Flight Of The Condor !!!

Cruz Del Condor, Colca Canyon, Peru.

We had a very early breakfast and started from from the beautiful Colca Lodge for the hour-long drive. Our destination was the Cruz Del Condor view point overlooking the Colca Canyon. The plan was to watch the Andean Condors soaring over the rising thermal air currents at the Colca Canyon. Swetha and Shreya were protesting having to get up so early on vacation but the Condors are most active between 7 and 9 am.  On the way, we made several stops to enjoy the early morning Sun slowly lighting up the beautiful landscape. 

Colca Canyon.

Running as deep as 13,650 feet in some locations, the Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon!

This old lady had set up her shop early in the morning and was waiting for tourists to stop at this view point.

I gave her couple of Peruvian $$ (Sols) and with her permission took the photos

The road to Cruz Del Condor was completely unpaved but it was a smooth drive without ditches and bumps.
Can't imagine this road in the rainy season!

Very often, the wheels of the van we were riding were pretty close to the edge of the canyon.

Cruz Del Condor!

We were one of the earliest tourists to arrive at Cruz Del Condor.
These ladies were just about to setup their shops!

Ready to shoot the Condors :)

The Andean Condor has a wing span of 10.5 feet and can weigh up to 28 pounds!

This Condor, with the distinctive white feathers surrounding the base of the neck is a male Condor!

It was a wonderful feeling to watch the massive Condors gliding effortlessly in the cool and crisp morning!

Because of their large size and weight, these Condors flap their wings only to get off the ground.
Afterwards, they depend on thermal air currents to soar.
They prefer to roost at high cliffs, so that they can launch without much effort.

This one was coming right at me :)

Bye Bye Birdie !!!

The Incas worshiped the Condors. Since the Condors soar from the earth to the sky, the Incas believed the Condors were the connecting link between them on the earth and their ancestors' souls in the sky. In Machu Picchu (link to the blog post), they built a Temple for the Condor. It is not surprising that many other cultures around the world (Indian, Native American and Asian) worshiped Eagles and Condors !!!