This morning we drive up to Colca Canyon in search of the Condor. It is a beautiful drive up through the valley to the canyon. The river is at 2,500 meters and we are at 3,800 meters - it is an impressive canyon. But we are not really there to see the canyon - our goal is to sight the rare condor - the second largest bird in the world (after the albatross).
We had a slow start - Jacqui saw one, and then we waited. Lars changed the lens on his camera to a wide angle from a telephoto and at that moment one soared right over us. It soared along the canyon rim until we lost sight of it. The condors love the thermals created in the early mornings at the canyon.
After a while we sighted one in the far distance - even though it was far away, it still seemed huge. Shortly thereafter, we flew towards us and once again soared over us and around. At this time, we started seeing more and more - we were not sure where they came from. In the end, we saw five at the same time. In this whole region there are only 50. We watched them perform their aerial ballet for about 15 minutes and then they flew off. It was an incredible experience.
We hung around for a while and then walked back to the truck. Everyone started to leave and in the end, we were the only one left. Just then, five condors soared back into sight and they flew over us and back down into the canyon - what luck. It was awesome.
After all that, we went to check out what the local ladies were selling. In the end, we did not buy anything, but we gave them Polaroid photos of themselves - they greatly enjoyed that. We also took a photo of them in their traditional dress.
On the way back to Chivay, we had a quick photo stop to look at the terrace farms that are built on and along the valley walls and floor. We also saw the huge cracks in the ground caused by the most recent earthquake.
Back in Chivay, we did not do much that afternoon - hung out in the hotel and worked on our journals. We also worked on Jacqui's visa for Bolivia - we will see how that goes.