The World´s Deepest Canyon

Greetings from friendly, colorful, delicious Peru.  I´m now in Arequipa, in southern Peru.

It took two buses and a taxi to get here from Chile.  The taxi was part of the amusing — and slightly confusing — border crossing between Chile and Peru.  The Chilean buses stop in Arica, just south of the border.  From there, you pay about $6 to pile into a collectivo (shared taxi) with several other travellers and their luggage.  Twenty kilometers later, at a large building surrounded by sand dunes, your driver negotiates all the paperwork and baggage inspection as you cross into Peru.  This takes an hour or so.  When your fellow passengers have all been approved for entry, the taxi takes you to the bus station in Tacna, where you catch your next bus northward into Peru.

Arequipa is well-worth the journey.  It´s a charming place full of colonial Spanish architecture, great food and delightful people, surrounded by towering volcanoes and deep canyons.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina, Arequipa

Arequipa is home to a monastery that was closed to the public for more than 400 years.  It´s a city within a city with its own streets and plazas.  Walking through these streets and touring the apartments occupied by as many as 180 women in the 19th century was a journey back in time.

Andean Condor over Colca Canyon

Not far from Arequipa is a canyon that´s 3191 meters deep — from snow-capped volcanos that surround it to a roaring whitewater river at the bottom.  (Technically, it´s the world´s 2nd deepest canyon.  There´s another less-accessible canyon a few kilometers north that´s another 160 meters deeper.)

Even if canyon trekking isn´t in your plans, this is an amazing place for bird watching.  This canyon is home to hundreds of Andean Condors.  They´re the kings of the sky here, with 3 meter wingspans.  Before now, I´d only seen one condor in my life, and that poor creature was in a zoo in California.  Here I was treated to a flock of about twenty of these gorgeous birds, circling overhead on the updrafts that rise out of the canyon.

Local transport

Besides wanting to see the condors, I wanted to have a good hike in the canyon.  Some tourists opt for mules, of which there are many well-cared-for animals available with tour guides.

Canyon trail

Here´s the trail — 500 meters of vertical cliffs up to the left, and another 500 meters dropping down to the right.  Note the village across the canyon.  Above the village are pre-Inca terraces where vegetables and fruits are grown.  I found dinner and comfortable bed here.   These villages aren´t as primitive as one might think.  Electricity came to these canyon villages two years ago.  My hostel even had a solar heated hot shower — in a bamboo hut.

16th century chapel

Hiking along the canyon walls, I came to villages every few kilometers, where Inca and Spanish architecture clings to the steep hillsides.

Intercity bus in Peru

The roads in these mountains are pretty rough, but the Peruvian buses are reliable.  I enjoy the traditional costumes of my fellow travellers.

From here, my road continues north.  I´ll be on a bus tonight bound for the ancient city of Cusco.  Machu Picchu is my next destination!