The Cañon Del Colca is the world's second deepest canyon at 3,501 meters and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA. It is home to the magnificent Condor, is flanked by the two highest volcanoes in Peru and has an abundance of flora as we passed through several zones from high altitude desert type terrain to the oasis at the bottom with palm and fruit trees.
The first day we trekked downhill to the Colca river spotting eagles; and to Jens' great delight, the Condor flying high above us. Three and a half hours of walking downhill and you can imagine that our knees were starting to complain a little. We reached the Colca river and took a short rest before crossing. The river at this time of year is rushing madly with the water from the daily rain fall. This is the rainy season and lucky for us, the mornings are usually bright and sunny. The clouds start forming midday and the rain starts late afternoons and into the night.
After crossing the river we walked through some ancient terraces along the river for a short way, passing by small fields of corn, potatoes, apple trees and avocado trees. Then it was another climb up to the villages which are strung along the side of the mountain. Our first stop was at the small village of Cosñirhua for a late lunch and a short nap. The villages in the valley didnt have electricity until three years ago and still live a very basic life. The hostel we stayed at actually had mud floors. Not much in the way of luxury here, marginally better than a tent. We had to move the bed to avoid getting dripped on when the rain started. Thank goodness it was only for one night.
Malata, the next village on the trail, was having a celebration and we headed over to have a look. We had heard the music as we were trekking down the canyon and were really curious to see what it was all about. Our guide, Johslem, told us it was a seven day festival. The story goes like this: Many, many years ago there was a villager that fell in love with a princess from another village. The only way he could get past her guards to see her was to dress up as a woman, and as he approached the gate, he would start dancing to distract them. He made it through, stole the princess and brought her back to his village. Well, they soon found him and killed him for his crime. So now, every year, the men in the village dress up as women and dance around the square. The music plays from morning to night and the whole village and neighboring villagers come out dressed in their finest. The beer is flowing, the food is being served and the music plays on, and on and on. They play the same song continuously. Seriously, the same song.
As the afternoon rain started we headed back to our village for dinner and a little sleep. The next morning early we had a guided tour of the owners garden. We sampled oranges, mandarins, sweet Peruvian lemons, cactus fruit and apples. It was just amazing to see what they can grow in this canyon. It is somewhat of a microclimate created by the steep mountains on both sides.
After breakfast we continued our journey to the oasis. This was a fairly easy walk of about four hours. The hostels at the oasis have beautiful swimming pools, palm trees and great mountain views. We had a lazy afternoon swimming, sunbathing and watching the condors soaring overhead. The rain came down hard that afternoon and continued through most of the night. It was accompanied by lots of lightening and incredible thunder rolling through the canyon. It rained so much that we heard several landslides throughout the night.
We were up and ready to start the 1km vertical climb at 4 am. With our headlamps on we climbed the trail, passing several places where the rocks had given way and blocked the path. We got to the top at 7:30 and walked to the village for breakfast. Oh it felt so good to sip that coffee and eat a little bread and jam. We had been told the Colca Canyon trek was more difficult than the Inca Trail. I don't know if it's because we are in better shape now, but we both found the Inca trail to be much harder, particularly Dead Woman's Pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment