On the bottom of the Earth’s deepest canyon, a search for legendary Incan treasure unfolds.

On Wednesday, June 17, the team Colca Condor 2009 began their journey by utilizing climbing gear and safety equipment in order to descend more than a kilometer into the earth just to reach the bottom of the canyon. The three phase process took eight hours, and was accompanied by a seventy year old local shaman. Crucial to the safety of the explorers was their support crew that tracked their progress along the bottom of the gorge. Located at the rim of the canyon, the support team aided the canyoneers by maintaining constant contact with them.

We will enter the Colca Canyon, at the same place where we lave it last time in 2008.

Navigating the canyon proved to be a difficult task with constant winds, lack of shelters, and temperatures that averaged around 3.1 degrees Celsius all working against the team. However, the group’s most demanding obstacle so far was certainly the tall and powerful water fall that rested beneath the Cruz del Cura, a popular outlook a the rim of the cayon. In fact, it proved to be such a problem that the support team needed to deliver additional climbing equipment to the main group. Even with their help, the falls took two days to conquer.

That Monday June 15, in Arequipa Tecnological University in Peru, a press conference was held in which an expedition program was announced by an international team of explorers. Colca Condor 2009, an expedition under the leadership of Jerzy “Yurek” Majcherczyk, would set forth to conquer and explore the last virgin section of the world’s deepest gorge, the Colca Canyon. The announcement spurred much interest and attracted Peru’s largest media outlets that will be covering the historic expedition.

The crew is expected to reach their destination on June 25th. We will then arrive at a small locale named San Gaye. From there we will climb up to village of Cabanaconde. Next, We are beginning to explore edges of the canyon as well surrounding mountains looking for the ruins of the fortress from pre Inca Wari culture.

Main Sponosr The Colca Condor 2009 crew is Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Our team support: Classic-Travel.com, Western Union, Victoria Consulting and Development.

Polish expedition ‘Colca Condor 2008 & 2009’ found more than 30 waterfalls in their trip through an unexplored stretch in Colca Canyon in Arequipa region, expedition leader Jerzy Yurek Majcherczyk said Friday.

He said that one of these waterfalls was called “Cascada de la Muerte” (The Waterfall of Death), due to the shape and slope, and huge rocks below, which complicated the descent.

They found four waterfalls from 30 to 60 meters high, located between the stretch of Cruz del Cura and Cruz del Condor.

The Polish expedition was surprised by “Colcas” or little caves used as warehouses of food by ancient civilizations in this area, located in the canyon walls.

Majcherczyk said that in two months they will publish the geological report of Colca Canyon, as well as the map with the entire information of distances, altitudes, photo and video gallery.

Waterfalls and colcas registered up to now were presented on Friday in a press conference with the participation of Mayor of Caylloma Jorge Cueva, and authorities from the Autonomous Authority of Colca (Autocolca).

Ayo-Canco stretch (Ayo-Tingo sub-sector located in the district of Ayo at 1.830 meters above sea level in the province of Castilla) has a length of 7 kilometers and is part of the 44.65-kilometer road construction.

This stretch required an investment 3 million 200,000 soles and a total investment of 43 million soles to make the whole road; funds were obtained from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the regional government of Arequipa, Municipalities of the Valley of Volcanoes Association: Ayo, Andagua, Chachas and Orcopampa, located in the province of Castilla, and Huambo, in the province of Caylloma.

The private sector, such as Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A., is directly involved in the construction of this project, financing studies worth about one million dollars, among other important contributions, stipulated in the public-private partnership agreement signed in 2006.

According to information provided by Puno’s Chamber of Commerce and Production, this group of entrepreneurs will arrive in the altiplano city of Puno accompanied by five Brazilian authorities on May 15.

In Puno, they will meet with representatives of local small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of exploring significant business opportunities and forging strategic alliances in different industrial sectors.

The foreign delegation will also visit the southern cities of Puerto Maldonado in Madre de Dios region; Arequipa and Matarani (Arequipa); Ilo (Moquegua) and Tacna, among others.

Rondonia’s Governor Ivo Narciso Cassol said Brazilian entrepreneurs have expressed interest in investing in Peru’s different sectors.

The decision of visiting Peru’s main southern cities was taken after the meeting of Peru’s President Alan Garcia and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Business Forum held in Acre, Brazil.

“We aim to intensify the regional promotion of the Peruvian gastronomy. For this reason, we are working in collaboration with experts to create the gastronomic tourism routes for each region”, she said to Andina news agency.

According to Aráoz, the creation of these new routes will catch the attention of domestic and foreign tourists, encouraging them to join the new tours linking the local history and typical dishes of the visited places.

“Visitors will be able to know wonderful places such as Puno, Cusco, Arequipa, Tumbes, etc, learn some history of the area, appreciate a mountain or visit an archaeological site”, she stated.

Peruvian cuisine promotion aims to strengthen the national identity, boost our native products, contribute to the economic development of the country, and promote it as a tourist destination with excellent and competitive advantages.

Apart from offering the traditional tours to Colca Valley, the Historic Center and the countryside, operators have also scheduled new routes to the Valley of Volcanoes, Cotahuasi, among other natural attractions, he said.

“This fair will be attended by tour operators and similar organizations throughout Europe, and our presence will be useful to promote Arequipa as tourist destination in Peru”, said the OGD representative.

According to Carpio, members of OGD decided to participate in EuroCotal fair, because they think it will be a great opportunity to promote Arequipa in Europe, and therefore, get prepared to tackle the global crisis affecting the tourism sector.

“This fair takes place in June, which is a great month to start selling tour packages for 2010, and especially to promote Arequipa”, Carpio stated.

Since 1987, PTM has been a meeting point between Peruvian government officials and tour operators from all over the world, which has yielded positive results for the development of tourism in the Andean country.

Peru Travel Mart is organized and sponsored by Peru’s Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPerú) and Peru’s National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur).

This year’s edition of PTM will show visitors the various and fascinating tourist attractions within the cities of Arequipa, Cajamarca and Iquitos.

Event organizers said they will take advantage of this opportunity to promote ecological, adventure, cultural and rural community tourism. Click here to see PTM 2009’s presentation.

The Colca Canyon together with the Amazon River and Lake Titicaca are among 261 natural attractions from 222 countries that moved to the second phase of an Internet-based global poll to list the “New 7 Wonders of Nature.”

Minister Aráoz leads tomorrow a press conference acompanied by second vice president of Peru, Lourdes Mendoza, the mayor of the province of Caylloma, Jorge Cueva, and the representative of the Autonomous Authority of Colca (Autocolca), Juan Talavera.

The municipality of Caylloma and AutoColca organized the “Great Marathon of Chasquis (Inca messengers)” from Arequipa to Lima, in order to promote the Colca Canyon’s nomination.

The Chasquis were runners of the Inca Empire who traveled several kilometers carrying letters or messages from one place to another.

A group of 50 chasquis departed from Arequipa’s Main Square on January 13 at 10:00 hours (15:00 GMT) and after running 1,020 km arrived in Lima last weekend, on the occasion of Lima’s 474th foundation anniversary.

This is the first time that a chasquis’ marathon between Arequipa and Lima will be carried out, aimed to get into the Guinness World Records book, said today Jorge Escobedo, mayor of Caylloma, Arequipa’s province, and organizer of the event.

On the occasion of a new anniversary of the Peruvian capital, the chasquis will take a greeting message to Limean mayor, Luis Castañeda.

The runners will depart from Arequipa’s Main Square on January 13 at 10:00 hours (15:00 GMT) and will arrive in Lima on Saturday 17, in the afternoon.

“The Chasqui will also give the Limean mayor an ecological and environmental message for the Limean population, one day before of Lima’s anniversary”, he said.

In this marathon, a total of 30 long-distance runners, members of the Asociación de Fonditas de Arequipa (Runners Association of Arequipa) will participate wearing chasquis’ garments as in the Incas’ times.

They will travel 250 kilometers a day up to arrive in Lima, covering a distance (by stretches) of more than 1,000 kilometers.

Caylloma’s mayor added that this chasquis’ marathon race also aims to promote the Colca canyon, which passed the first stage of the international competition to choose the world’ natural wonders.

Cervantes, also said that domestic tourism in this zone presented an increase of nine percent in 2008, reaching a figure of 660,000 national visitors, compared to the 606,663 nationals that arrived in Arequipa the previous year.

The most visited places of Arequipa are its Historical Center and Colca Valley, as well as the Arequipa’s countryside and the local museums.

She indicated that foreign tourists who visit the “White City” come from France, Spain, Germany, England, and other European countries, as well as from United States.

In the case of Latin American tourists, they come from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, who arrive during this season to visit the beaches of Arequipa.