Blogs from Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 6

There was never a more pitiful creature than the mule. Forced to be the “work horses” of society--without any of the gratitude or title. Whipped. Prodded. Mistreated. If ever there was an animal that ought to stage an uprising against humans, surely it is the mule. With these thoughts--and perhaps as an atonement for all of humankind--I lean forward and pat my mule on the neck, saying a comforting “muy bueno, mula.” The tenderness of the moment is shattered seconds later as the man behind me whips my mule with a rope and commands, “Vas, Mamacita! Vas, mula!” (“Go, little mama! Go, mule!). Mamacita, the mule, turns her ears backward, gives a slight snort of disapproval, and reluctantly snaps back into action. Lesson learned, I think. This is what you get for not taking better care ... read more

Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world, is set among snow capped volcanoes one side and a mountain range the other. It's semi arid land and is home to about 40 families of condors as well as Quechua and Aymara speaking Indians. On the way out we hit 4910m (I think that could be about the highest we go in South America, I wasn´t expecting it so soon). From Yanque we hiked to the canyon, crossing where it becomes very narrow. In the almost vertical walls, ancient people have built cold storage rooms, colque. After a 2 hour walk in the valley by the canyon many of us were suffering altitude headaches. And that was despite chewing coca leaves on the bus, drinking coca tea at most meals and eating coca lollies...coca is supposed ... read more

Spent a day in Arequipa and started to figure out how I am going to close out my journey in Cusco. I booked an early AM flight from Cusco to Lima on my day to return to the US. That only means I am not spending more than 12 hours in Lima...just enough time to dip into town and have some ceviche. I also tried to hook up a multiple day rafting trip but I am going to need to head to Cusco to do that. So I headed off to the second deepest canyon in the world for three days (second only to another in Peru). It was pretty amazing. The bus came to grab me at 3 AM and then we had a 4 hour bus ride that started by looking at the condors ... read more

After the Inca Trail we were given two days to relax in Cuzco, very necessary after four days without sleeping and washing. The first day, the 29th March, we did very little, finding the energy only to get ourselves a massage each - £5 for a 1 hour full body massage! Other than that we had a very relaxing day and in the evening treated ourselves to a gourmet meal at Fallen Angel, a lovely restaurant where we were given balloon hats to wear and our table was a bath tub with goldfish swimming inside! Afterwards we met the rest of the GAP group for a few drinks, though this turned into a big night out of dancing, complete with Carina dancing on the bar! The next day we were feeling more energetic and so we ... read more

There has been a bit of time since my last blogg because we have just returned from my treck on the Lares Track and our visit to Machu Picchu (which I will blog about later). We are back in Cuzco at present so you might get a back-to-back blog re the above. Hope you are all going well. Pam Chivay and Colca Canyon and the Condors - 13 & 14 April 2011 We left Arequipa for a 2 day tour to the Colca Canyon and to see the famed Peruvian Condors. On this trip we were led by a local guide Ruth. This trip took us north from Arequipa winding the way up the mountains around the back of the snow capped peaks visible from the city. We entered a national park and early on came ... read more