Condors in the Canyon!

Hola Chicos!!

We´ve been busy the last few days so let me tell you about it! We got to Arequipa on an overnight bus from Ica (our last overnight trek...or so we thought) and stumbled sleepily to our hostel in the center of the city. It was a WONDERFUL place and the lady was so nice. She let us have breakfast and get into our rooms even though it was only 8 in the morning and well fed we felt MUCH better. Steph napped while the rest of us spent the morning reading and updating facebook pictures. In the afternoon we decided to brave our FIRST and ONLY museum of the trip! It was winner though. We visited Juanita the ice princess. A 500 year old incan mummy who was almost perfectly preserved on top of Ampato Volcano. She was as 14 girl sacrificed to the Incan Gods in the hope for better weather. The museum admission of 5 bucks included a 20 minute movie and then an english tour of the artifacts. It was all pretty cool and the frozen mummy body of the little girl was haunting but NEAT!

That night we went out for AMAZING turkish food! YUM! and headed back to the hostel to watch Miss Congeniality and call it an early night. After a major sleep we met up with the French boys to plan our next few days. We were going to go trekking in the Colca Canyon and after comparing prices it looked like going with a guide was a pretty good deal. After discussing details over lunch at a french cafe we booked our trip and then parted ways in order to prepare for our THREE AM pick up. YIKES.

After a measly amount of sleep we rolled into a balling mercedes mini bus and promptly fell back asleep until we reached the Cruz del Condor viewpoint at 8 am!!! For some unknown reason I was VERY excited about this stop and I was NOT disappointed. It is one of only two places in South America where you can reliably see condors everyday all day. Apparently they like the updraft created by the canyon walls and wind conditions and these majestic birds were everywhere! After a short stop there we headed to Cabanaconde, Peru which was the starting point for our trek. After a pretty mediocre lunch we headed down into the canyon dropping over 1 vertical kilometer and arrived in the tiny village of San Juan. Many games of Asshole and Eucre ensued and after dressing in EVERY layer of clothing we had brought on the trek we fell asleep in our little bungalow. The next morning we had a leisurely start as we headed along the canyon´s bottom to the Oasis Sangalle an idillic little village with AMAZING swimming pools and HOT HOT weather! Along the way we stopped at a little church and the cutest little museum (I guess I lied about Juanita the ice princess being the only museum stop off) where an local woman showed us how they make flour out of wheat and corn and how they make their remarkable tapestries and clothing. Our guide told us that the cost of the outfits worn by these locals is about 10000 soles or 3000 dollars. They are SOOOO intriquate and I wish I had a picture to show you but I don´t. ANYWAY after the museum it was just a short jaunt to the Oasis and we spent the rest of the day suntanning and swimming in the pool. AMAZING. We also got into a very competitive volleyball game against some of the peruvian guides and managed to squeak out a win!

The next morning it was another EARLY start. We woke up at 5 am and were hiking by 5:30 on the stiff and steep trail out of the canyon. We made good time though and it was nice to hike out of the sun. After making it to the top we walked another couple klicks to Cabanaconde were we ate breakfast and waited for our bus. On the way back to Arequipa we stopped at the hot springs in Chivay. It was a pretty neat place with 6 different pools each with different temperatures we stretched our aching muscles in the hot water! A long bus ride home got us to Arequipa at 6:30 where we split ways with the Frenchies and went back to the same Turkish restaurant for food and raced to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Cusco. We had splurged for the business class section of the bus (a difference of 10 bucks) and were all excited for seats that reclined 160 degrees. It was pretty great but nothing beats sleeping in a bed! We were able to check in to our hostel at 6:30 in the morning (AMAZING) so we promptly took a nap and have just now got up to do some exploring and scope our the different options for our trek to Machu Piccu. We´ll let you know how it all goes soon!!!