Cruz del Condor

I spotted my first condor before the bus driver had turned off the engine. Floating above us, Apache-feather fingers spread, it rode on an updraft at the canyon edge. Peeling ourselves out of the van, we were buzzed by two more of these spectacular birds, which landed, merging to form a crag, perching precariously above the sheer drop to the valley floor, some 3,960 feet below. The Colca Canyon stretches for 100 km and its deepest section, at 13,650 feet, is twice as deep as the grand, US version, spacious enough for more than ten Andean vultures to fly past us this bright day, 'those magnificent flying machines' presenting awestruck onlookers (for their delectation), with a scintillating aerobatic display.Read more