Day 7 - Colca Canyon and the Condors.

So we had a nice 5am wake up. The high altitude did not bother us too badly, though Emily had a headache which is a symptom...nothing a little tylenol couldn't fix. We packed up, had some breakfast and coca tea and boarded the bus for some early morning sightseeing. We stopped in several places before reaching the canyon and even had a chance to see the sunrise! Our guide Omar was a very talkative man and we are pretty sure he talked for all five hours of the bus ride. His favorite expression being "my friends." After a few history lessons, we saw what is called the "terraces," patches of land that like stairs escalate to the top with each level dedicated to growing a certain crop as well as some other uses. We then stopped along the worlds most dangerous looking highway for a view of the hanging tombs. These are tombs on the cliffs of a mountain that are built up like mini rock formations. Apparently most have been destroyed either because of natural causes like a waterfall as well as the result of the highway's construction. There seems to be a theme on this trip of ill-preserved archaeological sites. In every city we have visited we have either viewed or heard about sites dating back thousands of years that are totally destroyed, a lot of the time because of looters who raided the tombs and areas in search of materials they could sell. Today we also tried a local fruit that tastes and looks like a kiwi on the inside but whose outside is more similar to porous pear, whatever that means. We also bought a new bracelet for our growing collection (now at two!) Finally, we were off to the canyon where we were hoping to see some condors, birds native to the canyon whose wing span spreads nearly 4 metres. The reason we got such an early start was because they are not always around later in the day. We walked along the canyon's edge for a bit over an hour until we reached the view point. Apparently the canyon goes down 3000 metres...luckily no one fell in ! Once there we saw a half a dozen condors flying very low and close to the crowds. It was quite the site seeing these large birds up close. A few birds huddled on a rock close to us which made us take some national geographic style photographs. Then it was a bit of souveniring and back on the bus for lunch in Chivay. We had the pleasure of having another delicious buffet lunch before taking the bus back to Arequipa. All the bus rides take us through these breathtaking sites so the long drives are not so bad. Once back in Arequipa, we decided to do some belated Canada day activities since we were too exhausted on the actual date. Lisa and I dressed up for the occasion putting on some dresses and buying new scarves. We went with some of the group to a restaurant called Nina Yuka where the food was a little too fancy, causing us to go for the classic chicken soup. Then we went to this bar discovered by Adam and Christina (couple from edmonton) called Cafe Art Montreal! Inside there was a canadian and quebec flag!! photo op! We couldn't do much drinking since we were going into altitude the next morning. We did learn though that the reason the bar was called that was because the owner's husband is a montreal native... Unfortunately he wasn't there that night. After a bit of national celebration, we went back to the hotel and packed up because in the morning we would be taking a bus to the coastal town of Puno!