We think that it will be a favored trek for those who take a pleasure in hiking and connected with nature. It is not too long time of the trekking per day.
Colca Canyon is situated about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Arequipa in southern part of Peru . It is a canyon of the Colca River and famous Grand Canyon in the United States is less than twice then Colca Canyon .
Nevertheless, the canyon's sides are not as upright as those of the Grand Canyon. Because they are such major features of the paysage.
The Colca Valley is a bright Andean valley with settlements built in Spanish Colonial period and formerly populated by the Cabanas and the Collaguas. The local inhabitants still save patrimonial traditions and keep on to work on the pre-Inca stepped terraces.
All over the region, you will see flamboyant pre-Incan farming terraces still utilized today for cultivating corn, quinoa, wheat and barley. In the course of the pre-Hispanic era, the region was populated by the Collaguas and the Cabanas; nowadays, the dwellers have learned to conserve their Colonial churches in Yanque, Lari, and Madrigal, and they keep on to wear their traditional clothes. The Colca Canyon is habitation of animals such as the Andean condor among other 100 kinds of birds, four types of camelids: guanaco, vicuna, llama and alpaca. As well there are over 300 variations of plants, of which 30 are cactus, not to mention the original green yareta.
One of the most interesting events of the visit to the canyon is the dawn near the cliff where you can see, at dawn, flying about 20 condors.
The Colca Valley is unimprovable for recreational and artistic activities such as pictorial art, filmingб photography, poetry, amongst others, who are ready for adventure sports like trekking, rafting, climbing, cycling, etc.
We will pick you up at 03:30 a.m. to board a bus and drive to the village of Cabanaconde. Along the way we will stop at the Condor Cross, where we can appreciate the depth of the canyon and the majestic flight of the condors. We will have a packed lunch for breakfast. Then we will head to the Pampa of San Miguel.
Here we will start our descent of approximately 1,000 meters till we reach the altitude of the Colca River. After that we will ascent to visit the first community of Campesina de San Juan de Chuccho, where we will have lunch. We will continue our journey to Cosñirhua and Malata. From here we will start again to descent to cross the suspension bride of Sangalle to reach the community of Sangalle, which is also known as oasis and public bath. Here we will have dinner and stay for the night.
We will start our 3 hour descent through the canyon at 04:00 a.m. Upon arrival in Cabanaconde we will have breakfast. There we will take our touristic vehicle to return to Chivay. Along the way we will make some stops at different villages and touristic attractions, such as the natural viewpoints (Choquetico and Antahuilque). Once we arrive at Chivay we will enjoy the thermal baths of Calera. There we will have lunch and then return to Arequipa, where we will arrive at approximately 04:00 p.m.
Comfortable and varied tourist-class accommodations chosen for location and character.
Moderate phisical activities during the walking amongs the Colca circuit. But reasonable for people with different age.