South West Circuit - Day 1

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After a bit of shopping around we decide to go with Grano de Oro, run by the shiny happy Sylvia. We´ll be sharing our jeep with 2 nurses who have been doing volunteer work in Ecuador...Trisha from Lincolnshire and her Aussie parter Lindy. Ritch´s enthusiasm for this all-girl action is quickly dampened on meeting them and realising that real lesbians do not match up the pretend lipstick variety! They are great company and we all get on brilliantly from the offing.

The scenery around Tupiza is stunning...bright blue sky, hundreds of cactus and the dramatic reddish rock formations called Palala which look like fins, and El Sillar which resemble a stone forest. The landscape changes everytime you go over another pass, getting ever more desolate and the scale is stunning. If you got left behind here, you would be in serious trouble. By late afternoon we are really in the middle of nowhere...the only plants are these tufts of yellowish grass that look like Don King´s hair and a kind of bright green moss that looks soft and spongy, but when you touch it is like a hard crystal.

There are small settlements of mudbrick houses every hour or so, who´s isolated existance revolve around llama farming...we see herds of them frequently and also lots of the smaller and more elegant vicuna, who are endangered in Peru but seem to be thriving round these parts. We also spot the long tailed rabbit who´s name is so close to biscotti that I can only remember them as that. I´m left with images of ordering espresso with bunny on the side.

Our bed for the night is in the tiny village of Kollpani, with less than 100 inhabitants. We´re greeted by 3 cheeky faces...the sons of the family we´re staying with. They´re so excited to have visitors and can´t wait to take us to the river in hunt of ¨mucho truche, muy gigante!¨ Turns out young Santos was exaggerating about the size of the trout, but he´s right about how many there are. Their fishing method is simple genius...the shallow water winds around spongy grass islands which the fish hide under. One brother stamps his feet causing the fish to dart out at lightening speed looking for a new hiding place, the other brother, on his belly his arms deep in the freezing water, trys to trap them in his net. They´re too small to eat...it´s really just a chance for the boys to show off and it´s fun to spend time with them.

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