The bus journey took us up a relatively new road (made in the 90s I think) into Colca Canyon proper. The whole canyon near to Chivay is a mass of terraces, some confirmed more than 2000 years old, and some are considered by the 'forbidden archeologies' (I believe this means that the proof is not definitive enough for all archeologists) to be more than 5000 years old!
The scenery was absolutely spectacular, even though most of the terraces are either fallow this time of year, or simply not used due to the difficulty of getting water up. We stopped a few times on the way to take photos (camera), while Omar gave us some history on the fate of the canyon through the Inca and Spanish conquests.
We actually stopped a couple of klicks from Cruz El Condor, and walked along a trail along the canyon edge, whilst everyone else who had shown up stood around like lemons for a good hour or so waiting on the condors. Whilst Cruz El Condor is generally considered the best spot for condor viewing, Leo and Onar assured us they fly all along the valley, and the walk showed enough spectacular views to make it an easy choice not to wait.
We saw some Andean eagles first off, which were pretty cool with a bright brown plumage. As we walked further we saw something beginning with V. I can't remember the full name, but it was essentially a rabbit with a long, curly tail like a squirrel's or even a cat's. It was something i never even imagined existed, and pretty cool to see.
Omar then got a call: No condors. I was really disappointed, many of you know how enthusiastic I am about the heaviest flying bird in the world, and once I got it into my head that I was going to see them I realised it was something I *really* wanted to do.
We walked along in sadness for 10 or 15 minutes, and then in the distance there was a big bird with black and white wings; the condors were flying today after all! It was difficult to get a sense of scale as the condor was fairly far away, but it was obvious the bird was big. That would not be the only condor we saw though, as we walked on we saw around 10, in ones and twos, with some of them flying right over us, and fairly close. Our group was still all alone, and if anything we were seeing more of the birds than the sardines at Cruz El Condor. Our guides 1, everyone else 0!
As we reached the view point before Cruz El Condor the condors got really keen, including a fantastic moment where one swooped up from below, probably passing within 5 meters of our heads! From this close it was easy to see just how huge the condors are (they have a maximum wing span of over 3 meters!) and I was lucky that I had my camera turned off, so I could just enjoy the moment. It would have been pretty hard to take a good photo of one that close anyway!
We stuck around for 15 minutes or so, but the show was over, so we went back to the bus, and started back to Chivay. We only had a quick stop in Chivay for lunch (I had a sandwich, I only wanted something light) then we set off over the high plateau to Arequipa.
Once back in Arequipa we had some free time. Me, Slade, Katie, Lorraine, Steve, and Claire went to check out the Juanita Mummy Museum. That isn't it's real name, but everyone calls it that due to the exceedingly well preserved mummy, nicknamed Juanita, or the ice maiden, who 'lives' there.
Juanita was a sacrificial offering to appease a local volcano (Ampato, around 6300m tall, so considered the most powerful of their earth gods). The Incas worshiped the mountains, and since Ampato was erupting they decided to offer up Juanita to appease it. She wasn't the only sacrifice they have found in similar circumstances, but she was preserved remarkably well because she was frozen, and only thawed when the volcano next door erupted and cleared the permafrost on Ampato for a while. She still has hair, muscles, skin, and all her organs in tact, and as such scientists were able to do a hell of a lot of forensic tests.
We actually got to see the mummy, she was really small, probably less than a meter curled into the foetal position as she was, and it was a little hard to see detail due to the three glass cases (bulletproof, humidity and temperature control) she was in. No photos though, no electronic equipment was allowed in.
One of the other interesting things we found out in the museum was that male sacrifices were always offered up with metallic offerings, hoping that lightning would strike them, as they believed that lighting was the fingers of the sky gods, and if lightning struck to offerings then the gods accepted them.
Katie, Slade and I found a lovely little restaurant down an old side street, and I had an Arequipan dish of potatoes and eggs in a peanut butter and yellow chilli sauce, which was awesome (all the food is awesome here!). Another early night followed, owing to another early morning tomorrow.
Edit: I added all the colca canyon photos to the other Chivay entry, and I really don't want to change them now! (so go look there for some photos)
Edit: I added all the colca canyon photos to the other Chivay entry, and I really don't want to change them now! (so go look there for some photos)
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