Hello Josh, yes it is. It is meant to be deeper than the Grand Canyon – Colca Canyon is awe inspiring and not to be underestimated. Even in real life it is easy to misjudge the depth and the steepness. It took me a total of 10 hours to descend and ascend.

Thanks for commenting, Debra. That little church is actually in Coshinirwa, one of the small villages along the trail on the other side of Colca Canyon. It looked truly ancient and I also thought it interesting for not having any windows.

The great think about Peru is that life in much (if not most) of the countryside is still very traditionally lived – so, when there are no tourists around, it is still traditional people, in traditional dress living their lives mostly traditionally.

The zig-zag trail was the route I had to take out of the canyon after arriving at the oasis – it was very steep – had to be done 20 steps at a time in parts. It was a very hot that day, probably 30+ Celsius, but in the canyon it felt like more like 40+ as I was going up during midday… so it was a bit of a challenge 🙂

Traditional Peruvian people tend to shy away from photographs and one should ask before taking, but some, like the ones in the photographs often pose for tourists, so it’s easier and less intrusive to take their pictures.

(I was surprised to find that the majority of countryside people wear traditional dress in Peru and on the islands virtually all of them do – amazing and very encouraging that they have been able to hold on to their traditions all this time.)