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Last night I stayed in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! A five hour walk into the second deepest canyon in the world brought us to a gorgeous spot by the Colca river with thermal hot springs under the stars, and a candlelit dinner overlooking towering rock walls stretching up from the river into the sky...
I picked up a travelling companion in Cusco where I was talked into visiting the nearby Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman, Pukapukara, Templo de la Luna (a cave under a large rock with seats and all carved out of the stone and a hole to let in the moonlight on the winter solstice - amazing) and Zona X (another rock riddled with cave-like tunnels through it) on horseback. Snake, condor and puma figures were also carved into the rock, once adorned with silver and gold, as important figures in Inca culture.
I abandoned my plans to head straight to Arequipa to attend a fiesta celebrating the ´Vigil of the cross´ - when Pope John Paul II had a cross installed on the hill when he visited - celebrated every third of May on all the hilltops where a cross is
Cuy
Preparing the guinea pig! placed. How can I resist a party!!! 😊 Whatsmore, finally I tried the traditional dish served on such occasions - Chiriucho - a plate of foods such as guinea pig, sausage, seaweed, roe, dried corn kernals, pork, chicken and cheese. Then, of course, we drank traditional chicha (beer made from corn) and pisco and danced into the night - until the cold forced us to leave - all on a hillside overlooking the Sacsayhuaman Inca ruins and the city of Cusco!
The next day, Rafael and I headed to the southeast of the Urubamba Valley, this time to see a pre-Inca site built by the Wari culture (600-950AD). I think by this time I was just about ´ruined-out´ - time to head on.
Rafael decided to accompany me to Arequipa on his way to Lima to vote in the elections, so we caught a taxi to the station and just made the last bus leaving at 9pm, which just happened to be the most luxurious (and the most pricy at 35 soles) - fully reclining seats and snacks. I grabbed my sleeping bag for the ride, and thouroughly enjoyed the luxury!
Nine hours later we were in
the ´White City´ - so called as all the buildings are built of a white volcanic rock. We had a quick look round the churches, information office, and I headed to the Museo Santuarios Andinos where the body of an Inca girl, sacrificed on the Ampato Volcano about 500 years ago, is preserved. Fascinating stuff - the Incas made several such sacrifices of young children, aged around 12 and 14, to the mountain gods. Her body was found only in 1995 after the eruption of nearby Sabancaya Volcano melted the ice on Ampato.
Not too keen on sticking around in a big city, and not wanting to take the touristy ´tour of the Colca Canyon´, we caught the 12.45 bus heading to the village of Cabanaconde - the step-off village for hiking into the Colca Canyon, and only half an hour´s bus ride from the lookout for viewing the famous Condors that the valley is renowned for. The canyon is the world´s second deepest at 3191m (the deepest is nearby Cotahuasi), with a backdrop of El Misti volcano (5822m), among other peaks. The town was perfect, with just one main square and a VERY cheap hostel, Villa Pastor, at
A small town out of Cuzco
Herding the sheep on the main street.. just 8 soles pp. including private hot shower!! We left early the next morning to the Condor lookout, and I managed to dodge the woman selling tickets at 35 soles (you have to pay for everything in this country!). Lucky! The condors were magnificent! We sat for an hour, watching them circling overhead and into the cliff wall where they have their nests. The male has white on the back of his wings and neck, and some have a wing span of up to 4m - wider than I am tall!!! They are extremely graceful in their flight.
We returned to check out of the hostel, borrow a tent, and head off down into the valley to a Llahuar, a five hour walk through the valley. It really was lovely. Last night we ate fresh fish from the river, and this morning I helped make cinnamon/apple/orange pancakes for breakfast (yum!) and chatted to the woman running the place. She said they had moved there to earn more in order to pay for their children´s education in Arequipa. But she said it was often a lonely life so far from the city, and sometimes they ran out of food when
a big group turned up, other times food went off when no visitors came! Everything they must bring in on mules from nearby towns, and of course there is no electricity or computers!
Tomorrow, heading back to Arequipa to catch a bus to Nazca and then Lima... I think I won´t be leaving on my flight out of Equador until at least the end of the month!!
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Marcelo
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Inolvidable
QUERIDA CATY: Muy interesantes tus experiencias en tierras americanas. Esperamos sigas disfrutando de tu viaje, te tenemos siempre presente en nuestros pensamientos. Un beso enorme y mucha suerte. Hasta pronto. Marcelo y Flia