Around the World III

Day 29 - Mon 30 Apr 07 - Colca Canyon, Peru

Up at 05:30, had shower using my first Frankenstein switch, the shower head is also where the water is heated. I'd heard about them, but not seen one in action. The water was tepid, but I got a shower. Breakfast was at 06:00 and consisted of bread and scrambled eggs. Then on to the village square were quite a surreal sight meets my eyes. There are loads of tour buses of all shapes and sizes, and hoards of tourists everywhere. They are watching a group of locals dancing around the village fountain all in traditional dress.

Colca Canyon, Peru

Slowly the sun got up above the mountains to shed some light on the proceedings. We headed off down the bumpiest road in the world, and got to see many terraced fields, as we head further down the valley the walls become steeper and steeper and eventually it turns into a canyon. At one point it's over 3km. We got the Condor viewing spot at about 08:30, and wandered down to the edge and managed to see a number of these huge birds just hovering on the edge of the canyon.

After about an hour it was back onto the bus and back into town to collect the rest of group (they didn't fancy the early start) from the posh hotel ($77 a night and $40 for a meal!). The trip back to Arequipa retraces our journey out, and when I get back it's just before sunset, so I head out to get some photos again.

Then it's time to say good bye to the 'English Couple' - it's been great spending time with them, and I hope they enjoyed my company. Back to the hotel and hung around until 19:00 when I shared a taxi down to the bus station with an Australian girl. She had a lot of luggage, so the deal was I carry it, and she pays for the taxi.

I'm aboard the bus now and Cama class is very plush, big leather seats downstairs, but not much space to put your stuff, good job I don't have much! I've just been fed with a poor airline style meal, I just went for the rice. The movie was the Da Vinci Code which I tried to drown out with my iPod but failed as it was just too loud.