COLCA CANYON

Duration: 2 days/ 01 night
Leaving: daily

Pampa Cañahuas Reserve- Patapampa highest point – Town of Chivay – Town of Coporaque - Cruz del Condor view point- la Calera hot springs.



FIRST DAY:

We will depart at 8:30hrs from Arequipa, crossing 160 Km to the town of Chivay, capital of the Province of Caylloma. At the beginning of our excursion we will enjoy the majestic views of Misti, Chachani and PichuPichu volcanoes and then we will approach the National Reserve of “Pampa Cañahuas”, where our transportation will make a stop to observe the wild Vicuñas (the most important American camel) in its natural habitat. At this point we will be around 3,400 meters above sea level.
We will arrive to “Pata Wasi” (Pata=high Wasi=home) an Andean community in the opposite border of the reserve, here it is interesting to see the natural formation of the rocks and a view of the backside of the Misti and Chachani volcanoes. To prevent altitude sickness we will enjoy an original Andean “Mate de Coca” drink in Sumbay, 3,800 meters above sea level.
Continuing on the road we will pass through “Tocra” over the 4,500 meter high mountains, where we will observe the lakes with migrant birds and we’ll get pictures of the “Antiplano” (highland) with its llamas and Guanacos. Our highest point will be “Pata Pampa” (Pata=High, Pampa=Land) located at 4,820 meters, where we’ll observe the volcanoes Ampato, Sabancaya, the Hualca-Hualca, the Mismi (the source of the Amazon River), and the “Cordillera de Chila”.
When we are getting close to the town of Chivay (3,651meters) we will start to wonder at the spectacular multicolor view of the terraces of Colca valley. In Chivay we will drive to our hotel and after finding our rooms, we will have our lunch. Around 3:30 p.m. we will drive or walk (optional) to the real Indian Town of Coporaque, where we will walk around its traditional main square and hike to the hill of San Antonio ruins (optional), where we will visit a cemetery and enjoy the view of the terraces ( the hike takes around 1 ½ hrs.)
We’ll return to our hotel and take our towels to enjoy the warm waters of “La Calera”, natural hot springs where we will have a spectacular sunset rounded by the mountains.




SECOND DAY:

We will have our breakfast very early in the morning (around 6:00 a.m.), so we can leave to the famous “Cruz del Condor” point, as early as possible. We’ll arrive to “Cruz del Condor”.around 8:00 hrs (approximately).
After taking pictures of the majestic flight of the Condors, our guide will take you for a short hike near the Canyon (1 hour). We will return to our transportation and driving back to Chivay, visiting on the route the traditional town of Pinchollo and the “Antahuilque viewpoint”, where we will observe a wonderful 1,500 yea- old terracing constructed by the Collaguas culture (before the Incas’ time). Also we will make a stop at the look-out point of “Choquetico”, with its “Tumbas colgantes “(hanging tombs), and taking a look to the litomaqueta (The terrace model drawn in a rock). We will continue visiting the town of Maca, an Andean community that experienced an earthquake in November of 1991 and the town of Yanque, with the most beautiful church in the valley.
We’ll return to Chivay and after our lunch we are taking the route back to Arequipa City. Arriving at 17:30 aprox.

Included: Transportation- English guide - hotel (two-bed rooms), breakfast.
Optional : In our Hotel in Coporaque we can aks for the mountain bikes or horses.