La Cruz del Condor

Birdwatching

By Christopher Minster

La Cruz del Cóndor ("the condor's cross") is one of the Arequipa region's major visitor draws. It is a lofty lookout over the beautiful Colca Canyon, which is home to a relatively large population of Andean condors. Every morning, as the sun rises, it creates warm thermals which rise from the canyon floor. Without these, the heavy and ungainly condors cannot fly. So every morning they wait, and at about 8 a.m., there are enough thermals for them to leave their nests in the canyon walls and soar gracefully above the river, looking for something dead and delicious to snack upon.

The condors attract the tourists; the tourists attract the region's other notorious scavengers: trinket and souvenir sellers that crowd the lookout, hawking postcards, t-shirts and piles of assorted junk. If it gets too much for you, head over to the Tapay lookout, which although is in the flight path of fewer condors, also has fewer vendors.

The best way to get to Cruz del Cóndor is to catch any bus running between Cabanaconde and Chivay and ask to be let off there. The overlook is about an hour and a half from Chivay.