Two-day excursion to Colca Canyon in the Andes of Peru, one of the world's deepest canyons (10,000' at its deepest)
The road from Arequipa to Colca went over a pass around 16,000' high, enough to give altitude sickness to some people
Vicunas, related to llamas and alpacas but smaller, rare, with finer wool, and never domesticated
A woman spinning alpaca wool
Almost every woman in the countryside wears a hat, sometimes based on 1940s fashions
Me amidst a herd of grazing alpacas
Alpacas and herder
Flamingos, spending the summer at Andean lakes (winter on the Peruvian coast)
Cute girl at a viewpoint (her mother was selling souvenirs and llama woolens)
Packing up her wares (apparently we were the last tourist bus)
Chivay in Colca Canyon, where we spent a night
Dancing with the Peruvians! I am a horrible dancer but I still have so much fun
Pre-Inca terraces in Colca Canyon, nice and green during the summer rainy season (January)
Local dance in the village of Yanque
Local lady with a hawk, posing for a photo and expecting a tip for it (one sole = US 35 cents)
Andean eagle
This is what we were waiting for, an Andean condor gliding upwards on the rising air, passing by us back and forth...
Amazing sight, the condor below the viewpoint and the muddy waters of Colca River 3000' below
Ten-foot wing span!!
My wing span is only six feet
This man had a pretty good livelihood with his pet hawk, earning money from tourists who tipped him for the privilege of holding it
Colorfully dressed village woman with a llama and hawk; how can a photographer resist?
