A recent trip into Colca Canyon

[the_hefay]

[the_hefay]

Time to get out and walk since the road had fallen into the canyon up ahead.

[sury]

Excellent set, Jeff. I presume it is fog in #2 and #4.
You mean walk down in to the canyon?
Sury

[the_hefay]

Yes, it's fog and rain.
No, we walked along the road. The road was out, so we couldn't drive. It literally was sheared off by a landslide. Some of the locals carved out a foot path in the loose mountainside.

[sury]

Holy macro. That is some trail blazing alright, no pun intended.
Downright scary. Be safe.

Sury

[pakodominguez]

Nice!
any Condor?

[pakodominguez]

Excellent set, Jeff. I presume it is fog in #2 and #4.
You mean walk down in to the canyon?
Sury

It is the end of the rainy season, this year is not that bad in the south of Peru, but the Central Andes and the north of the country is really suffering flooding and landslide :-/

[the_hefay]

One condor flew by real close, but by the time I got my camera back up to my eye, it was gone. I couldn't believe how big it was.

Parts of the country are really having a hard time. Adobe houses are collapsing in the north, people and livestock are caught in flash floods and run-off. People are losing there homes, businesses, and lives. Here in the south it's not quite as bad. However, twice we've lost city water because of landslides filling the river with mud making it impossible to purify. The rain is necessary, but I prefer the sun.

[sury]

Pako, Jeff,
It is always devastating when these calamities occur. I hope the suffering is not severe.
Are these typical seasonal events or atypical this year? Just curious.

Sury

[the_hefay]

The landslide that took out the road in the photo above, was caused by a strong rain. The rain created quite a bit of work for us on this trip. Several times we had to clear rocks by hand in order to drive past.



The black line shows the original slope of the rocks. After 1.5 hours of hard work we leveled the top of the pile and built out a ramp on either side in order to get the vehicle past. What you can't see is that there is a large rock under the pile of rock and dirt that determined the height of the pile.

[pakodominguez]

One condor flew by real close, but by the time I got my camera back up to my eye, it was gone. I couldn't believe how big it was.

Parts of the country are really having a hard time. Adobe houses are collapsing in the north, people and livestock are caught in flash floods and run-off. People are losing there homes, businesses, and lives. Here in the south it's not quite as bad. However, twice we've lost city water because of landslides filling the river with mud making it impossible to purify. The rain is necessary, but I prefer the sun.

My wife is now in Lima, they don't have water at home today...
BTW, I was in Lim last week, I went visit our friend Clemente Higa, with a camera I wanted him to CLA, and I met a french gal that is living/working in Arequipa. She dropped her A7RII in a stream and was trying to get it repair (the estimated was in the 2000 dollars...). Alas, Mr Higa was not able to help her (the parts are expensive)

[pakodominguez]

Pako, Jeff,
It is always devastating when these calamities occur. I hope the suffering is not severe.
Are these typical seasonal events or atypical this year? Just curious.

Sury

This is a bad year. It usually happens on El Niño years, but El Niño was last year, so I guess this are the left overs, and are hitting the north of the country badly. I don't remember this amount of rain since the early 80's.

[the_hefay]

Sury, there's always a rainy season, with a few incidents, but like Pako said, "This is a bad year," especially in the central to north parts.

[sury]

Pako, I hope the water situation is resolved by now. I am all too familiar with having water for 1 hour a day,
while growing up in India.

Jeff, so you guys have decided to clear path for your sake and others, I take it. So any other group
would have done the similar thing? Is that the way of life? I am impressed by the extra length or depth
you guys are going to clear an obstacle. All of a sudden, slow AF focus on my camera does not seem to
matter.

Sury

[the_hefay]

When it's the only road in and out, you do what you gotta do. We weren't going home without passing those rock slides. Everyone does there part. Anyone else in a vehicle would've done something similar. There was a bull dozer parked above and one parked below. I'm sure that by know the boulders have been pushed off the road.