There’s a scene in the movie Good Morning Vietnam where Adrian Cronaur (Robin William’s character) bellows “It’s 06h00! What does the 0 stand for? Oh my God it’s early!” It kinda felt like that this morning. Except today’s alarm went off at 05h38. Yikes! Today really was a day for the birds.

Breakfast at Colca Lodge was plentiful and there was a chef there to take the egg orders. As always the Coca tea was in abundant supply. The morning was a brisk (about 10ºC) but pleasant and the altitude of 3250m felt a wee bit better today. It would have been nice to have a day of acclimatization; regrettably time was not on our side so onwards we went.

First stop was the village of Yanque where some folks were dancing in the main square. They were dressed in traditional costumes so it was a colourful site to take in. After that brief stop we continued on our way. The views consisted of picturesque landscapes featuring terraced fields set in a valley with a river below. From our vantage of about 200m above the valley floor, we could really see the fields so skillfully carved from the surrounding slopes along with the different crops being grown in each field. There’s a timeless aspect to this corner of the world; sometimes it seems that modern life has only just touched it. Squinting into the brilliant sunshine, it wasn’t hard imagining the Incas surveying the landscape, deciding where next to build another terraced field.

After a short drive we arrived at Cruz del Condor. This was the first time in Peru that I really saw a hoard of tourists. The goal here was to see the famed Andean Condor soaring in the sky. With a wingspan of about 3.2m, these birds can really soar! Alas, there was but one bird enjoying a morning flight. We stayed an watched him (her?) fly around for a bit, then our guide suggested a drive a little further and try our luck elsewhere.

We drove a kilometer or so down the road to a viewpoint where there was but one other tourist there. No condors mind you but the view was inspiring. It was odd (to me) to be standing at an altitude of 3200 or so metres, but still have a mountain across from me soaring 1000m up and 1000m down at the same time. When they say Colca Canyon is deep, they’re not kidding! Measurements of canyons are somewhat subjective, but it’s generally accepted that Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world and is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US. Mankind may revel in his ingenuity at building tall towers and DXB, PVG and the like but Mother Nature works on a different scale entirely.

We drove back to our original viewpoint and found a target-rich environment. Instead of a lone condor out for a morning flight, now there were 15 condors putting on a show. My trusty Nikon D700 went into continuous focus, continuous shooting mode and I had a grand time taking pics as the condors wheeled freely above. One bird in particular seemed to be having fun pulling Immelmann turns, wingovers, doing some close formation flying and generally putting on a display of avian dexterity.

No camera shot can compare to simply watching 15 condors in their true element so after (consciously) shooting too many pics (almost 300) I put the camera down and just viewed the spectacle unfolding around me.

It’s hard to top that experience so the rest of the day seemed much calmer by comparison. We stopped again in Chivay for a simple lunch, then drove to our next destination – Puno. Along the way we passed again through Patahuasi. This time, after having spent a night at 3250m, I was better able to handle walking around at 4910m. I walked very slowly, but I was able to enjoy the view a lot more this time. Then it was back into the van for the drive to Puno. Colca to Puno is less than 300km, but it took about 5h to drive that distance. Our van was limited to only 90 km/h so that made our trip longer than it otherwise might have been. We passed through some higher altitudes on the way to Puno. At one point I took a pic of a sign at a mountain pass called Crucero Alto that said we were at 4528m. One village where we made a petrol stop was perched at 4300m. We also passed a rather picturesque lake (Lago Lagunillas) at 4444m. Finally, after a 5h drive we arrived at our hotel in Puno (altitude 3900m).

Our time in Colca Canyon was perhaps brief but it was certainly memorable. With more time, I would have enjoyed another day of acclimatization at Colca Lodge. This would have also permitted an exploration of Cabanaconde and a more in-depth look at some of the other villages in the region. As mentioned previously, I arranged our tour via Carlitos Tours and everything was easily customized.

I’m glad we made it to Colca Canyon. It’s worth the detour from AQP to experience this very scenic and charming corner of the world.