THE COLCA VALLEY
(Excerpts from Mauricio de Romaña’s article in Rumbos, Vol. II/Issue 9, Page 08)

The Colca Canyon was first explored in 1931 by George Johnson and Robert Shippee, for the American Geographical Society.

The Colca River is more than 200 kilometers long and in places it has cut 3,400 meters into the earth, forming a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States. People have lived here since humans first arrived in the Andes. These early settlers left rock paintings and petroglyphs in caves and shelters - testimonies of their early experience - as well as arrow heads, obsidian scrapers and a host of other utensils.

About 1,400 years ago, the Collaguas, who were Aymaras from Tiahuanaco, and the Cabanas, who were of Quechua origin, both pre-Incan people with an advanced level of agricultural development, carved out 8,000 hectares of terraces on the slopes of the canyon, in order to cultivate and control the irrigation. The terraces are used to this day.

There are 14 towns in the Colca Valley that were minutely planned down to the last detail in Spain and were built during the conquest. But somehow, a curious phenomenon occurred, the Colca region literally disappeared from the map only to be re-discovered in the 1970s.

The Colca was opened to tourism in 1985, when new highways and the infrastructure built for the Majes project made access easier. Since then, many people have visited the area, including pioneering tourists who spread the word about its history and the magnitude of its landscape.

Whether one visits by car, boat, bicycle or horse, there will always be magnificent opportunities to see elegant vicuñas, majestic condors, timid Andean deer and the pirouettes of Andean hummingbirds along the route. There is also a rich variety of flowers, cactus and trees, all adapted to living at high altitudes. The traveler will not fail to be impressed by the active volcanoes, geysers, thermal baths and the beautiful architecture of the towns, as well as the ingenious designs of the area's bridges and irrigation canals, and the hospitality and sincerity of the local people.