Colca’s Splendor I

04-10-2011

Driving into Colca’s splendor (part 1)
By Cecilia Palma

If you are planning to travel to southern lands, the Colca Canyon is one of several possibilities (in fact, a must) to be visited in the department of Arequipa, province of Caylloma. Buckle your seat belt and drive safe.

From the city of Arequipa, there are three accessible tracks to get to the Colca Canyon. I choose the northern exit through the town of Charcani. This route gives me the first memorable experience of my trip, which is passing very close between the volcanoes Misti and Chachani. This is the first chance to capture spectacular views. The road crosses the Salinas and Aguadablanca National Reserve, habitat of the vicuña. This reserve was created in 1975 and is home as well to guanacos and plant resources as the “ichu” and the “tola”.

Continuing along this way the community of Patahuasi appears, and 22 kilometers further, Viscachani. Here, aside of the road there is a “tambito” serving visitors with good sandwiches, ham, cheese and tortillas, and aromatic mates of coca and muña leaves. Outside, handicrafts and multicolored woven wool and alpaca textiles are on sale. The landscape in this place could not be more impressive: A stone forest formed by erosion of wind and water, hundreds of millions years ago.

As I get to the fork of Sumbay Alto, I take the opportunity to visit the site. After a short 10 minutes walk, and after descending a set of stone steps, the caves of Sumbay appear. Inside, there are over 500 images carved in white, yellow and ocher. These figures represent men hunting camelids such as the vicuña and birds like the ñandu/rhea. It is estimated that some of these engravings are about 10 thousand years old.

Still going along the high Andean lands, each view invites to photograph, but most impressive is yet to come: the wild geography shows a huge portal created by the passage of time, monumental rock formations that the locals call “La Ventana del Colca.” The traveler will be moved by the immensity that surrounds it, and this spot also marks the start of an exceptional adventure in the Colca Canyon.

In this place, the environment is definitely different, alive in a way. As you advance, you’ll feel that the peaks and volcanoes are “lord and masters” of the territory.

Approaching Callalli, the landscape becomes almost cosmic. Callalli’s natural formations and their “enchanted castles”—as these are known in the region—

can take the traveler away from reality for a moment and transport him to a strange and surprisingly beautiful world, inviting him to browse images among the stunning stone fortifications. The intense volcanic activity, coupled with the wind and rain action have made Callalli, a unique place in the world.

The road leads me to the town of Chivay. Tourism activity in the Colca Valley focuses here, a town located on 3,650 meters above sea level and approximately 4 hours from Arequipa.

The Church, like many others of the southern Andean region, has the particularity of showing some differences between its two bell towers. The story goes that during construction, people formed groups that competed for the best built tower.

Chivay offers restaurants and accommodation of different categories, as well as well-known hotel chains.

With time on my side, I head south of Chivay, to Patapampa and Pampa del Arriero. As its name suggests, I´m lucky to find herders with their llamas and alpacas dressed in beautiful red pompoms and Peruvian flags. They are a colorful touch in this vast expanse of land, over the 4.700 meters of altitude.

The next stop on the tour is the town of Yanque, an intermediate point to stay overnight, where the lodges are very comfortable with warm fireplaces and relaxing hot thermal water pools with water between 38 ºC to 40 °C.

The next morning, walking the streets of Yanque, I can closely observe the colorful and elaborated costumes, especially in women. Here the locals explained the origin of the two local ethnic groups, the Collagua and Cabana.

Collaguas come from the “Nevado/Peak Collaguata”, and Cabanas come from the Nevado/Peak Gualca- Gualca. To differentiate a Collagua woman from a Cabana, you just have to look at their hats. The Collaguas use white straw hats with a colored band, while in contrast, Cabana women use a of woolen cloth hat fully embroidered with figures of the giant hummingbird and the star of eight points.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception is a jewel that Yanque has inherited from colonial times. Its construction began in 1691 and ended seven years later. This building has many interesting details in its façade and on the floors of the atrium.

The Colca Valley communities have worked in the restoration of all their churches, so now you can see them, neatly painted on the exterior and interior, showing beautiful altars and altarpieces in perfect state of preservation.

Continuing, the path leads to the town of Achoma, but before we must not miss the viewpoint of Choquetico. The terraces of Llactacucho are seen in all their dimensions from this point. Undoubtedly it is the biggest and most beautiful place of the whole valley. Its graded semicircular form has become to be known as the “amphitheatre”, where there will be no more music to be heard than the mysterious sound of the wind.

The built-in stone steps were used to reach from the lowest to the highest levels of the platforms, to cultivate the seeds.

Next to the “amphitheatre” I observe the pre-hispanic “colcas”- old seed and food stores, which by natural ventilation and low temperatures, kept its contents in perfect condition.

BRON: peruthisweek.com

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