We left Arequipa early in the morning, hopped on the bus and started driving. On dirt roads, we drove through the desert and started our ascension. The higher, the greener!
The landscapes were really nice! It is funny to see how the vegetation changes with altitude; and with changing vegetation, different animals! We saw lamas, alpacas, vacunas, flamingos, etc!
At one point, we reached the altitude of 4,910m, higher than Mont Blanc, ad stopped there a bit. The view was nice as we could see the different volcanoes of the area. Some of the people on the group felt sick because of the altitude...my head was feeling funny! But we chew coca leaves and it helped! (by the way, our guide told us that if we did a drug test now, the results would be positive for cocaine! But Mum, Dad, don't worry! Coca leaves don't have the effects of cocaine!)
We continued our trip and reached the village of Coporaque, in the Colca Valley. The view from our hotel is breathtaking (altitude; 3,500m)! The mountains are covered by terraces, built before the Incas. Each terrace has its own microclimate, and therefore it is possible to grow different crops on each terrace. They have a very good irrigation system.
We hiked for a few hours in the mountain close to our hotel, and saw pre-inca cemeteries - skulls and bones - (in holes in the mountains, and not buried in the ground like they do now) and ruins (spaniards destroyed pretty much everything..).
We also saw the mountain that is the source of the amazon river!
On the next day, we woke up at 5.30am, had breakfast admiring the amazing view of the mountains, and took the bus to Cruz Del Condor.
It is a place in the Valley where we can see condors (biggest birds, 3 meters from the tip of a wing to the other), and where the valley narrows down to form a canyon. We were lucky and saw many condors!
We hiked for a bit and the view there was simply amazing!! We were at 1200 meters above the river. Splendid!
After that, we drove back, had lunch in the town of Chivay and came back to our hotel to chill a bit (= getting sun burned in the back because I only put sunscreen on the front!)
We then took the bus and went to hot springs. It is a quite popular place and we were definitely not the only tourists! In the swimming pool, with a drink of Pisco sour, life is good!
After this relaxing little break, we came back to the hotel, had diner and went to bed at 9.30pm!
On January 20, alarm clock at 6am, breakfast, and bus for 6-7 hours!
On our way to Puno, we dropped off Roberto, our amazing guide for the past 3 days ;-( He was really knowledgeable and taught us many interesting things!
We drove through places very rich in minerals, which makes the area quite rich in comparison with the rest of the country.
We arrived in the town of Puno (altitude 3,900m) early in the afternoon, went to the hotel, and started our visit of the city. We went to a Chifa (Chinese restaurant), it was realllyyy good! After that, we walked aroudnd the city - but there is not much to do! The main attraction was the Museum of Coca, where we learned everything about coca and cocaine!
Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. It is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Arequipa. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States at 4,160 m. However, the canyon's walls are not as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon. The Colca Valley is a colorful Andean valley with towns founded in Spanish Colonial times and formerly inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces.
