We bussed to Arequipa (10 hours from Cuzco), a white colonial city in Peru. I could not resist the temptation of comparing Arequipa to Oaxaca, a colonial town in Mexico. Oaxaca won.
We wandered around the white churches, ate at the market and photographed the view point of volcano El Misti (5822m).
The next morning after running around arranging my detour to Lima we headed off to Colca Canyon. The deepest canyons in the world are located close to Arequipa. Colca Canyon is 3191 m deep (6 hours away) and Cotahuasi (9 hours away) is 163 m deeper. It is more than twice as deep as Grand Canyon in the US!
We enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon in the stop-over a small town of Chivay on the way to Cabanaconde. The biggest attraction for me - fields of wheat. I even took a video of wheat moving with the wind. More peaceful and beautiful than a plastic bag in the wind from American Beauty movie.
At night we arrived to Cabanaconde, the most basic village I have stayed in so far. The vast majority of women were wearing national bright dresses with colorful hats. Horses and donkeys were the means of transportation and our dorms smelled like a barn.
As I was still in pain from rafting, I decided not to hike Colca Canyon. Besides the fields and the views, Colca Canyon (Cruz del Condor viewpoint) is the place to watch Andean condors as they soar gracefully on the rising thermals in the early morning (8-9 am). The condor is the largest flying bird in the Western Hemisphere with wingspan from 2.7m to 3m. Quite a view!
Traditional dresses and hats of Colca Canyon women
More pictures on flickr.
2 comments:
the colors of the dresses are soooo khool!
Keep posting!
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