so I was excited to be feeling just fine. At this highest point we had a wonderful view of the many volcanoes that surround the Colca Canyon and Colca Valley. At least one of them is still active and we could see smoke rising from it, it was pretty cool.
We reached the small town of Chivay for lunch at midday where we enjoyed a delicious Peruvian buffet. There were rice and lentil dishes, lots of potato dishes, these yummy little balls of fried dough with banana inside and lots of meat. They had al paca meat there so of course we had to be adventurous travelers and try a little bit. For all you carnivores out there I'm sorry I can't give a more accurate description of the taste, because for me it just tasted like meat. It was fatty and...meaty. But now I can say that I tried al paca, and once we get our hands on some, guinea pig is next. Chivay is the capital of the entire province; it's the biggest town in the valley with 7,000 people. It's also the only local place to find hostels and restaurants catering to tourists. Most of the other towns in the province are pretty isolated and are centered around agriculture, not tourism.
After lunch we took an hour or so walk to some hot springs, 38 degree Celsius thermal baths. They were so relaxing and the pools were right next to the beautiful Colca river. When the baths got too hot we just jumped in the freezing river to cool off and then came back to the nice heat, it was fantastic. On the walk to the springs we were treated to breathtaking views of Colca Valley and the 25,000 terraces that the Inca people and the preexisting indigenous tribes carved into the mountains for agricultural purposes. Our guide mentioned at least 3 pre Incan tribes and I wish I could remember the names of them, but alas I cannot. It is important to note though that there were people who predated the Incan culture, as the Inca are usually the most recognized indigenous Peruvian group. These older tribes made terraces high in the mountains and used glacial melt for irrigation. When the Inca came and colonized this area they mixed with the local tribes and made their terraces closer to the river on the valley floor. Our guide pointed out the differences in the terracing technique; while the older groups just made straight lines across the mountains, the Inca made their terraces in different shapes, which hopefully is apparent in some of the pictures I will post. She also showed us the many quolcas (spelling was later changed to Colca) along the river, which are basically food storage nooks carved into the rock. This is how the Colca canyon, valley, and river all got their name.
After our dip in the hot springs we went back to Chivay for dinner at a pizza place. Who knew there would be so many pizza parlors in Peru? The food was quite good though, and we were treated to music from a local band and some traditional Peruvian dancing. I never knew what Peruvian music sounded like before but I really liked it. The band consisted of a guy on a big drum, a guitar player, a guy playing a ukulele-type instrument, and a singer who also played what looked like a wooden clarinet. I thought they were great. The dancers came out and performed some traditional dances for us, each with their own message. One was about the annual harvest, and one strange dance involving an orange seemed to be about forbidden love or something. It was cool because the dancers involved the audience, so they would choose people from the surrounding tables to come and dance with them. Lauren was chosen for the forbidden fruit dance, the best part being that she had to lie on the ground while the guy proceeded to whip her. Really he was hitting the ground, but one of the other guys from our group was also chosen for the same dance and the woman did in fact whip him. He said he had bruises the next day, which all of us cruel people found hilarious.
After dinner we passed out because we had to be up at 5:30 the next morning for breakfast and the beginning of our second day on the tour.
After we ate they drove us out to 2 of the smaller towns around Chivay, Yunque and Maca, where we got to see some more traditional dancing and enjoy the bustling morning markets. In both towns there were women everywhere selling their handmade goods. We saw the women spinning their al paca yarn that they weave into sweaters and hats and socks and gloves and scarves, I want one of everything! It was cool to have absolute affirmation that everything is in fact handmade. I finally found an al paca wool sweater that fit me well and bought it for only 35 soles ($15 more or less). Not only is the sweater super awesome and cheap, but it's nice to support the local economy. These people work really hard and probably depend a lot on the tour groups that come through to buy their wares. The way these women were dressed was really cool. Traditional wear consists of heavy colored skirts (it's very cold in the mountains), wool ponchos and sometimes sweaters and leggings. They also wear brightly colored embroidered hats with a brim to protect them from the sun. They are really big on embroidery; many products were beautifully embroidered and used for decoration. At all the markets in all the towns we visited there were women with their pet al pacas and they let people take pictures with them for a little bit of money. Obviously I had to get some pictures, these animals were so cute. Along with al pacas, there were women with big beautiful eagles in Maca that you could hold and get photos with. One of the guys from our van held one and he was so excited about it. Lauren says they are harpy eagles and I have no idea, so I'll just go with that.
After visiting these towns, we drove out to the Condor lookout spot where we hoped to see some Andean condors. As we were driving we saw many of the locals walking down the road going about their daily lives. The native people have cool fabric slings that they use like backpacks, in which they can carry anything from babies to personal goods to produce. We saw one guy lugging a giant bundle of maiz that seemed bigger than he was. I am in love with the local maiz that they make into a snack, called maiz chulpi. It's light and dry and crunchy and airy and delicious, kinda like their version of popcorn but not really. I'm not sure how they make it, I think it's just dried kernels but maybe they bake it. Regardless it is so good and my favorite Peruvian snack so far. Along the drive we also saw tons of animals grazing, including cows (not sure what species but definitely different than our American cow), mules, al pacas, a few pigs, horses, sheep and dogs. Everywhere you go in Peru there are tons and tons of dogs, mostly strays. Many of these animals had young, so we got to see lots of adorable baby sheep, cows and al pacas. I'm not quite sure why their were so many baby animals in the dead of winter, as it seems like the wrong season for it, but there they were.
We arrived at the Condor lookout place after about an hour drive through the mountains and saw so many Andean condors, it was freaking awesome. I had never seen a condor before despite visiting Pinnacles National Park and Big Sur many times, the 2 places I know of where one can see the California Condor. I thought we'd be lucky if we saw one, but there they were in full force, at least 7 or 8 of them riding the air currents coming up from the geothermal vents in the valley floor and seeking carrion (dead animals, it's what they eat). The juvenile Andean condors are all brown and the adults have white on the top of their wings and a white stripe on their neck. They are such beautiful and majestic birds, and much larger than the common turkey vulture we have all over California. The wing span of these condors is something like 3 meters (almost 10 feet), they are amazing creatures.
We also saw what had to be a giant hummingbird (species name Patagona gigas) because it was huge for a hummingbird. It was about the size of a European starling or a small jay, which is gargantuan for a hummingbird. In fact, if Lauren didn't point out to me that it was hovering (hummingbirds are the only birds that can do so) then I would've totally written it off as just another bird. The giant hummingbird is dull in color compared to most hummingbirds, but it was so awesome to see one. They dwell in the Andes from Columbia all the way down to Chile, so hopefully we will get to see more.
After enjoying our bird friends for awhile we headed back to Chivay for lunch. On the way we got a spectacular view of the Colca Canyon, though the deepest part and thus most famous part of the canyon was further down the valley in a place we did not visit. It was still a pretty amazing view though. Like at every viewpoint we'd stopped at, there were yet more local women selling their products. These women were also selling cactus ice cream and 2 types of local fruits, so of course I had to try them. The ice cream was absolutely delicious, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. One of the fruits, which I forgot the name of, was very very sour, kind of like an extremely sour kiwi. The other, smaller fruit was called tuna (not sure if that's the correct spelling) and was sweeter and tasted a lot like melon. For lunch we had another Peruvian buffet, but it was not quite as good as the first one. At least they had a live band for us so we were able to enjoy some music. After lunch we started the 4 hour drive back to Arequipa. The drive back was long and uneventful, and we were all grateful for the ride to end. We had been on such long bus and van rides for the past week so it was nice to get back to the hostel and walk around the city for a bit. Lauren and I are meeting up with the Irishmen tonight at a hostel where our fellow bus mates are staying for some drinks, it should be fun! Until next time my fellow travelers...
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