Canyon de Colca

Canyon de Colca is not the deepest canyon in the world, though it is close enough for me. It is exactly 168 meters less deep than the deepest canyon in the world, which is also in the Andes, in fact not too far from the Canyon de Colca. Not sure why Canyon de Colca ended up being the more visited, but I´m not complaining.

The hike down was a slippery three hours zig-zagging the side of one of the rocky side that walled the canyon. So slippery that I was fully concentrating on my steps and didn´t get a chance to notice the straight drop half a meter from my feet along the way, something that we realized when we were sitting by the guesthouse at the botom where we were to stay for the night. The houses, or sheds, were made of grass and mud, not uncommon for Peru and Bolivia. What´s amazing is that the hosts kept the place so clean, that it felt more idylic than rudemental. A puppy and several hens ran around, bright scarlet flowers dotted about, a hidden stream gushed by somewhere in the trees behind the yard, and the house cat had a french-sounding name. I´m not making this up.

Canyon de Colca was a surprising delight, and it got better.

The next day we hiked first up and then down for an hour and half and we got to the place simply known as the Oasis. And an oasis it was. I was told there were swim pools and since it was called an oasis, I had expected some trees and flowers. But I had not expected palm trees, against golden rocks, in the belly of the Andes. Pristine clean swimming holes were made by adding walls at the foot of small waterfalls, where natural spring water was held lingering just a bit longer for us to soak in. Lying on the rocks by the pool, under a shady tree, I watched butterflies and dragon flies dance by and thought, this would be the kind of paradise of my choice. I wouldn´t quite like a paradise without mountains.

But the hike is not over. In fact, this would be the start of our hike up one of the deepest canyon in the world. There isn´t much to be said about that, other than kept on pushing and pushing and pushing yourself. We joked about the firm butt we were going to have after this and we faked hitch-hiking signals to locals passing by on mules, just for gags. We promised each other margaritas and hot showers as prizes. We kept on going. And we got to the top. That was that.

After the said hot shower and the said margarita and a good night´s sleep, we got on the bus to visit a different lookout point of the canyon, where the thermo airflow was such that it had been the candors´ choice for a local hang-out. There these majestic birds were known to come so close that people could almost reach to touch them while they glide by. We were not so lucky though, and none of the twenty or so condors that circled us got so close. Even so, it was a treat to watch these awe-inspirng creatures soar up and down, and be amazed at the fact that we actually share the same breeze.