Colca Things to Do

When visitng the Colca Canyon, make sure you take your swimwear for a visit to the hot springs near Chivay. Mind you, I was expecting something very natural whereas in reality it didn't seem that different from a visit to the local baths! You can borrow a towel, there are changing rooms and you'll be given a key to a locker. There's one pool under cover and another one that's open, and the water is very warm and very relaxing. As you sit in the pool you can look up at the surrounding mountains - I spotted several mountain goats clambering around. OK, perhaps it's not much like the local baths after all!

You can also buy cold drinks here.

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To really appreciate the Colca Canyon you need to walk a bit. Of course the sight of the condors from the Cruz del Condor is fantastic, but you will be surrounded by other tourists there, whereas if you travel just a mile away and get out of the vehicle to walk, you'll find yourself more or less alone. The air is wonderfully fresh and clear, the views down into the Canyon are stunning, so you'll get some good photos, and we also enjoyed seeing the hummingbirds hunt for nectar among the cactus flowers.

The 2 days/1 night experience trought the canyon del colca is something you gotte really do in Arequipa. This journey will take you trough an amazing landscape, with volcanoes, rural villages, animals wherever, piecefull and quietness with a supreme scenario.
It starts from Arequipa early in the morning and on the first day you cross 5.700m , so do not forget to buy some hojas de coca... At the afternoon, after having passed rural villages, having met people on the way, alpaca, lamas and vicuNas, you will be taken in the hot bath, so you can enjoy a bath into a swimming pool with 40C hot water...amazing! Then you have to choose were to sleep; there are three options: colca lodge which is the most expensive but the most confortable (see my accomodation tip) or in some guesthouses. We book in colca lodge and the entire journey costed us 35USD.
In the afternoon you will be taken to a tipical mountain market, fullfilled of peruvian trying to sell a lot of stuff...very imprressive.
At day 2, very early in the moprning, you will be taken to cerro del condor, where the condors are flying just 5 meters above your head...woow!
In the afternoon you will be taken back to Arequipa.

Altough you will be not sleeping in the Colca Lodge, that has his own geothermal “swimmingpools”, you gotta get to this place and take a bath.

The complex has four differents pools with different water tmperatures, one 35C, one 37C, one 39C and another 80C.

Nearby the swimmingpools there is a small “open building” where you can change your clothes...but take care cuz here is so bloody freezing cold all year around!

But anyway, you will definitel enjoy to chill a bit in the hot water when outside you feel a cold wind!

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La Cruz del Condor ( 3.287 msnm ) es el sitio del cañón del Colca que tiene mayor profundidad
A parte de venir a ver el paisaje se viene a avistar los condores que a primeras horas de la mañana se pueden ver , si tienes suerte , ascendiendo por las corrientes térmicas

La Cruz del Condor (Alt.3.287 m) isthe place of the Colca canyon with the biggest depth
Besides to see the landscape the people comes to see the condors early in the morning , if they are lucky , rising in the thermals

During your excursion in the Canyon del Colca, you will have a stop (where usually you overnight) in a small tipical Andean village. The altitude here is about 4.200 mt, and the village is so pretty and autentic...no turist trap at all!
Around his street you smell the autenticity of a small village with his own culture and the hinabitants are so great...just hang around his streets and his small central market and you will enjoy so much!

The ride to the Colca Canyon is beautiful and you see some varied terrain along with some rare wildlife as you pass through Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca. Vicunas are wild cousins to llamas and alpaccas. Their fur is the most expensive and warm material known to man and it was nice to finally get close enough to one to snap a photo.

Of course, the main reason for the trip in the first place is the canyon itself. Reputed to be the deepest in the world, I would say that it was not as spectacular as the Grand Canyon in the USA and local experts say that a canyon nearby is, in fact deeper, but it was still a very impressive sight. The ease with which you can explore it, makes it a worthwhile excursion.