Condors make Colca Canyon the perfect Peru family vacation destination.

Before I go into describing Colca Canyon and the wonders of this place, I need to give you a little warning. To get to Colca Canyon, you will need to take a long bus ride (about 3-5 hours depending on weather and road conditions). If you have small children or they get carsick easily, then this trip is not recommended for you. In case you had missed it on an earlier page, when taking your Peru family vacation, it is recommended that you take buses, trains, taxis and flights everywhere, and under no circumstances rent a vehicle. Well, the reason for this is because of how crazy the drivers are. I am setting this up so that you understand that if you plan to take your children to Colca Canyon to see the condors, then beware that you may get a bus driver who is "loco" and drives like a New York City cab driver on narrow mountain roads with 3,000 foot drop-offs. Sound like fun? Well, we had such a driver and even I (who doesn't get sick) started turning a little green when going around the mountain curves.

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How do you avoid this? Get on with a reputable guide company and demand a 1st class bus or a new bus. We had a bus with narrow seats, no air conditioning and poor suspension. 1st class buses (like the Mercedes Benz and double decker buses) are the way to go and we highly recommend you insist on this form of travel. It is worth the extra money if your children (or you) get carsick.

Okay enough of that. Let's say nothing is getting in the way of you taking your Peru family vacation to the Colca Canyon, because you want to see the endangered condor.

But first the basics and how to get there. You will start in the beautifully historic city of Arequipa. From here you will take a long drive along a road that alternates between dirt and pavement, with a couple stops along the way, into the desert and up the mountains. You will go over a pass that is over 4,800 meters or almost 16,000 feet, then drop down a mountain road for 2,000 meters into the Colca Canyon to finally stop in the town of Chivay where most families will spend the night. This canyon is the deepest canyon in the world and justly so( above sea level-the ocean doesn't count!). When you come to the top of the pass and start to descend into the canyon, you will notice just how deep of a gash this canyon has made into the earth. The Colca Canyon is 10,000 feet deep (3,200 meters) and about 400 km long or about 250 miles. Along the way, you will be warned by your tour guide to be careful when exiting the bus, because you are at really high elevations and can get severe altitude sickness if you try to move too quick.

Once you arrive in Chivay, you should take advantage of the town and explore around the place a little. If you are looking for food, go to the market place next to the Plaza de Armas and walk down the side streets looking for a restaraunt. You will find that many of the cheapest, and best places to eat are the "poilerias" or the chicken places. At these restaraunts, you can expect to find chicken, fries, a salad, and a drink for about 10 soles or $3. Another site you want to be sure to visit is the hot springs just outside of town. These hot springs are well worth the 5-10 soles it costs to get in. A word to the wise: go to the upper springs and spend 5 soles. We did not see any difference between the upper or lower springs, other than price, so save yourself the money!

Chances are, you will get to spend some time that evening seeing some traditional dances and perhaps a festival. This is a truly fun cultural experience and your children will enjoy it as much as you.

The next day, you will leave Chivay and journey up the Colca Canyon to the area where you will see the condors flying. If your guides are competant, and most are, you should arrive in enough time to just see the condors start their flights.

The condors start out flying around 10 am from the bottom of Colca Canyon and ride the thermals up off the canyon floor. As it gets warmer, these thermals lift the condors. You see, condors aren't known for flapping their wings, rather, they glide on the wind and let it do the work for them.

Condors can become very large birds. They will have wingspans up to 12 feet wide or 3 meters and can weigh up to 12 kg or almost 30 pounds. Watching these magnificent birds gliding in the air is something else, looking at them up close on the ground is not. They are really ugly creatures! I guess that is why it is best to just watch them fly!

If you are fortunate enough, you may be able to see a family of them. We got extremely lucky and saw 7 condors all circling at the same time, which was really awesome, considering the small number of condors that exist in the world.

In short, taking your Peru family vacation to Colca Canyon is highly recommended, if you don't mind the drive. If you can get a 1st class bus, then you should go by all means, for you will never forget it and your children will remember it forever.