colca canyon

In a fairy tale, the daughter of the mountain was very pretty. She was loved by the Inca King who wanted to marry her. The god of the mountain was not very fond of such idea so he turned her daughter into a vicunas. The Inca King was sad, he brought the vicunas back to Cuzco. The wife of the King didn't know about such story so in order to cheer him up, she killed the vicunas to make a beautiful coat for the king when he wasn't there. When the King came back, he almost fainted and ordered that no one should kill the vicunas in the future.

The Kollawa people tested the rocks to see if they are suitable for cultivation. Their cultivation technique was later integrated into the Incas.

There were three major ethnic groups in Colca Canyon, the Kollawa (Aymaras), Cobana (Quechua) and the Tiahuanaco. The Kollawa people practice head deformation (wrapped the babies head so they would grow into a cone or a flat top) to remember the mountains where they were originated.

Attributes of the Condors:
They were silent. Condors were ugly but they fly beautifully. They can survive 14 days without eating. Their eyes were 8 times better than human. They are huge but they don't attack live animals (you have to be very dead to be eaten by the condors). So they were thought to bring the spirit of the dead to the heaven.

They pass the Condor cross to take a free ride of the thermal energy (so they can fly to 8km high).

I followed four local girls to their secret meeting place. It was hidden somewhere at the end of the village. They yelled at me something in Spanish either to ask me to get lost or come with them. I assumed the later. The view of the canyon was the best at the outcrop they were sitting on.

The deepest part of the Canyon is 3.4km.