Colca Canyon

The Colca Canyon near Arequipa is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon at 3,270 metres -- one of the deepest canyons in the world -- and is home to the Andean condor, the world's largest bird by wingspan at up to 3.3 metres, which riders the thermal currents rising from the canyon walls daily from dawn. The colonial villages lining the canyon rim -- Chivay, Yanque, Coporaque -- have been continuously inhabited since pre-Inca times and maintain traditional irrigation terracing systems built 1,000 years ago.