Trekking Colca Canyon

The guidebooks all say that its the deepest canyon on earth, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. While I'm really not sure what distinguishes a canyon from a valley, I'd say this is more of a really steep, very deep river valley.  The Grand Canyon it's not, but it does have some stunning scenery and a rich history.

The Colca River's origins are the glaciers on one of this region's many 20,000 foot peaks. For geologists, the  main chapters in this area's story were written by volcanoes and glaciers. The river valley is broad in places and stair-stepped with 700 year-old terraces built over centuries by the Incas and their predecessors as they scratched out a living growing corn, quinoa and potatoes.

Our Colca trip started at 3:30 a.m. with a knock on our hotel room door followed by a 3 hour bus ride. By 6:30 we were bundled up against the high altitude cold and eating a meager breakfast of coca leaf tea and local bread. Then back on the bus.

The canyon is famous for its Andean Condors--claimed to be the largest bird on earth with a wing span of 3 meters. Our bus route took us along the canyon rim where we stopped to watch for the giant birds as they warmed their wings in the sun before going off to search for carrion. The birds would hang in the air just off the canyon rim giving the tourists a show. Pretty impressive for a bunch of vultures.

Our trek started on the side of the road at 3400 meters altitude. Across the gorge we could see the glint of tin roofed houses in the village that we would spend the first night. It didn't look all that far away. We picked our way down about 1000 meters over the next 7 km, switchbacking slowly to the river.  From there it was another km or two to a small village where we had lunch and a siesta.  The Peruvians like their carbs--often serving rice, quinoa and potatoes on the same plate.  Theirs is a very wide, flat food pyramid.

Another hour down the trail and we reached the village where we would spend the night.  We stayed with one of the families who had switched from farmers to hosting guests as their source of income.  They had added rustic guest accommodations to their little compound which also functioned as a barnyard and home. Turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, and 50 guinea pigs called the place home. It was like a night at Old MacDonalds.

In the kitchen they kept 50 cuy or guinea pigs. In Peru, guinea pigs are not pets--they are dinner.  Our guide joked that Americans have it all wrong keeping guinea pigs as pets.  "You shouldn't play with your food", he said.


Our second day's hike was relatively easy, another 7 km mostly down to a place called Sangalle or the Oasis. Enterprising locals had carved out rustic resorts on a shelf above the river, complete with swimming pools and bungalows. We spent the day lounging, reading and letting our blisters heal.


Day three began at 5 a.m. and 3100 meters elevation.  We donned headlamps and our hiking shoes and started up the trail in the dark. Three hours, 7 km and 1000 meters later were were on top high-fiving each other for surviving the grueling haul out of the canyon. Lest we feel too proud of our climb, our guide said some locals make the trip up in about 45 minutes. Still we were really proud of the kids for setting the pace on the way up.