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When in Arequipa, one of the done things is to visit nearishby Colca Canyon. You can see condors there. Never being one to buck the trend, I signed and coughed up for a three-day affair, involving a night in a hotel, condors, a night at the bottom of the canyon in a "rustic cabin" and various meals. This thing ended up being quite good in retrospect, but went very pear-shaped along the way.
Firstly, why not arrange tours that require you to get up at normal times of day? We havd a 3.45am, a 5am and a 3.30am. I mean, that seems very silly to me. The first one was due to the strikes, which have got pretty bad - more on that later - but the second and third seemed uneccessary to us. Another freezing cold bus up to Chivay, where we were forced to pay a set price for a meal we didn´t want. At our hotel, we'd been allocated a triple room when we'd been promised two rooms. This was all a bit galling.
Things improved in the afternoon with a visit to the hot springs down the road, which were really very hot, and outdoor, and you could have someone bring you a bottle of beer at the poolside.
The next day, we spent a long time messing around, getting out along the road to look at things in the distance because we'd got up far too early for the condors. We waited for a long time at the condor spot, and saw one, a long way off. Now, of course, nature is nature, and the guide told us that sometimes they "cancel" the flight if the weather's not right (which I thought sounded very funny, like they send runners from nest to nest with the message that it's off today, at which news they groan with relief, roll over and go back to sleep). Perhaps they could have told us the odds of seeing condors, though, before we handed over the cash, instead of just telling us how you idenify the males when you see them really close up and getting us all excited.
A different guide met us to take us on our trek, the first 2 hours of which were on a road, not very trek-like. On the way, she said there was a chance that there would be no beds for us at the bottom because the owner sometimes gives away reservations. She also had no idea Alice was a vegetarian. Can you see how we were getting a bit peeved?
But! We did see a condor close up on the road. It flew right over us. Cool.
The trek down the canyon was hot, steep and pretty boring, though the views were good. All the way, we could see where we were going eventually, which was an oasis at the bottom - the shacks (rustic cabins) and pool were glimmering in the sunlight as we set off. Oh, that's going to make it all worthwhile, we thought. When we were about half way down, the sun descended to the point where all this stuff was in the shade. Bugger. Maybe in the morning, we said...
No, we need to get up at 3.30am.
What? Why?
Yes, that's right, we need to get up at 3.30.
But why?
Yes. Breakfast is at 7 at the top.
But... But it will be dark.
Yes. You have you flashlight?
No.
Oh... 3.30am.
(grumble, swear word... grumble, paying money for this... swear word...)
Swam regardless, and this was quite pleasant. It went pitch dark at 6, when dinner was served. There was the best night sky I've ever seen. Went straight to bed after a brief admiration of the stars. Must have been asleep by 7.30pm but had no light to shine on my watch so can't say for sure.
3.30 was as you'd imagine. No-one spoke to anyone till about 6. There was an egg with breakfast, as we'd been praying. Also, we saw more condors. Yippee. Very pleased.
Then began the buses. These strikes had thrown everything into chaos. It wasn't just no buses, it was a very few buses, at times very different from normal. I shan't go into all of the details. We got on the first bus at 9am. We arrived in Puno at 3.30am this morning, and I'm just again starting to feel warm. At one point, we walked a long way with all our luggage down a long dark road from the outskirts of Arequipa, surrounded by hundreds of other Peruvians, some walking, some milling, many selling things, some having a party, none obviously making a point about working conditions or anything. I had no idea what was going on.
So we're a-hop, skip and jumping out of Peru into the relatively-calm Bolivia asap. Which means, a bus at 7am tomorrow. I think my average getting up time so far is before 6am, honestly.
Going to see the reed islands on Lake Titicaca in half an hour. Should be interesting.
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Two people have said they can't get messages through. They don't appear instantly - I have a veto, you see. However, Bill and Helen, there's nothing on my homepage from you. I'm trying to suss what's going on, but has anyone else had problems?
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andi
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Live8
Hey luv, thanks for sharing your blog with the whole list, otherwise I would never have known! Did you catch any of the live8 concerts where you are? I'd imagine it's probably the last thing on your mind. Well, sufficed to say, I was thinking of you when the Stereophonic boys were on stage, and they were played with suitable aplomb. Take care and all the best, andi