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 !!!

Chivay, Peru !

The Town Center (Plaza de Armas) of Chivay. The main attractions are
the Church and the local market just steps from the town center.

Traveling from Arequipa to the Colca Canyon, Chivay is a must-stop-and-visit small town for all tourists. It is where the Colca Canyon starts. We had a nice lunch buffet at the local restaurant - where I had the opportunity to "taste" Guinea Pig. ;)

The 18th century, colonial style church at the town center.

The local market. It was just like visiting a small town/village market in India !!!

Is it black or dark blue ??? :)

I heard that there are more than 3000 types of potatoes in Peru !!! I was able to capture at least 4 of them :) 
I tasted few types of the Peruvian potatoes during breakfast, lunch and dinner.
They are definitely tasty but very starchy!

Look at the differences in the dress and the hat these women are wearing.
Each type represents the village they come from!

Visiting the historic, world famous places like Ollantaytambo, Machu Pichhu and Cusco is a truly inspiring experience. In those places, we mostly encounter other tourists and locals associated with selling something for the tourists. But, if you really want to experience the life and spirit of the natives in their own environment, there is nothing more rewarding than visiting a small town like Chivay!

Volcanoes, Vicunas and Alpacas !!!

Volcanoes Misti and Pichu Pichu in the background.

   



The beautiful Colca Canyon is approximately 165 Kilometers from Arequipa, Peru. By road, with frequent stops in between, we took around 4 hours to reach the small town Chivay, which is near the Colca Canyon. This is a very interesting region of Peru to travel by road and I highly recommend it. As we left Arequipa, we were leaving behind the 3 volcanoes Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu.

Ubinas was still fuming!!! Recently on August 21, there was another massive explosion at Ubinas!

But, very soon we encountered Peru's most active volcano, Ubinas. Just 10 days before our trip, on June 3rd, there was a massive eruption at Ubinas and the ash plume had reached 10 Kilometers above the volcano.

I love the layers of colors in this frame !!!

The drive took us through Peru's National Park "Salinas y Aguada Blanca". The scenery changed from snow capped mountains to dry bushes to the highest elevation we ever reached on this trip. We then rapidly descended to the small town, Chivay where the Colca Canyon starts. On the way, we stopped whenever we noticed the wild animals Vicuna, Guanaco, Alpaca Suri and many different types of birds.

Vicunas

Camels, Llamas, Alpacas, Alpaca Suris, Vicunas and Guanacos belong to the Camelids family. In South America and Peru, the Llamas and Alpacas are domesticated. The Vicunas and Guanacos are wild animals. The Vicunas are identified by soft fur just below their necks.

A Vicuna family!

Vicuna

After few hours on the road we stopped at a rest area to have some refreshing Coca Tea.
At these elevations, one need to keep sipping the Coca tea to deal with "Altitude Sickness"

Rest area restaurant.

Alpacas!

Cool dude, Alpaca! Love the expression on his face :)

From the view point at the highest elevation (16,108 feet above sea level), volcanoes
Ubinas, Ampato and Sabancya are visible.

Volcanoes Ampato (20,629 feet) on left and Sabancaya (19, 442 feet) on right. Sabancaya was smoking :)

Shopping mall at the highest elevation !!!

Colorful hats, Alpaca and Llama sweaters and blankets for sale!

We pulled over to the side again to watch a large herd of Alpacas and Alpaca Suris.

An Alpaca Suri is identified by its long, shiny locks!

Why did this Guanaco cross the road?

So that I can take a close up photo of him :)

It does get very cold here. Brrr!!!

Black, Brown and White Alpaca Suris.

Alpaca Suris.

Partial Solar Eclipse !!!

Nature put on another free and impressive show in the sky today. The Moon is the main culprit, coming in between the Sun and the Earth in the afternoon causing the "Partial Solar Eclipse". The Solar eclipse started at 2:15 PM and ended around 4:40 PM.  Since it is a weekday, I took my tripod and camera to work, stepped out to the parking lot during the eclipse and took these shots.

This is a test shot I took yesterday to figure out the settings to be used during the partial solar eclipse.

The black spots are "Sun Spots". The darker Sun Spot
is more than 12 times bigger than the earth :)

The following is a collage of 12 photos taken from just before the eclipse started to the time it ended. Even in the last image at the bottom right corner, there is teeny bit of the Moon covering the Sun. If you can't see it, have your eyes checked :)

Looking at the Sun Spot, which is 12 times bigger than the earth, I was once again reminded by nature how tiny we are! Even the Sun becomes a tiny dot in the universe, just one of the many trillion stars.  Hmmm....something to think about !!! :)