Inkari Eco Lodge Chivay

... to do this in Baños in Ecuador I enjoyed the volcanic sulphur water at 39C although after an hour at this temperature I felt a bit dehydrated and dizzy.<br><br>We then had a pleasant evening enjoying some more local indigenous music and dancing and I managed not to offend anyone this time.<br><br>After getting up at 5am the next day we made the trip into the Canyon to enjoy the amazing scenery and to finally make the Cruz del Condor lookout point to ...

... There is a market surrounded with street vendors selling meals consisting of noodles, chicken and rice. There are many more street vendors selling doughnuts. Women knead the dough and place it in pans filled with boiling oil. Stray dogs sit nearby hoping to catch unwanted left overs. They are neither vicious or obtrusive.<br> The sun sets quickly in the mountain towns. <br> Guinea Pig and AlPaca are ...

... nice. Well, having your head swell isnt that nice in general! I had a double wammy with the elevation and dust setting off my asthma, but Im slowing getting better now I am in Arequipa and lower elevation. We walked to some ruins - stopping like every 50m to catch your breathe! - and the view was spectactular.<br><br>The people in the Colca live very colonial - original dress and mainly farm by hand with cattle etc. Was very interesting ...

... taking with the alpaca but was scared it would spit at it... I convinced him it wouldnt, and cuddled it to show him... so he was brave and stood next to it whilst his girlfriend snapped away... Iwent upstairs on the roof to get my missing socks... and the couple were still chatting... then this weird little cat walked over (a bit wobbly on its feet... looked a bit crooked!) and it snuggled up to the alpaca`s front feet... it ...

The bus turned up slightly late but that allowed us to at least get down some breakfast before we headed off. It was all slightly bizarre as we piled onto the minibus and then stopped every 15 minutes to get out the bus to, in the words of our driver, "appreciate and take photos" of alpaca, llama, volcano, rock, valley etc.<br><br>After some agreeably interesting scenery, we stopped in Chivay for a good-ole ...

... to the Plaza and ask the Moto-Rickshaw taxi driver to step on it pronto, cursing the driver who didn´t turn up.<br><br>We were fully laden with snacks and dark rum and coke to get us through if we never found the return bus, and bounced eagerly at the back on route to the Cruz del Condor. Unfortunately the bus drops you off about 2 hours before the great birds are due to wake up, so we and a few other gringos who were mad enough to ...

... Colca canyon to see the condors the following day - it seemed pretty expensive (actually almost more than itwas from Areuipa!), so we looked into the options and decided to DIY it (what lonely plant suggested but what the hostal girl strongly advised us against!)<br><br>We gt up at 3.30am to gt the bus at 4.30am (the taxi the hostal girl said she had arranged didnt turn up) so we ran to the plaza, got a tuktuk and got on the bus just ...

... a hearty breakfast so we could start the hike into the Colca canyon. We left at 7am and started the descent. About 30 minutes down we started to see people hiking back out, they'd stayed the night down in the canyon and had started their hike back out at 5am, to attempt to do it out of the heat of the day.<br> It was quite distressing to see their faces as they were hiking out, some people were looking very pained, and we had it all to come!<br ...

... and try Coco tea, made from the leaves of the Coco plant which contain a very tiny amount of Cocaine!!!! It´s not addictive and Coco tea is great for the altitude as during the journey to Colca we reach 4,900m (over 14,500 ft), even with the Coco tea we still feel dizzy and short of breath when walking!!!!<br><br>Our hotel in Colca is literally in the middle of no where, very rural Peru and the scenery is stunning, huge ...

... is quite a privilege, and begin to experience the soroche - a set of ailments you may suffer from in the high mountains. <br><br>Fortunately, I find a bag of coca leaves in my backpack. I've purchased it in one of the shops in Arequipa 'just in case' and I feel it's time I made use of it. Coca leaves are not tasty, moreover I use them because I feel so bad, not because I want to get high. Besides, chewing ...