Chivay is a town in the Colca valley, capital of the Caylloma

Caylloma Province

Caylloma Province is the largest of eight provinces in the Arequipa Region of Peru.-Points of interest:The Colca Canyon lies in the Huambo and Callalli districts.-Political division:The province is divided into twenty districts which are:...

 province in the Arequipa

Arequipa Region

Arequipa is a region in southwestern Peru. It is bordered by the Ica, Ayacucho, Apurímac and Cusco regions on the north; the Puno Region on the east; the Moquegua Region on the south; and the Pacific Ocean on the west...

 region, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. Located at about 12,000 ft above sea level, it lies upstream of the renowned Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. Peru's third most-visited tourist destination with about 160,000 visitors annually, it's located about 100 miles northwest of Arequipa...

. It has a central town square and an active market. Ten kilometers to the east, and 1,500 meters above the town of Chivay lies the Chivay obsidian source

Chivay obsidian source

The Chivay obsidian source is the geological origin of a chemical group of obsidian that is found throughout the south-central Andean highlands including southern Peru and western Bolivia...

.

Thermal springs are located 3 km from town, a number of heated pools have been constructed. A stone "Inca" bridge crosses the Colca River ravine, just to the north of the town. The town is a popular staging point for tourists visiting Condor Cross or Cruz Del Condor, where condors can be seen catching thermal uplifts a few kilometers downstream.