Colca Canyon Tour, Day 2

I2/24/14, 1:37 PM

On the second day of our Colca Canyon tour, we were picked up early, at 6:30 AM, and driven to the principal condor viewing point, Mirador el Condor. We stayed for an hour during which time I saw five condors. Apparently, the condors are so big and bulky that they go to this particular spot in the canyon because there are warm winds that lift them up enough to get them going on their own.

Condor flying

When our time with the condors was up, the fourteen of us in the tour group loaded back up in the bus to head back to Chivay for lunch. Both the route there and back were full of stops. We stopped for good views of the valley, an old church, and even pre-Incan tombs located in the mountainside.

Colca Canyon

After a buffet lunch at another restaurant catering to tourists in Chivay, the group of us left for Arequipa. Only one stop for the bathroom and a tire change interrupted the three and a half hour journey. Because we had a night bus to Nasca, instead of a hotel, Alli and I were dropped off downtown near the central plaza, Plaza de Armas.

Arequipa Cathedral

We split up for an hour and a half to explore what is known as "The White City" because of the white lava rock used in the construction of many of the buildings in town. Alli went to a museum, and I wandered around the streets near Plaza de Armas. We met back up again for dinner. I had found a place with outside seating overlooking Plaza de Armas. Fortunately for me, the restaurant featured a fixed price vegetarian meal for 8 soles (less than 3 dollars). the meal was quite good, possibly the best food I've had in Peru so far.

Arequipa

After dinner, we took a taxi to the bus station to catch our Cruz del Sur night bus. This time, we had no problems at the station; everything worked out exactly as it was supposed to... until we arrived at our destination, Nasca, an hour and a half late.

Colca Canyon Tour, Day 1

2/21/14, 5:00 PM

We were picked up from our hostel this morning at 6 AM for our tour from Puno to Arequipa by way of Chivay and Colca Canyon. Today's tour activities consisted of three mostly unimpressive stops including Lagunitas and Patapampa plus a stop to photograph alpacas and another for vicunas. Apparently vicunas are wild; we weren't allowed to get out of the tour van to photograph them.

Alpaca farm seen from the side of the road

Munching alpacas

Vicunas

Around noon, we arrived in Chivay, our overnight stop and starting point to visit Colca Canyon. After settling into our hostel, we wandered around town. At the local mercado, we witnessed women selling plastic bags of rolls and even a man with a hand-cranked sewing machine sewing a shoe. Any item or service needed could be procured here, cleaning supplies to a haircut.

Downtown Chivay

Alli was hungry, so we stopped at a little restaurant at the main plaza that had vegetarian options. After lunch, we wandered a bit more, killing time. We moseyed back to the hostel about 3:15. We had been in our room all of 30 seconds when the receptionist knocked on our door to let us know we had 2 minutes until our tour bus arrived to pick us up and take us to the hot springs.

We entered panic mode, getting ready as quickly as humanly possible. As much as we rushed, the tour bus totally had to wait for us.

The hot springs themselves were nice, but a bit stressful at the entrance. I only had a 50-sole note, and the attendant wanted exact change. I thought she would never get enough change to give me mine. And when I asked her for my ticket, she acted as if she'd already given it to me.

In fact, nobody ever has change and nobody ever wants to make change for you, not even larger stores. As you can imagine, this doesn't always work well, especially as ATMs dispense only 100 and 50-sole notes.

After paying, our tour group walked across a precariously hanging swinging bridge. We walked across without incident and walked down the dirt path towards the pools. After soaking in the hot springs for about an hour, we returned to the tour bus.

After a short break at our respective hostels for rest and showers, we met again for dinner. Dinner was held at a local restaurant that obviously catered to tourists. What a tourist trap The food was only okay. I had the quinoa cream soup and Neopolitan spaghetti. Christmas decorations hung on the walls and ceilings and got in the way of the folk dancers at least once.

Yes, I said there were folk dancers, a couple who were enjoyable to watch. Backing them up was a group of 3 or 4 musicians wearing colorful ponchos and hats. After they were finished, they went around asking for money. I'm not actually a fan of performing unasked for diners and then trying to guilt the diners into tipping. In this case, we were told there were to be performers, but we were not told we were expected to tip them. I did not tip either the dancers or the musicians. I did not want to. The musicians were cheesy.

Male folk dancer with backup singers and musicians

I suppose the most interesting part of the night was when Alli hit her head on a dead cat. Actually, the most interesting part was not her hitting her head, it was that there was a dead cat there for her to hit her head on. I am still wondering if a dead cat in a basket hanging on the wall of a restaurant is in violation of any health codes. It appeared that the cat crawled up into the basket and died unnoticed.

Dead cat in a basket

Obviously, we ended the night talking about that dead cat.

Uros Floating Islands, Part II

2/20/14, 2:30 PM

When we arrived at the island of Taquile, we disembarked by way of two other boats. Our tour boat was lashed to another boat that was lashed to the dock. To reach the dock, we had to crawl over these two other tour boats.

Boats in the dock at Taquile Island

Once on the dock, we were tasked with a steep 30-minute hike to the top of the island where the main plaza was I was dying. I've been sick for the last couple of days and have been having trouble breathing regularly. This hike was miserable. I couldn't catch my breath and my chest hurt. Add to that the fact that Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world; the altitude makes physical exertion difficult.

Terraces on the side of the island

Finally, very out of breath, I made it to the plaza at the top of the island. Alli and I visited the knitted goods store before rejoining our group for lunch at a local restaurant. We had an option of trout or omelette. Being vegetarian, I obviously chose the omelette. It was okay, and like many of our meals here, the main came with rice and french fries.

Taquile Island

After lunch, the guide explained a bit more about the local people of Taquile and showed us examples of their red hats and colorful hats. We walked back down to our boat by way of a different, less steep, stone path.  And now, here we are on the boat traveling back to Puno. Tonight, we will arrange for our transportation to Arequipa for tomorrow and will hopefully go to sleep early.