Friday 3 April 2015

Colca Canyon

                                                        Finally back to terraces.
Colca’s manmade terraced fields stacked up like gigantic staircases on the steep canyon slopes. Many of the terraces date back to Inca times and most are still tended to by local farmers who grow crops such as potatoes, barley, beans and quinoa.
                There are apparently 20 different colours of quinoa!! How about that!!
We stopped at Chivay, the main village of Colca Canyon, in the distance are Arequipa's two sentinel volcanoes,                             El Misti 5,822m.
                                                      and Chachani 6,075m.
In the village of Yanque the girls in traditional dress of the native Quechua people every                                                         morning in the main square.

Slicing through the High Andes like a giant fissure for more than 100km, Colca is the world’s second deepest canyon, approximately 3,400m at its deepest point -- a shade shallower that the nearby Cotahuasi Canyon and nearly twice as deep as the US’ Grand Canyon.


The canyon is home to the Andean condor, a species that has been the focus of worldwide conservation efforts. The condors can be seen at close range as they fly past the canyon walls.                                         My first view of a condor
They only fly in good weather - so blessed for a wonderful view of these incredible birds.



                                            Such a grand landscape to fly in.
                                                             Magnificent

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