Colca Canyon
May 19, 2008
Twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Colca Canyon in Arequipa is the second deepest in Peru and the Americas, second only to the Cotahuasi Canyon just a short distance away.
It’s difficult to measure the exact depth. Do you measure the deepest point or the average depth, how do you choose the deepest point, do you measure from the peaks that line the canyon, peaks that tower not only over the canyon but also over all the surrounding area?
 |
It is said though, by some measurements, that the deepest point is 3501m, a depth so huge in such a wide sloped canyon that the altitude and air pressure vary as you descend and so do the ecosystems.
Inhabited for millennia, pre-Inca farming terraces cover the terrain and are still farmed today by the Collagua and Cabana people who live in these parts. When the Spanish arrived, they built Spanish-style towns for the people to live in, part of their attempt to do away with their traditions and lifestyle.
But they couldn’t do away with everything. The canyon is named Colca after the holes that exist on the cliff faces, once used by the Incas and pre-Incas for storing food and burials of their elite.
Today visitors come to the canyon to hike, see condors and visit typical Andean villages.
Expanded from original article with more photos here.
The Cats of Parque Kennedy
Ancón
Priest killed in robbery at San Francisco Convent, Lima
Leguías Lima of the early 1900s
Peru at the Movies: The Emperor’s New Groove
TWENTY rare pink dolphins killed in Peru's Amazon
Police recover Inca mummy among artefacts to sold on black market
Chicharrón for breakfast, there's nothing like it
Klaus Koschmieder - Latest Chachapoyan Discoveries
Building boats in Santa Rosa
Peru at the Movies: The Motorcycle Diaries
Perenco advises staff to 'Scare the uncontacted tribes or tell them to go home'
hey stuart! greeting from aqp carajo
i must say your writing is much more thorough and objective than mine. my colca post is a much more subjective, prone-to-inaccuracy piece. regardless, it was majestic being up there, wasn’t it?
drop me a line next time you’re down south.
colin
[...] small town of Chivay is most people’s entry point into the Colca Canyon. It sits near the Colca Valley’s wider end, the mouth of the valley, and from here a small [...]
[...] 50km west of Chivay, Cruz de Condor is a lookout point over the Colca Canyon that is considered one of the best places to witness Condors in flight in their natural [...]