We left Cusco after a fantastic week and with a lot of luck regarding the weather. To the point that our last day in Cusco was of course sunny again, we then took a taxi to the bus terminal and it started pouring down when we entered the bus. Fine with us, well kind of – as we started to see the thunderstorm getting closer and closer, we hoped we would have a safe overnight journey to Arequipa.
Still writing this blog, so all good. The bus trip to Arequipa was the worst one we had so far though. And that is despite forking out some extra Soles for the luxury Cama class… The seats and the bus were actually quite nice but it was sooo hot in the bus that most of us had a pretty crappy night. The route wasn’t the best either. Very curvy so that the bus driver had to drive very slow sometimes. We all arrived tired in Arequipa the next morning.
We were an hour or so late but our driver for the next three days, Walter, was waiting with a big smile picking us grumpy and tired people up from the bus. We decided against renting our own car after seeing the driving but also reading some other blogs etc. – looks like Peru is the worst country in all of South America for driving…?!
As I was very tired after the long bus trip, I was very happy that Walter was driving our nice big 12 seater rather than me! On top of that, he was a good, calm driver as well. Especially after we told him that our kids get car sick if he would go too fast. It was his own van after all. Seems counter-intuitive to drive all the way to Arequipa and then a couple of hours the way back to then turn into the Colca Valley, but this was the best connection we could find.
Anyway, we all had a bit of a snooze on the way but the fantastic scenery and landscapes kept us awake for most of the way. We saw our first Vicunas on the way, very similar to Lamas and Alpacas, plus another few new birds we haven’t seen before. The pass we drove up is 4910 metres at the top. After our altitude sickness incident in Cusco, we were certainly wary (especially as Walter told us to walk slowly and take it really easy…) but all was good and we had a quick stop and then headed down to Chivay for lunch.
And then it was time for my first Alpaca steak. In Cusco you can eat Alpaca and guinea pig in pretty much every restaurant but we never got around to it. Well, guinea pig was off the menu for all of us, no way – but Alpaca…? We found a nice restaurant and their main dish was steak cooked on a lava stone. Hard to say no, and sorry but Alpaca is very nice! So nice, I had another steak on the way back a few days later… Not a thing back home in NZ yet but might be an opportunity?
After lunch we still had about an hour to go to our final destination of Cabanaconde in the Colca Canyon. But before that, we stopped at the thermal baths (La Calera) in Chivay. This was a very good idea of Walter who must have pitied us being tired etc. (or smelly?) and we spend a good hour making our way from “cold” hot pool #1 to actually quite hot #5. On top of that, there were hummingbirds zooming around the hot pools, and as said before – there is no bad day when you see a hummingbird. More of that later.
Making our way through the Colca Valley, we then headed in to the Colca Canyon. The difference being that the valley is wide with a lot of agriculture down near the Colca river, and the Canyon then being so narrow and steep that only the river is at the bottom. An impressive sight when you look down this very deep Canyon the first time. To give you and idea, it is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and the second deepest canyon on Earth (the deepest one being just over the next mountain but also being very inaccessible). Don’t think the pictures do it any justice, this thing is deeep!
Most people come here for two things, seeing the Andean Condor (the largest bird on Earth in terms of combined wingspan and weight. The Royal Albatross from good old Dunners actually has a wider wingspan) and for hiking (usually for multiple days). We wanted to do some hikes but only for a few hours, so our main reason was seeing the Condors. We were lucky that we have seen Condors twice before now, once in Bariloche, Argentina and once in Salento, Columbia. Gesa hasn’t seen a Condor before, so we had all eyes peering into the skies to spot our first one.
The main spot to see them is called Mirador Cruz del Condor. The name says it all, the Condor is breeding and sleeping down in the Canyon and is then making its way up once the sun is out and the thermal winds start to pick up. Then they fly pretty much right past you at this and a few other viewpoints dotted across the top of the Canyon. In the evening they come back and soar past you down again. We arrived at Cruz del Condor late in the afternoon and were told by Walter that it was probably too late – but only a few minutes later he spotted the first one far in the distance though. With this monkey of our backs finding Gesa a Condor, we headed to Cabanaconde to check into our first real backpacker.
We had two rooms with shared bathrooms, I thought it was actually pretty good but the other half didn’t like the place one bit. But hey, it was cheap and breakfast was included. The host was a bit odd to be fair but later we learned that he is just going through some challenging times. A nice pizza later in the place where every tourist seems to converge on – and it was time for bed.
I think we all had a very good and long sleep after the bus trip the night before but Walter was picking us up at 7am, so we had to get up early for breakfast. And it was a cracker of a day! No clouds, blue skies – we couldn’t believe our luck, having perfect Condor viewing conditions. Reminder, it is rainy season down here and our host mentioned that it had rained for the previous two weeks…
We crossed our fingers and toes (and some legs, arms, eyes and tongues apparently) that we see a Condor cruising past us. We headed back to Cruz del Condor and teamed up with quite a few other tourists to see who spots the first Condor. For the first hour, pretty much nothing. This was not bad or boring though as a few hummingbirds and other new birds kept us entertained. This was next to the spectacular views down and along the Colca Canyon of course.
One other guide spotted the first Condor way down in the Canyon but only I saw him briefly through my binos, so that didn’t really count. Walter then suggested to drop us off at the next viewpoint with us making our way back along the Canyon to Cruz del Condor. Very good idea that was! Not long after we started, we spotted our first Condor for the day. Well I think we saw the shadow zipping across the sides of the Canyon first but nevertheless, we then saw the Condor itself as well. He was using the thermal to make its way up the Canyon, just as ordered.
That day we learned that our middle girl has a special talent for spotting soaring birds. She shall from now on be called “Condor-Eye”. We saw so many Condors that day, some soaring past close to where we stood and some (especially later in the day) high up in the sky. We were told that at this time of the year they use the thermal winds to get up to 7000 metres to then zoom to the coast to eat fur seal placenta. Anyway, they were definitely getting up higher and higher during the day. From 10.30am onwards we were told that this is it until about 3pm when they return. That was not true for us though as we had Condors cruising past us all day long. What a fantastic morning, and we were very happy that we could determine how long we stay at Cruz del Condor. Not so for the tours most people book (you only have 1h max). We took more than two hours just walking from the last viewpoint back to Cruz del Condor (that was even for Walter too long as he started to walk towards us to try to hurry us up, not that it helped).
After lunch we did some hikes around Cabanaconde, the first one towards The Oasis down at the bottom of the Canyon. We only did a small portion of the way though, and were very happy with that. Based on the faces of people coming all the way up – this is no easy stroll in the park. Condor-Eye constantly found some new Condors for us soaring high up in the sky and we even saw our old friend, the Giant Hummingbird again. So if a day seeing a hummingbird can’t be a bad day – what is a day seeing hummingbirds and Condors?! Bloody awesome I say 🙂
The next morning, and after only bread roll and tuna for the kids and I (they learned the word and meaning of compromise that evening…), we woke up to a pretty decent day again. Not as perfect as the morning before but still not too bad. The problem was that it was a completely cloud-covered morning – meaning no thermal winds = no Condors. But after seeing so many the day before (after #15 or so, we didn’t even look when Condor-Eye was calling out the next one somewhere in the distance), we didn’t mind it. The Canyon looked spectacular again as today it was cloud filled right up to the top, then clear sky until a high cloud cover.
It was pretty chilly that morning, so we asked Walter to pick us up at the next mirador again, so we had an hour walk or so from Cruz del Condor to warm up. The walk was pretty unspectacular in terms of Condor or other bird life and we jokingly said that one Condor would be nice to say good bye. And just like that, not 100 metres off the waiting car – Gesa (and not Condor-Eye?!) shouted “CONDOR” pointing behind us, and one zoomed past us, not even 20 metres away. We couldn’t believe our luck, got some nice shots and then it got unreal.
The day before we joked that we now saw so many Condors but that they were all soaring around us, and not one sat down so we can have a real good look at them. Walter told us that they only sit down near Cruz del Condor between August and October (you see the rocks they like as they are covered in poo). Well, this last one zoomed past us, cruised down the road for about 100 metres – and then sat down on a big rock straight next to the road!
Unbelievable, and after a quick jog we were standing right beneath a fully grown Condor Macho (male), not 15 metres above us. What an amazing and large bird to see up close. You can imagine that we took a few pictures, some of the best further down. Over the next hour and a half more and more tourist buses arrived, saw us standing there and then of course stopped as well. The Condor wasn’t phased at all though and pretty much just ignored us. We were told that he had his eyes set on a young calf a few hundred metres down the road, just born and a pretty good snack for him.
Not sure if that’s true or if he just got stranded as there was no wind/thermals and he just decided to sit tight and see if the wind picks up. He stretched his wings a few times, exactly showing us that he is a bloody big bird but otherwise sat still most of the time. Walter told us first that they only sit down for 10 minutes or so, then after an hour he said that it is probably waiting for a buddy to take on the calf together. Again, whatever the case, Macho Condor sat mostly still for an hour and a half. We had cameras ready to take pictures and videos as soon as he would take off again – but as Murphy laws goes, just as he took off the kids wanted their snacks and most of the crew missed it. I was lucky to stand right beneath him at that time, and he was zooming above my head, not 5 metres away.
He took down towards the cattle plus calf, maybe to have a closer look, disappeared into the low hanging clouds, to then head straight back at us, coming out of the clouds again. What a sight that was! We saw him a few more times but eventually he disappeared down the Canyon, he probably had enough for the day. What can I say, how lucky can we be?! Even Walter shook his head and smiled what a lucky bunch we are.
Time to head back to Arequipa though and full of new, fantastic impressions and memories we started our 4-5 hour journey back. One Alpaca steak and a few flamingos (yes, again and a new kind of flamingo as well) later, we arrived in Arequipa and checked into our accommodation. This time with own bath rooms again, so everyone is happy again. We explored Arequipa, apparently the nicest city in Peru for the rest of the afternoon, and it is a nice city indeed. A lot of white stones used to build houses in the historic centre, giving it the nick name of white city.
But to be fair, our minds were still amazed by the last few days. How lucky have we been? The weather in Cusco and of course Machu Picchu couldn’t have been any better. Then Colca Canyon and the Condors. What better to do then to find the next craft beer pub and have a few pints? That’s what we did. With a bit of luck and maybe my craft beer app, we found a pub serving 5 different IPAs – beer heaven for me. Tried all of them and all were pretty good I think.
Slow start next morning but we managed to make our way up to a viewpoint to see the three volcanoes around Arequipa. But what happened here, they were all covered in clouds – is our luck running out after all? The main volcano is adeptly named Misti though, so maybe this is the usual sight. Well off to the one highlight in Arequipa we were told not to miss – The Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This is a very nice monastery indeed and we spent a good couple of hours exploring the various parts of it. After that we wandered through more of the historic part of town including the very nice and central Plaza de Armas and then had pasta dinner in a quite famous restaurant only serving homemade pasta, yummy!
We decided to stay in Arequipa another day to start to make some plans and catch our breath really. Gesa headed to Arica to scope out the trip there and the city itself a day before us. Today we are two months on the dot into our adventure, and what a blast it has been so far! So many new places and highlights seen already, 5 countries explored, and 10 more months to come! Tomorrow we are off to Arica, Chile to spend a few days on the beach and do nothing really. One more month in South America, next highlight, Atacama Desert!
