"Valle del Colca" & Chivay, Peru

Yep - it's only a 2,000 meter drop from beneath our feet here at Colca Canyon - yes that's roughly a 6,000 ft drop and we're sitting on the edge. We don't have much to worry about though because we came to this point of the canyon from Chivay to watch the magnificent flight of the Condors and we're pretty sure with their monstrous size they'll catch us if we fall. Their wing-span is up to 8 ft wide and you have to be at this point of Colca Canyon by 8:00 am in order to see them take off for the day. They live at the bottom of the canyon where nothing can bother them or their young. By 8:30 in the morning they're airborne and do not return until after dark. It's the only chance of seeing them up close and witnessing their beauty and elegance in flight. I had no idea how beautiful it would be to see them as they circle up from the bottom of this gorgeous canyon (which, at it's deepest point, is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). The scenery alone brings such a peace that you practically long to be one of them gliding through the air. The Condors truly become Kings of the sky and almost seem to enjoy us observing them as they glide over our heads and cruise within a stones throw away exhibiting a confidence and assurance unseen in other creatures of the sky.



















On the way up the canyon to the "Mirador" or "Cruz del Condor" there are a few small villages in which the culture and people are nothing like what we have seen in our 7 prior months of travels in South America. The villages after Chivay are: Yanque, Achoma, Maca and then the tiny village of Pinchollo. Most the people here work in the fields producing a variety of different crops from wheat, barley, potatoes, onions, alfalfa, and countless other vegetables. Others produce all different types of hand crafts necessary for the region.



















What amazes me most is that the men and women in their 60's and 70's still get up every morning by 5:00 and are on their way to the endless fields of crop and farm by manual labor all day using only hand tools, pics, and shovels. They use their donkeys and bulls to pull what we know as to be the old fashioned plows - I'm talking 50 to 100 years ago. Vehicles are scarce so most the crop is wrapped in blankets and tied around their backs where they haul it for miles back to the villages and markets of each day hoping to sell what was harvested.





All the fields are separated by perfectly built rock walls and to utilize as much land and good soil as possible terraces are built throughout the entire valley climbing as high as possible in which crop will grow. Each level cultivates a different product. From a distance they seem almost as gigantic steps or an enormous amphitheater filling the valley. Most the terraces in the monstrous valley are still in place from the Inca’s construction some 500 plus years ago. It's truly remarkable!













The best way to get to and from each village is by a "colectivo" or bus. You can take a little unique taxi as well, but they cost more. The difference in these "colectivos" from what we're use to everywhere else in S.A. is these are old, well used vehicles such as the one we rode in - a small, old, Volkswagon van. You pay 1 "Sole" (Sol-eh) and wait in the little van until at least seven people are in it. This way it's enough money to be worth the drivers time taking you to the next village. The funny thing though, is that there can basically never be too many people in the little "colectivo." All along the road in route the driver will stop and pick up more people flagging him down. In the picture below we had just started and there were about 10 people including the driver. I had no idea what was in store. By the time we got to the next village we had 17 people smashed into this little, tiny, Volkswagon van. Hilarious!





In Chivay, where we stayed, we loved how inexpensive everything was - especially since we've been on a budget for this whole journey. We ate in the market (nearly every night) at these little restaurant booths that are set up and broken down each night. Our total bill each time was 9 soles (including tip) which equates to less than 3 dollars. Unbelievable! The other fantastic thing for us is that we found a very nice "Hospedaje" to sleep. We had a double bed, hot water, soap, towels, and even cable television with 3 English channels for only $10 per night! Seriously???!!! Awesome! Our room was where the windows are on the 3rd floor overlooking the market and city.







For Jenny's birthday we went on a horse ride with just the two of us and our guide Wilber. He took us all through the valley and around the canyon for spectacular views yet again. One of the neatest parts of the horse tour was when he took us to the ruins of Yanque - the original village some 800 years ago. It was so nuts to be walking through this village and learning how they survived close to 1,000 years ago. Many of the village's tombs have crumbled open as well due to earthquakes in which you can see the bones of entire families.













Chivay and the "Valle del Colca" is probably one of the neater places I've been. Viewing first hand the beauty and tranquility of this culture and landscape while witnessing how much different their way of life is compared to what we know was something I will never forget and will always cherish.

Destination Peru

Twenty-five hours, 3 buses and one car for the border crossing – we arrived in Peru – our last country on the list for this journey in South America. Wait a second – let’s rewind just a bit and describe the buses in getting here. We left San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (the Atacama Desert) at 8:45 pm. We arrived in Arica, Chile around 6:00 am after a looooong bus ride due to about 10 individuals that chose to party on the overnight bus drinking and smoking and making all kinds of noise. We have never experienced this on a bus in South America before. It was so annoying and frustrating – half the bus wanted to kill them for their lack of respect.

Upon arriving in Arica (the northern border of Chile with Peru) we had to find a transport across the border. As soon as we got off the bus and gathered our bags we were approached by a man insisting on taking us across the border to Tacna, Peru (the border town we had to get to for other bus lines and destinations in Peru). He took us to the company desk and they wanted 20 mil Chilean pesos (which is way too much we knew). They said the bus leaves in 5 minutes and there are no other buses until 4:30 pm (it’s now 6:00 am). We didn’t believe them as we knew there had to be other ways. So Jenny and I walked around the terminal until we found two ladies working a ticket booth for local colectivos (buses). We asked them how to get to Tacna and they said to just walk out the terminal about one block up and there we could find private cars for rent. They told us to wait till the sun came up though, because it’s really dangerous (for muggings) outside the terminal when it’s dark. When the sun came up I left Jenny in the terminal with all our stuff and walked over to discover all sorts of private car transports across the border to Tacna – for only $3 mil Chilean pesos! I went back grabbed Jenny and our things and we were on our way in a car with 3 other passengers. So much easier and faster too! So glad we listened to our intuition in how to get across the border otherwise we would have been totally ripped off!

The border crossing was pretty straight-forward. First we stopped at the Chilean side for our exit stamp, and then proceeded to the Peru side for our entrance stamp. It was nice to know this was the last time we’d have to go through that process for awhile being that Peru was our last visit on this trip. Once we arrived at the bus terminal in Tacna, we had to decide where we would go next. We had narrowed it down to two choices: we knew at some point we definitely wanted to go to Puno, which is the where you reach Lake Titicaca, but I (Aaron) had also been reading up on Colca Canyon near Chivay, Peru. If we were going to explore Colca Canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) we needed to go there first as it made most sense for beginning our route through Peru. Jenny was leaning towards Puno as we could go straight there from Tacna with out any bus changes or hassle. Something in me just had my eye set on Chivay though and my intuition was just saying, “go to Chivay, go to Chivay.”

The decision became quite easy after Jenny inquired about tickets to Puno. The bus for Puno left at 8:00 am and it was now 8:20. The next bus was not for several hours. That led me to ask about Chivay. The guy said we have 10 minutes to get on the next bus to Arequipa and from there we could get bus tickets to Chivay or Puno even. We looked at each other and knew that was the best option as we wouldn’t have to sit around in a border town bus terminal all day and it would also give us 5 more hours on the bus to read up in our guide book and decide which destination would be best for us. We opted for that and by the time I ran to get money from the ATM (as we had no Peru money yet) and got back it was 8:32 and we still had to buy the tickets and get across the street to where the buses depart. Once we had the tickets in hand the clerk grabbed one of our bags and basically ran out the door telling us to follow him. We made it across the street and saw a bus halfway in the street with a couple people (from the company) standing in front of the bus so it couldn’t move any more. We realized they were holding it for us. We ran up and a couple guys grabbed our bags and threw them underneath and basically shoved us in the door. As soon as we were in the bus it took off before we were even upstairs to our seats. We had made it though – relief!

Three hours into the ride I couldn’t help but notice the landscape as we were climbing in altitude and winding our way through mountains and canyons. It was hot, arid, and dry. We were in the Andes Mountains – only like I’ve never seen before – it was as if we were in the desert and you could just see for miles with no sign of wildlife. It seemed to be so desolate with only sand and huge mountains as far as you could see. We were wondering to ourselves – where in the heck are we??

Arriving in Arequipa (where the landscape had dramatically changed) was pretty amazing for the fact that the “Misty Volcano” overlooks the entire city and absolutely dominates the landscape and sky line. It towers close to 19,000 ft. I couldn’t believe how high and magnificent it was. Nothing near it even came close to its height leaving it the focal point and king of the sky. It was quite cloudy and we could only get peeks at the summit, but it was mesmerizing!

Ok, jumping forward a bit we were finally on the bus to Chivay (Jenny and I the only tourists and English speakers whatsoever) and only had 3 ½ hours until the destination. It was now 3:30 and we had left the prior night at 8:45 from San Pedro, Chile. Needless to say we were hungry, tired, and ready for some decent food and wanted to be done with the busses. After a short while on the bus we had both fallen asleep. I woke up around 7:00 to my ears completely clogged and finding it hard to breathe. We were in the tops of the Andes on a little highway and the temperature was dropping. I looked at Jen who had woken up as well and her ears were really hurting too. I was happy though knowing we only had around 30 minutes left or so. That’s when I looked up towards the front of the bus and through the windshield and saw the headlights beaming on the pavement lying before us for what seemed and eternity uphill. What really had me confused was how slow we were going – it was slow enough to the point I leaned over to Jenny and said, “I can walk faster than this.” It must be the altitude we gathered and the bus just doesn’t have much power… Well, not even 5 minutes later the bus starts making some funny noises and you can hear the driver grinding gears trying to keep the bus in motion. Seconds later his attempts failed and the bus came to a complete stop – instantly you hear everyone on the bus sigh and groan with disapproval and disappointment.

Jenny and I were pumped! We were now at the tops of the Andes in Peru on a little highway, it was freezing cold outside, no one on the bus spoke any English, we were hungry and tired, and had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. What an adventure in itself this was becoming. The passenger door opened and several of us got off to drain the lizard and stretch the legs – holy cow was it cold! The driver and two other guys were frantically working on the engine throwing tools here and there and barking orders to each other. Ten minutes or so later the engine was running! Yes!! We won’t have to sleep on the bus, or starve for the night!

Fast forwarding a bit and several miles up the road (and even higher at this point) the bus broke down for the 3rd time – only now it was snowing! The same routine took place and the engine finally started after about 30 minutes. Jenny and I were both praying we make it to Chivay. As soon as the bus started moving and driving down the road – as we had made it to the top when it broke down again – I was looking out the front windshield and soon saw my life flash before my eyes as the bus suddenly hit some black ice, fishtailed, and drifted across the lane and road heading straight for the edge of the highway to a several hundred foot drop! I grabbed the seat if front of me and Jenny’s leg and was about to yell “hold on” when the bus regained its traction as it nearly left the pavement... HOLY COW – JUST GET ME OFF THIS BUS!!

At this point, all we wanted was to be in Chivay in a nice warm bed. Around 10:00 pm we arrived and luckily for us a lady on the bus asked us if we had a place to stay and offered us a room at her small hotel. We took her up on the offer and were in a room within the hour. It was nice and cold in the room with a small window pane missing leaving us exposed to the nice frigid air of the Andes at night above 11,000 ft. Jenny and I jumped in bed with all our clothes on and snuggled together with 3 of their nice warm blankets made for this type of altitude and weather. We were asleep in minutes with the warmth of each other and the happiness of making it to our destination after 25 hours of non-stop travel. Tomorrow we would explore Chivay and see what it’s all about.