At 3am you will be picked up from your hotel in Arequipa and driven for 3.5 hours towards Chivay; the capital of the Caylloma province where Colca Canyon and Arequipa are located. Chivay is in the north west of the province behind the snow-covered Mount Chachani. Enjoy your breakfast here.
Continue driving for 2 more hours towards the viewpoint 'Cruz Del Condor'. Here you will be able to observe the depths and beauty of the deepest canyon in the world along with Nevado Mismi on the other side of the valley. On the rocky swellings along the cliffs burrows the emblem of Colca, the Condor. A large family of Andean Condors dens here and sometimes you´ll have the good fortune of viewing them coast effortlessly on the Andean breeze, rising from the canyon. Nothing short of a hypnotizing monumental scene that allows your thoughts and adrenaline to lightly flow unchallenged, being guided by the unbar depth of Colca Canyon.
The region presents beautiful towns you will be passing through such as Yanque&Maca where you can stop to appreciate local sites of colonial churches, native people with needlework dresses, weavings, and other hand crafted items as well as hundreds of Pre-Inca terraces still in use with Andean Natives growing such agriculture as corn, quinoa, kiwicha and other grains.
Before lunch there is an option to go to the Calera hotsprings, where waters reach temperatures up to 39°C.
After lunch, come back to Arequipa, on the way stopping at Patapampa, the highest view point of the Volcanoes and snow-covered mountains at about 4,800m. Here we will also we see wild vicuñas, alpacas & llamas, exotic birds such as: flamingos, ducks, ibis, falcons, eagles, and many other fauna of the Pampa Cañahuas National Reserve.
You will return to Arequipa around 5:30pm.
