[2015]
[Sunday 15 February 2015]
Colca Canyon: 3-star Hotel Casa Andina Classic Colca - Chivay, Perú, Telephone Number: +51 1 2139739
Puno: 3-star La Hacienda Puno Plaza de Armas - Puno 419, Puno, Perú, Telephone Number: +51 51 367340
- DAY 6: Colca Canyon to Puno B/L/D
An early start from Chivay sets you up for a spectacular scenic tour of the Colca Canyon with its terraced fields, hanging tombs and deep gorges, all culminating with a chance to see the majestic condors as they rise deep from within the canyon. You will then make your way back to the hotel and after lunch, commence your journey to Puno, arriving in the evening where dinner at your hotel is included.
There was the pattering of rain in the night — a welcome sound when one is snug in bed.
Janet was up ca.4am, and I followed suit shortly afterwards. … There were birds singing loudly outside.
Janet packed; I zipped the cases shut and clicked the belts on. We went to reception a little before 5.30am to check out, then on to breakfast.
… We boarded the coach, ca.6am. It was a clearer day than yesterday, and all the mountains around Chivay were well defined.
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:05:32
Seen from the coach: part of the hotel complex and (background:) clearly visible mountains
“En route we drove past terraced fields,” Janet wrote, “hanging tombs and deep gorges.” I didn’t see any hanging tombs, though.
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:13:36
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:21:06
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:25:52
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:26:34
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:26:58
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:40:12
Seen from the coach en route: through a tunnel with seemingly very little clearance
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:44:46
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 06:45:38
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:06:30
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:07:58
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:17:56
Seen from the coach en route
We stopped a little before 7.30pm for an hour at a viewpoint — “Mirador Cruz del Condor” — high above the steep-sided and very deep valley. We looked here and waited, looked there and waited — and, when the hour was almost up, still no condor had made an appearance.
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:27:24
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:27:32
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:27:54
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:33:36
At the viewpoint: “Cruz del Condor”
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:35:04
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:35:48
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:36:06
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:38:46
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:38:46 (detail)
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:39:48
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:39:48 (detail)
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:41:14
At the viewpoint
Monday 16 February 2015, 07:41:14 (detail)
At the viewpoint
Then almost at the last minute our guide pointed where some condors had just appeared. There were perhaps three or four of them, here and there.
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:24:12
At last!
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:24:12 (detail)
At last!
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:28:16
At last!
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:28:16 (detail)
At last!
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:29:00
At last!
Monday 16 February 2015, 08:29:00 (detail)
At last!
We returned, with the valley far below on the left, stopping a couple of times for photographs. At the first stop some condors in flight appeared latterly, but I’d got back on the coach and didn’t photograph them.
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:13:02
First stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:14:18
First stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:15:30
First stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:16:10
First stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:17:06
First stop
At the second stop, a juvenile condor landed on the cliff above us and seemed to remain there a long while before it took off again.
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:35:50
Second stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:37:22
Second stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:38:20
Second stop
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:40:00
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:40:00 (detail)
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:42:30
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:42:30 (detail)
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:42:42
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:42:42 (detail)
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:46:44
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:46:44 (detail)
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:47:56
Juvenile condor
Monday 16 February 2015, 09:47:56 (detail)
Juvenile condor
On the way back we stopped for a loo-break in a small town in the Colca Valley, Maca.
Monday 16 February 2015, 10:02:40
Maca
Monday 16 February 2015, 10:04:06
Maca
Monday 16 February 2015, 10:10:12
Maca
Back at the hotel in Chivay, we picked up a couple who hadn’t been with us because the husband had been ill; our luggage was loaded; and we set off for Puno. After perhaps 1½ hours we found ourselves at the café-cum-gift shop we’d visited
yesterday
ca.10.30am. To my surprise, where there’d been just cloud and haze yesterday, today there was a great stratovolcano, stark on the horizon. We’d been provided with a lunch-box by the hotel, and as we sat outside the building I ate what I could from mine.
Monday 16 February 2015, 12:51:52
More or less the same scene as “10:52:18” yesterday
Monday 16 February 2015, 12:52:58
Cf. “10:31:30” yesterday, where the horizon was shrouded by mist and cloud. Not a hint of this volcano showed itself then.
My notes say, “Mountains and upland plains — llamas grazing. Through a town of low, single-storey buildings.” This may or may not be what I photographed at 14:17:02, below. “Some rain, which turned heavy, with sleet and hail — and lightning.” The threat of it is pictured at 13:54:10, and the aftermath at 14:06:32.
Monday 16 February 2015, 13:54:10
Seen from the coach en route: threatening clouds
Monday 16 February 2015, 14:06:32
Seen from the coach en route: snow or hail on the ground
Monday 16 February 2015, 14:17:02
Seen from the coach en route
My notes say: “We travelled parallel to a railway line for much of the way” — and
in fact, on writing this back at home, I see on
Bing Maps that there is indeed such a railway approaching the road at San Antonio de Chuca, diverging from it at some points, and doing so finally on the approach to Juliaca. I also wrote: “We passed a whole family on a motorbike.”
Monday 16 February 2015, 14:32:08
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 14:32:38
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 14:38:38
A loo-stop
Not far from our destination we passed some very slummy buildings. I missed the worst with my camera, though.
Monday 16 February 2015, 16:31:42
Seen from the coach en route
Monday 16 February 2015, 16:32:08
Seen from the coach en route
We reached the hotel, which was in the centre of Puno on the Plaza de Armas, a little after 5pm, and after the formalities had been completed and we’d been up to our room we went out in search of supplies.
Janet wanted facial tissues, which proved impossible to find in the size and quantity we were used to; anyway, she settled for two small packs of
Kleenex. Similarly impossible was cold diet cola, so she got four unrefrigerated bottles.
Monday 16 February 2015, 17:21:56
Puno
Our hotel room overlooked the Plaza de Armas.
Monday 16 February 2015, 17:58:44
Plaza de Armas, Puno
Monday 16 February 2015, 17:59:06
Plaza de Armas, Puno
Monday 16 February 2015, 17:59:12
Plaza de Armas, Puno
Transferred the 60 items (mostly photos) from the camera to the
WD Elements HDD (18:17–18:20), while Janet did the unpacking. Dinner was supposedly at 7pm, so we went down to the dining room for then. We hadn’t gone to dinner yesterday evening, wanting to be in bed early because of the very early start this morning; but we figured that this evening we’d be out in good time to go to bed fairly early for the slightly later start tomorrow morning. However — to our annoyance (and the
chef’s) — at 7 o’clock our guide for tomorrow with the unlikely name of “Clever” was introduced to us, and he talked to us for half an hour about tomorrow. It wasn’t till after 8.30pm that we returned to the room.…
[Tuesday 17 February 2015]
[2015]
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