faraway birds

surely the main attraction at the colca canyon are the andean condors. as it's name suggests, it's native to the andes which ranges on the west coast of south america. we started our journey from arequipa city at an ungodly hour of 4am just to make it in time to see the condors. there are only a few things i'd willingly wake up at 4am for - to relieve a full midnight bladder or rectum, and to see andean condors - and i managed both so it was a rather productive morning. there were many warnings from various sources that gave us the impression we needed a high dose of luck and a sackful of four leaf clovers to be able to see the condors as their numbers are dwindling over the years. bleh. we gathered that only people with previous lobectomies would come to arequipa and not make an attempt to see andean condors, and after confirming that none of us had a prior lobectomy, we decided to leave arequipa at 4am to arrive in time to see the condors. apparently, the optimal time to view the condors are from 8 - 9am.

 

cruz del condor



whoever spots the condor will be rewarded with a lolly

no lollies for you if you cannot spot the condor here

have to squint really hard to see the bird

we managed to see 5 condors! though i must admit it was a slight anticlimax because they were quite far away. (duh!) even with my lasik enhanced eyes i couldn't see any of the physical distinguishing features of the condor, and if someone told me that it was big bird from sesame street i'd believe it. but we were able to notice that the condor soars in circles, hardly flapping their wings if at all. they rely on thermal air to soar. quite graceful actually, and rather engrossing staring at them happily gliding without a care in this world. part of our delight was also pride that we proved the naysayers wrong because we managed to see the condors and it also made our 4am wake up call a leeeeetle more worthwhile.

andean condor, close up - on a finger

we managed to bring a condor home, sitting pretty on simon's finger. this one is for keeps, a small reminder of our awesome morning.