Chivay - we've hit 5000m above sea level
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2008
1
12
22
Trip End
Jul 27, 2008
Colca Canyon,
Peru
Friday, June 27, 2008
After a brief stop in Arequipa and a load up of decent coffee we travelled for a day through the Andean highlands on the way to a town called Chivay and the Colca Canyon.
The highlands are amazing. We're talking an alitude of over 5000m here. We're all feeling a bit sick, lightheaded and wobbly. No matter, nothing that a good chew of coca leaves won't fix! These leaves are sold everywhere for about 3 soles for 100gms. The idea is to grab 2 or 3 leaves, roll them into a wad and stick them into the side of your mouth (always the left side here folks, it's tradition!). Pam had a go and promptly spat out the green cud (disgusting). Nic took the soft option of the coca candy - little sweets with essence of coca - tasted marginally better and who knows if we felt better for it or not. At the highpoint in the journey we stopped at a touristy rest place which offered coca tea
Colca canyon
. Much better with about 4 teaspoons of sugar. Anyway, we did feel a bit better after the tea (if you discount the diuretic affect)! Pam also took the opportunity to purchase the classic Peruvian beanie at the stop, complete with 'plaits' - not a good look but everyone is wearing them so why shouldn't we!!!Alpaca jumpers are all the go here. Alpaca's and llama's are in plentiful supply roaming the highlands. We saw some vicunias also - native South American species very similar to the others but with even softer fleece. Lots of farming here, on terraces for the most part. Families have very small plots and rely on producing amounts of corn, beans, potatoes etc for income - very meagre. The scenery is stunning though - mountainous, sparse at times. Pam got to cuddle a baby llama (actually it was sucking on her face mmmmmm......... we think it was hungry.....we hope anyway!). The kids are so cute as well and many are still in native dress, probably for the passing tourist traffic.
At Chivay, our stop on the way to the Canyon we also saw a couple of bull fighting rings for the first time. Haven't seen any actually fighting though, thank god.
Stopped at a great hotel overnight, a bit like a traditional mountain lodge. Great food and ambience. Still headache ridden from the altitude so opted for coke over our more usual beers. Also went to bath in the hot springs for an hour which was sensational. Water was beautifully warm, as opposed to the crisp night temperatures.
Next day, drove to colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world (yep, move over Grand Canyon!). Beautiful views but so many bloody tourists! We were lucky enough to see some condors - now an endangered species due to habitat destruction. These birds are massive with wingspans at around 3-4m.
Now back to Arequipa and then on Cusco - further into Inca territory1
Cheers (and we're not thinking of work at all)
n & p
