Off to Machu Picchu

I will be on the Salkantay Trek until Saturday night. Hope I am fit enough to make it.

I just made some plans for the aftertrek.
After returning late on Saturday night I will do a "Sacred Valley" day tour on Sunday.
Monday will be time to rest (and maybe take the stitches out) before I will get on the night bus to Copacabana on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. And maybe go straigth to Isla del Sol. That should then happen on Aug. 2nd. But I guess I will check that on my resting day next monday (Aug 1st).
Cheerio

Cuzco, Perú

Arrived (more or less) well in Cuzco this morning. "more or less" because I haven't slept too well on the bus.
Reciding at the nice Pariwana Hostel for 2 nights before I will do the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu for 5 days/ 4 nights. I guess I will need a day of resting after that. So I will stay some time here.
Cuzco is a very beautiful town, I have to say!

Perú - Arequipa - Album

Perú - Arequipa - Monasterio de Santa Catalina - Album

Last day @ Intiwawa in Arequipa

Today is my last day in Arequipa and with Intiwawa. One month of volunteering went by very fast. Tonight I am off to Cuzco to see Machu Picchu in the next days.
I had a wonderful time here at Intiwawa and I met some really nice people.
The Kids in San Isidro, Salinas adn Coporaque were really sweet, especially the ones at the Jardín were I worked most days. I was sad to wave good-bye.

Now back to the road.

Three days ago I was bitten by a dog. It sneaked up from behind and bit me in the leg. I didn't do anything. Damn old dog! They had to sew me up with 3 stitches at the hospital. But I am well. ;-)

Colca Canyon & Coporaque - Album

When will they come ...them bloody birds???

Coporaque and the Condors

Friday to Sunday 4 of us went to go to the Colca area as we were doing a project in Coporaque for the Sunday.

We left Arequipa on Friday afternoon to reach Chivay at around 7.30 PM. We booked a hostel around the plaza for just 8 Soles the night which is a bit more than 2€! In the same building there was a birthday party (some senorita called Isabel turned 51). We were just passing and got taken in. We stayed there for a beer. Everyone was very drunk and soon the party ended (before 9PM) ... good for us as we had to take the bus to the see the Condors at Colca Canyon at 4 AM the next morning.
We got up at 3.15 AM ... aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. Tired!!!!! 2 hours on a bus that was amazingly crowded for the time of the day (and it was Saturday!!!).

We got to the viewpoint for the Condors at 6PM because someone told us they were coming there quite early. The Condors started working at 8.30 ish. So, we waited 2,5 hrs in the freezing cold. We were rewarded with a nice sunrise.

...and at least the condors came and ...

they were amazing!!!

After the show we went for a walk along the canyon to stopthe bus back to Chivay at some stage on our way.

With the sun the day got hotter and hotter and we were quite suffering in the dry but beautiful landscape. We missed the 10 h bus by a few seconds as we were just getting back to the main street when we saw it passing. We walked an hour and waited for another hour in the burning sun for the next bus.



























We hitched a ride on a kind-of-tourist bus that just had 4 free seats which was nice because it stopped for photo shoots on our way back.

Later we went to Coporaque to stay at the nice hostel of Family "Chocolate". The kids showed us a bit of the village.
Later on saturday there was a wedding party and we went there. But it was kind of flat, because it was open-air and freezing cold. Nobody there seemed to be in the mood for a party.

On Sunday we had our voluntary project work.

After work we went straight to the hot springs.
They were quite hot indeed. Nice!!!!

We were lucky to get straight to the 4PM bus back to Arequipa.

Nice weekend which seemed to have lasted 5 days.

Rafting on Rio Chili - Album

Rafting on Rio Chili

Today was a day off for us (el día de los profesores, oder so) so we all went Rafting on Rio Chili ... Chili describes the temperature of the water! To repeat: it is winter here!
But it was
AWESOME!

Snow

Today I went to work in a project in Las Salinas and it was freezing cold. It even snowed ... and I wasn't prepared. I just knew it was over 4000 m high. But nobody told me there was a chance of snow.
The Misti Volcano did get a huge amount of snow over night. OK, it is winter time here, what did I expect.
Normally Arequipa is sunny all time, but today it was the 2nd cloudy day in a row. The problem with it is that the water is heated via solar panels. So, cold outside and no hot shower to warm up.
I was cold the whole day. To sum it up: What a shitty day.

... Life ain't no picnic!

Birthday in Peru - Album