Peru Day 16: Colca Canyon

A reasonable 8:30am pickup for our trip to Colca Lodge accompanied by the Norfolk couple and newly joined Mancunians, Paul and Catherine. The journey was all at high altitude reaching its peak at 4900 metres.

School visit
Before getting to this height we visited a remote school where we had been briefed to buy colour pens/pencils for the children. They were all hurdled around a laptop about to watch a TV programme but were very pleased to see us putting on a song for us and giving us drawings in exchange for our gifts. It was humbling to learn that a pair of children had to walk 3 hours just to get to school.

The highest point was full of tourists and their mini-vans, as like a lot of this holiday, we seemed to be on the same 'gringo trail'. As well as as the tourists there were loads of stacked rocks everywhere, built by past tourists not by Incas. A few more stops, the wildlife spotting continued with wild pink flamingoes, vicunyas (smallest breed of llamas) and the strangest rabbits with long bushy tails.

Colca Lodge
Our buffet lunch was a bit rubbish for the 20 N.Sols then another 30 minutes we reached our night's stay of Colca Lodge, which was an amazing sight peached on the side of a valley with a stream running against it. Spooting the outdoor natural hot springs we wasted no time to dip into the 35 C degree H2O relaxation. More relaxing in our room then straight to the bar for cocktails (which maybe be regretted in my bunged up condition). The internet connection speed was the worst yet.

Luckily (fingers still crossed), the buffet dinner of asparagus soup, alpaca meat (tasted like good tender beef) went down well, just as good as our tour rep's funny stories and jokes including his mate's wife's shoe story and the cockrel in the cinema joke. Another early night to our wooden lodge room with single beds and a treehouse like ladder to the mezzanine floor above. 5:20am wake up tomorrow to see the condors.