Choose another map, showing:

• Amazon
• South America (central)
• South America
• The World

Other entries in Cotahuasi

"Profundo Canon del Mundo"

Cotahuasi Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world at 3535 meters.  Colca Canyon, just a few hours away, is the second deepest at approximately 3400 meters.  The Grand Canyon comes in third!

Cotahuasi Canyon is a 10 hour bus ride from Arequipa!  This bus was not one of the "luxury liners" since Cotahuasi is NOT a popular tourist destination.  Most tourists visit Colca Canyon because it is closer to Arequipa and the route isn't as treacherous.  The bus had a TV, of course, for the famous movies "a la bus", but no bathroom!  Luckily, we did make a couple of stops along the way.  We also made several undesignated stops along the road to pick up passengers.   

For the first 5 hours, the route followed a paved two lane highway.  For the second half, we veered off cross-country on a NARROW single lane, bumpy, dirt-gravel road that climbed and descended through the mountains via tight switchbacks.  Some of the switchbacks were so tight, that the bus had to back up to get through.  (And, no, Dad, nothing like the pictures of the road in Bolivia!)  The Andes mountains did not have much vegetation, so the bus driver was able to see any oncoming traffic.  We didn't meet many other vehicles, but when we did, one would have to back up to a location where the other could pass. 

This part of the journey was done at night and, boy, was it dark out there!  The bus lights reflected off the tundra and rocks giving the route a surreal feeling.  I can see why not many tourists make this journey!

Logina (the Administrative Assistant at SEPA) and I arrived in the town of Cotahuasi at 3:00 AM.  We found a hotel and settled in for the night.  We were needing to be up at 6:00 to catch the bus to the canyon, but at 6:00, we decided to make other plans for Friday and go to the canyon on Saturday.  We still didn't get any sleep since the church started firing off firecrackers every hour starting at 6:00 AM for a religious holiday (December 8). 

We spent Friday exploring Cotahuasi and the nearby town of Alca.  Cotahuasi is an incredible place!  It reminded me of an old Western town with a South American feel.  The town is charming, quaint, peaceful and very low key and safe.  The main street is cobblestone and barely wide enough for the bus to get through.  The people are very friendly as they walked through town leading their mules, horses or sheep!  The dogs just sleep in the middle of the street until someone or something forces them to move!  They don't get many visitors here, especially gringos.  In fact, Friday night we were walking through town when a little boy walked by and pointed at me, saying "gringo".  Guess I kind of stood out!    

As we explored the area, I kept feeling like I was in the movie "Motorcycle Diaries".  It is a fantastic movie that takes place in South America and is about a couple of guys that take a motorcycle trip through Argentina and Boliva - through the small highland towns like Cotahuasi.  If you haven't seen it, I recommend you rent it.  It is in Spanish with English sub-titles, but worth the read.

On Friday, Logina and I went to the nearby town of Alca - an hour by combi.  The road was a single lane dirt/gravel road that followed the Cotahuasi River and valley floor.  We started getting a few views of the canyon walls along this route.  It was a beautiful drive even with all the jostling! 

The valley is mostly agricultural with the fields being irrigated by underground springs and streams.  They have quite a remarkable under ground aquaduct system especially for the primative agricultural methods.  All the farming is done by hand with the fields being plowed using ox and wooden plows, then planted and weeded by hand.  I don't know how they cultivate the fields, but I imagine by hand!  The fields are all terraced and divided by rock walls with each rock carefully placed and secured by mud.  Some of the walls have been there so long that cactuses are growing on top.

Alca is another quaint town similar to Cotahuasi, but much smaller.  The streets were deserted as we walked through town.  It felt like a ghost town!  We think most of the people were at the church in Cotahuasi for the holiday service.  We ate lunch at a local restaurant and hopped a bus back to some hot springs along the river.

The natural hot springs was on the other side of the Cotahuasi River, so we had to go across one of the many swinging bridges in the area to get there.  The hot springs was recently renovated by the Peruvian government and was actually very clean and HOT.  After the long bus ride and short night, we spent 2 relaxing hours in the pool.  Then, back to Cotahuasi for an early dinner and bed.

We arose at 5:45 AM on Saturday to hop the bus to Cotahuasi Canyon and the Sipia waterfall.  It is an hour ride by bus to get to the bottom of the canyon and then a 40 minute hike to the falls.  The road was similar to the road into Cotahuasi - single lane with many switchbacks.  We prayed the bus had good brakes, but since the driver had to roll the bus to jump start it, I think we were praying in vain!  However, we made it safely to the makeshift bus stop at the bottom of the canyon after making many stops to let the local highland Quechau people on and off.  Such a simple, yet hard life!  But, the people seemed extremely happy.  One family got off the bus with the food stuffs they picked up in Cotahuasi and the little girl (no more than 5 years old) jumped off the bus and started scrambling up the hill towards home. 

The hike to the Sipia waterfalls was great!  We went through all kinds of terrain and scenery along the way - arrid, desolate cactus areas; lush farmland; forest; steep rocky slopes....  We scrambled quickly behind a family who knew the way to the falls. 

Supposedly, there are 3 falls.  We could only see the first one and it was quite impressive!  A man from Arequipa told us a story about the falls (translated via his wife).  The story goes that during the days of the Inca Empire, the Spanish befriended the Incas to get their gold, silver, copper and other treasures.  Right before they got the treasure, they killed the Inca ruler and the other Incas quickly threw all the treasure into the waterfalls to keep the Spanish from getting any.  So, if you are brave enough, you could try and get the treasure that lies beneath the powerful falls!

Right now is the driest part of the year.  The rains will begin to fall shortly raising the water level of the river by 20-30 feet with 20 more times the water.  It is amazing the amount of water flowing now with such an arrid terrain!  We kept wondering where all the water was coming from since there wasn't any sign of snow or glaciers in the mountains above. 

On our trip back to Arequipa, we did see some snow capped peaks.  But, we think the majority of the water is coming from natural underground springs.  I also heard that this area is one of the starting points of a tributary that goes into the Amazon River and that part of it goes underground for several hundred kilometers.  

The canyon was beautiful!  However, it was hard for me to imagine that it was the deepest in the world.  I guess since it is more open than the Grand Canyon it did not really show it's true depth.  Also, we may not have been in the deepest area.  When you visit the Colca Canyon, you only go to a point half way down.  The deepest part is inaccessible without a many day trek.

On our way back to the bus, part of the path we had taken was blocked by a several ton boulder that had fallen since we started our hike.  Some workers were working to clear the path - by hand, of course.  We waited as several guys, one using a long rod, pushed with their feet to dislodge and roll the boulder off the path.  We quickly scurried around before anything else might fall.

The bus left at 11:00 AM back to Cotahuasi, and since it was the only bus, you didn't want to miss it.  We got back to Cotahuasi in time to have lunch and shower before we hopped the bus for the 10 hour ride back to Arequipa!  It was interesting seeing some of the terrain we had passed through in the dark two nights before.  In the rainy season, the valley is surrounded by beautiful waterfalls and the mountains are enveloped in a lush green blanket.  Even without the rain, the views were spectacular! 

P.S.  When we got to the top of the ridge, we were above tree line in a tundra climate zone.  It was very cold as we drove through the low clouds and every once in a while, you would see a "primative structure" that housed a family living on top of the world.  We even picked up such a family along the way.  What a rugged, harsh life. 

We also ran into a herd of potentially wild llamas.  This area is the llamas natural habitat. 

Add to del.icio.us Add to reddit

Photos / videos of ""Profundo Canon del Mundo"":