Colca Canyon

In the Incan religion, the trilogy consists of a snake, a puma and a condor. The snake, or "serpiente," represents the underworld and the past. The puma is placed in between the snake and the condor and represents the land, "la tierra" and the present moment, the here and now. Above the two soars the famous Andean Condor, representing the next phase. It is said that the condor flies as a messenger from the gods to the people here on earth. For this reason, it is considered a very sacred bird to many Peruvians. The condor is one of the largest birds that is able to fly. These heavy and huge birds rely solely on the wind, gliding effortlessly and gracefully through the thermal currents above. 

On the first day of my trek through the Colca Canyon, one of these huge birds magestically floated over our heads. According to our guide, this was a good omen and he was granting us safe access through his home, the magnificent Colca Canyon. 

Claimed to be the second deepest canyon in the world, The tremendous cliffs and canyon walls were a beautiful place to wander for three days. On the first we hiked down into the canyon where we stayed in a family hostel near the river. For our second day we walked along the canyon bottom, passing through several very small and remote communities. Inside the canyon is a dry and barren dessert so we were very excited to see the oasis where we would be staying that night. Complete with palm trees and running water into bright blue swimming pools, we enjoyed our afternoon in the sun before hiking up and out of the canyon the following day.