Blogs from Chivay, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 4

Here it is, the answer you´ve been waiting for: Llamas are the "work horses" of the camel-cousin world. They are taller, live in herds of 1 male with many females, and have shotty useless hair. You don´t want llama meat. They come in all colors and are domesticated. They are also dressed up or decorated with tassels on ears, etc so you can take a picture with them (all over the cities and towns) for a small fee. 15 live at Macchupicchu. Alpacas are the furrier smaller yet fatter relatives. You can eat them, although all the alpaca steaks I´ve had have been quite fatty and hard to chew. They don´t taste like chicken (or steak or anything else I´ve ever eaten). They come in all colors, are domesticated, and wander in heards of 40 or ... read more

Early wake up call and met our over enthusiastic guide for the day. Stopped at our guides family shop (not an uncommon stop throughout all of our adventures) and bought the necessary coca leaves to cope with altitude. Coca leaves are legal in Peru. Basically you grab 12-15 leaves, put them to one side of your mouth and start chewing. It tastes pretty horrible , much like grass and you keep chewing until there is no flavour left and your mouth becomes numb. Then you take the chewed up leaves out of your mouth and keep them to give as a gift to the gods at the top of the mountain. So the truck was in one beautiful state after the flavour disappeared. The leaves are meant to suppress your appetite, give you energy and hydrate ... read more

8:30am On a way to Colca Canyon, the world’s 2nd deepest Canyon. There are about 12 people in the tour. Long, bumpy and unpaved road on desert mountains. Very dry and sterile looking terrains. 11:10am. Reached at 4910m above sea level. Higher than I have ever been on land. I felt Light-headed and short of breath. Dust from the dirt road and dry air made it harder to breathe. 1:30pm Buffet Lunch. Tried almost all Peruvian food I liked. Rocoto(Baked Chili stuffed with ground meat, onion, milk and eggs) Ceviche(raw seafood marinated lemon juice), alpaca meat, 12 different kinds of potatoes, Kenhwa soup(Kenhwa is Peruvian cereal, very nutritious and tasty), fried banana and Inca cola(Peruvian love this drink, It’s yellowish and sweet.) etc. 4:40pm. Hiking up a mountain at Chivay, a small town before Colca Canyon. ... read more