Colca Canyon
— — a canyon so deep the condors ride up out of it.
Not only on a wall.
“Colca Canyon runs through the southern Peruvian Andes, about a hundred and sixty kilometres north of Arequipa. At its deepest it drops more than three thousand metres from rim to river, twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. The road climbs out of the city, crosses a high puna at over forty-eight hundred metres where vicuñas graze, then descends into the Colca valley with its terraced fields walked since pre-Inca time. Mornings at Cruz del Cóndor, the thermals come up the wall and the Andean condors ride them. from the studio
Colca Canyon, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Colca Canyon is carved by the Colca River through the Cordillera de los Andes in the Caylloma Province of the Arequipa Region. Maximum depth is about 3,270 metres, measured from canyon rim to river, which makes it among the deepest canyons on earth. The valley above the canyon has been farmed since before the Inca, and the terraces below the towns of Chivay, Yanque, and Maca are still in use. The standard approach is by road from Arequipa, crossing the Patapampa pass at roughly 4,910 metres.
The Colca rim sits between roughly 3,200 and 3,600 metres above sea level, and the road from Arequipa crosses higher ground than that on the way in. Altitude sickness is a real concern; most visitors spend a night in Chivay at 3,650 metres before going to the viewpoints. Andean condors, with wingspans up to 3.2 metres, use the morning thermals rising off the canyon walls. Cruz del Cóndor, about a thousand metres above the river, is the most reliable place to watch them rise to the rim.
Most visitors come on a two- or three-day loop out of Arequipa. Day one climbs to Chivay for the night; day two starts before dawn for the drive to Cruz del Cóndor, where the condors typically ride the thermals between roughly 8 and 10 a.m. The Colca region charges a tourist ticket, the Boleto Turístico, which covers the viewpoints and the colonial churches in the valley villages. The dry season runs May through November and is the standard window; rainy-season landslides occasionally close the canyon road.