Valle de los Volcanes

The Valle de los Volcanes runs about sixty kilometres near Andagua in Castilla province, and what fills it is a monogenetic volcanic field - dozens of small cinder cones, each formed in a single eruptive episode and then extinct, standing on a valley floor covered in black basalt lava flows, with the youngest cones dated to within the last few thousand years and possibly within the historical period. The cones are climbable, some in under an hour, and the contrast between black lava, ochre cones and the green irrigated terraces the villages farm around them is the thing people photograph. Andagua and the nearby villages have colonial churches and pre-Hispanic remains. Access is the obstacle: it is ten to twelve hours from Arequipa on rough highland roads crossing passes above 4,500 metres, and there is very little accommodation. Almost nobody goes, which is both the appeal and the difficulty.

History

The volcanoes were first mentioned in a report of 1904, but scientific study began only by 1960, since the cones are small and remote beside the region's great stratovolcanoes. Their eruptions were mostly effusive, and the youngest took place about 370 years ago; the field is also known as Andagua-Orcopampa (Wikipedia, Andagua volcanic field).

What's there

• The cinder cones - dozens across the valley, some only a few thousand years old.
• The lava floor - black basalt flows filling the valley between them.
• The farming contrast - green irrigated terraces on the black ground.
• The remoteness - ten to twelve hours from Arequipa on rough roads.

When to go

April to November, the dry season - the highland roads are difficult in the rains. Two days minimum given the travel time. Andagua is at about 3,600 metres.

Things to know

Ten to twelve hours each way from Arequipa over passes above 4,500 metres. Very little accommodation and no tourist infrastructure. Altitude affects visitors arriving from the coast. Guides are arranged informally in Andagua.

Nearby

Cotahuasi canyon is north-west; the Colca canyon is east.

Key facts