Touring the Colca Canyon in Peru

As an American who unabashedly likes to think we have the biggest and best of a lot of things — the Colca Canyon in Peru had a lot to live up to. Regardless of the fact that I’ve never actually seen the Grand Canyon, I know it’s called “Grand” for a reason and I’m pretty sure Colca doesn’t mean “ginormous” in Spanish.

A two day tour of the Colca Canyon with Viator showed this American what’s up.

Colca Canyon

Our group of five was picked up at various hostels on the morning of departure. Soon after buckling our seat belts, five faces were glued to the windows as the golden expanse of Arequipa’s surrounding countryside blew by.

Just an hour or so outside of the city and a “Vicuna Crossing” alerted us to possible sightings of the long-necked relative of the llama and the alpaca. Sure enough, we saw multiple groups of these copper colored, graceful creatures, grazing along the side of the road and even running in front of our van — alerting me to the reason for our driver’s snail-like pace.

Vicunas herd

The vicunas were everywhere, as were herds of llamas and alpacas. I wondered if they realized how stunning their backyard is as we wove our way through their territory. We even had the opportunity to hop out and take pictures of the vicunas, just several meters away. They seemed to enjoy the attention, peeking up from the grass to curiously gaze back at us.

Llamas gazing back at us

After an extensive buffet lunch of Peruvian specialties along the way, we were dropped off at our hotels in Chivay Village with the afternoon to explore. There isn’t much going on in Chivay but its plaza offers a great opportunity to relax and watch the Pueblo’s night unfold as street vendors and locals fill the streets around dinner time.

The next morning we piled back into the van for the highlight of our trip. The Colca Canyon was a stunning surprise with a landscape that changed constantly, both along the edge of the drop and within the earth’s gaping crevice. Rivers snaked through certain sections while others looked like giant puzzles of greens and browns, placed neatly in corresponding shapes.

It was gorgeous — but was this really bigger than the Grand Canyon that I had seen in so many pictures? From where we were standing, it didn’t seem as wide or as tall as the famed memorabilia of America’s great Southwest.

Our guide Edgard answered my confusion by opening his arms to the scene that surrounded us.

He pointed out the cliffs and hills on either side of the canyon, and even farther back — the snow-capped mountains. Then he explained that the Grand Canyon is surrounded by a flat landscape so it’s easy to measure when it starts and how deep it goes. The edge of the Colca Canyon is scattered with hills, mountains, and rocky cliffs, making it very difficult to measure. But it’s generally agreed that it’s one of the largest canyons in the world.

Colca Valley

Regardless of its exact measurement, the plunging and soaring “edges” of the Colca Canyon make for a fascinating view and one that changes constantly as you drive or walk along it.

Moments after our guide’s explanation of length and depth, the King of the canyon swooped down in front of our group.

People shrieked and pointed and scrambled for their cameras. A condor had just flown right in front of us! And while one man was grinning ear to ear with a perfectly framed photo of the massive bird, most of us had missed our shots.

Condor flying right in front of us!

Seconds later, three more condors were making figure eights in the air above our heads and we all snapped endless photos — delighted by our good luck.

The Colca Canyon was stunning, but the condors took my breath away with their size and grace in the air. Our group was mesmerized as we joined more groups at a lookout spot and continued to watch the perfectly choreographed dance of condors above our heads.

The group doing condor spotting

Everyone seemed thoroughly fulfilled as we got back into the van and began our trip home, the three hour drive made much shorter by the passing scenery and the thrill of looking back at the photos that captured the condors’ flight — a highlight for all of us.