Condor flight over the abyss of the Colca Canyon
Photographic pictures of the Colca Canyon can't reveal the full beauty of this place. We are glad to have visited this rugged valley in the north of Peru's third largest city Arequipa and its beautiful volcanoes. The visit is easily feasible on your own, so you can avoid the high fees of the agencies and enjoy to visit the place at your own pace. We chose to do a 2-day trek to get off the beaten track from mainstream tourism.

After being visited by majestic, 3 meters large Condors at only 10 meters, we descended 1400m down to the gorge and spent the night in a lovely Refugio (Roy's House in San Juan de Chuccho). The fertile but steep valley can only be reached by foot or donkey, so you can imagine how laid back the people there are!!! After only a day it already did not seems strange any more to see trains of donkeys crossing our way.

This is THE place of our whole trip in South America where we felt the most travelling in the past. People are still very friendly and simple. The fact that you have to spend at least a night in a simple stay without electricity and communication after a hard and dusty trek fortunately still keeps back mainstream tourism from spoiling the place.

More pics on our Arequipa photo set by Flickr.