FARMING TERRACES, Colca Canyon, Peru

We should have spent more time in the Colca Canyon.  Our 2-day local tour allowed us very little time to enjoy the natural scenery of the magnificent valley, except stopping at lookouts along the way to and from the Cruz del Condor.  If time allowed, we could have done one of the hiking tours that reach the very bottom of the canyon.  At twice the depth of Arizona’s Grand Canyon, the bottom of Colca Canyon is much warmer and more humid than the top.  The Colca Canyon is largely covered by pre-Inca farming terraces.  For over a thousand years, Andean farmers constructed agricultural terraces to cultivate potatoes, maizes, and other crops in the shallow soil on mountain slopes.

After Cruz del Condor, our tour bus stopped a couple of times along the road for us to appreciate the Colca Canyon.  Farming terraces carved into mountain slope, but not all were planted with crops.  In fact, many terraces, especially the higher ones furthest away from the valley, looked like as if they had been abandoned for centuries.  The stepping profile of the abandoned terraces revealed a fading trace of human manipulations to the rough and mountainous terrain along the Colca River in precolonial times.

It was already noontime by the time we arrived at Chivay.  After lunch, we bid farewell with the rest of the tour group who would return to Arequipa.  We, on the other hand, would switch bus and continue our journey over the Andean highlands to the city of Puno, where we would begin our next phase of our Peruvian journey, the Lake Titicaca.

Locals at a mountain village at the Colca Canyon.

Agricultural fields on a plateau in the  Colca Valley.

[scanned positive slide] Agricultural fields and farming terraces beyond.

[scanned positive slide] Agricultural fields on a plateau overlooking the depth of Colca Canyon.

Cactus is common in Colca Canyon.

Farming terraces were everywhere.

[scanned positive slide] Farming terraces all the way down to Colca River.

Farming terraces of Colca Canyon.

[scanned positive slide] Farming terraces of Colca Canyon.

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Read other posts on Peru Trip 2010

LIMA
1. Peru Trip 2010
2.  Bumpy Arrival, Lima & Arequipa, Peru
AREQUIPA & COLCA CANYON
3.  Monasterio de Santa Catalina, Arequipa, Peru
4.  Plaza de Armas, Arequipa, Peru
5.  Volcanoes and Vicuna, Pampa Canahuas Natural Reserve, Patahuasi, and Patapampa, Peru
6.  Yanque, Colca Canyon, Peru
7. Cruz del Condor, Colca Canyon, Peru
8. Farming Terraces, Colca Canyon, Peru
PUNO & TITICACA
9. Road to Titicaca, Colca Canyon to Puno, Peru
10. Afternoon on Taquile Island, Titicaca, Peru
11. Morning on Taquile, Titicaca, Peru
12. Inka Express, Puno to Cusco, Peru
CUSCO & SACRED VALLEY
13. Pisac & Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru
14. Salinas de Maras, & Moray, Sacred Valley, Peru
15. Lucuma Milkshake & Plaza de Armas, Cusco, Peru
16. Saksaywaman, Cusco, Peru
INCA TRAIL
17. KM 82 to Wayllabamba, Inca Trail, Peru
18. Wayllabamba to Pacamayo, Inca Trail, Peru
19. Pacasmayo to Winay Wayna, Inca Trail, Peru
20. Winay Wayna to Machu Picchu, Inca Trail, Peru
21. Machu Piccu, Inca Trail, Peru
22. Machu Picchu in Black and White, Inca Trail, Peru
23. Afterthought, Inca Trail, Peru
LAST DAY IN CUSCO & LIMA
24. Farewell to the Incas, Cusco, Peru
25. Last Day in Peru, Lima, Peru