Gone Tomorrow: Colca

NOTE: Two blog posts up today july 2. Read em'!

So I have some time while a bunch of pictures upload to dropbox. I will get started with Colca.

Starting last Saturday morning, a van came to my hostel to pick me up and take me to Colca Canyon. Before we actually started hiking, the bus stopped at this look out so everyone could observe the flying of the condors. I knew this was coming and thought it was going to be the lamest part of the trip. It was actually wicked awesome. These birds are freaking huge! Like with wing spans of five feet and up to over 6 feet. And they just cruise the thermals thousands of feet above the canyon bottom. They even fly right over your head. Based on childhood experiences I was sort of afraid of getting pooped on that's how close they were. Pictures!

So from there it went like this: We got dropped off in in a town called Cobanaconde, hiked from there to the rim, hiked down to the bottom of the canyon, hiked up the other side a bit and then walked along the other side to the small village called Malata. I did this with the tour agency side of my volunteer organization, and my guide was Vanessa, the girl who ran the tour agency. Her family also happened to live in Malata and run a small hostel. We stayed with them and hung out that night with another crew of volunteers from our group who had started the day before. The next day we spent the morning working the fields with Vanessa's dad, Modesto, and the afternoon we walked around the canyon some more. During the farming I learned to count to ten in Quechua, becuase that is still the main languange spoken in the canyon as in much of Peru. People have been living in that harsh area since before the Incas. I also learned some greetings and questions like 'What is your name?' After crashing at Vanessa's folks place again, we woke up at 4 in the morning and began the hike back to the rim. Thoughts: The hikes in and out were actually pretty grueling, but we apparently made near record time on the way back out. The canyon is incredible, definitely one of the coolest places I've ever been. It's size is mind blowing, and of course I couldn't keep my eyes off the ginormous walls of rock. The quality was generally bad and I don't know if you could climb any of the huge walls covered in soda straws but man were they cool lookin'. Staying with Vanessa's family was awesome, it gave a very warm and friendly vibe to the whole thing. We were less of guests and more of friends. The hike out on Monday morning was one of my favorite parts. The canyon in the darkness and predawn light was truly surreal. The whole thing felt like a dream, sort of like the sand dunes, but darker and harder because the trail felt like it was at a 45 degree angle. Pictures!

The canyon!

My friend Anna on the trail down into the canyon. Check out the size of the cliff side in comparison.

We named this stray 'guide dog' Diego because he looks like a Dingo but that doesn't sound Spanish enough. He followed us all the way down and met us when we came back to the top on Monday.